The hearing of the local commission is on Wednesday, June 3rd at 6:30PM in the Lower Merion Township Building on Lancaster Avenue to decide the counties' stand on the demolition of the Addison Mizner designed mansion. Please attend and show your support if you are in the Philadelphia area!
Showing posts with label save the world. Show all posts
Showing posts with label save the world. Show all posts
The hearing of the local commission is on Wednesday, June 3rd at 6:30PM in the Lower Merion Township Building on Lancaster Avenue to decide the counties' stand on the demolition of the Addison Mizner designed mansion. Please attend and show your support if you are in the Philadelphia area!
Recently while reading the Elements of Style blog I came across the plea to save La Ronda. I have to admit I had no idea what La Ronda was, but I instantly recognized the building as one that was designed by Addison Mizner, the famous architect, as his last commission in 1929. 
The current owners, who wisely are remaining anonymous (trust me, they'd be getting numerous phone calls and emails from me otherwise!) wish to tear down this architectural treasure for something slightly smaller, more modern and 'with air conditioning'. Seriously - tear down a gem so you can get something as basic as air conditioning. With a little ingenuity and a good architect & mechanical engineer you could have AC anyway. NEWS FLASH -that is not an excuse to tear this place down. And I have to ask -why did you buy it in the first place?
Admittedly the house is immense, measuring in at 14,000 sf and at one time had 27 servants to tend to it. That can't be easy to take care of I'm sure- but look at what you're taking care of!
The house is filled with beautiful details that are painstaking to reproduce and rarely are. The house was $3,000,000 to build back in the 20s (more than what the current owner paid for it) -imagine what it would cost today? Tear it down? What?!
A grass roots effort has started to save the mansion through their local conservancy group, Lower Merion Conservancy and a cause that I support annually, The National Trust for Historic Preservation. I'll let you know if something comes through that we can help save this place. Currently it looks like the only way to save it is for a conservation minded purchaser to step forward. I've contacted numerous members of the local commission and they all say any buyer who intends to keep the mansion intact has their full support. The current owner paid only $2.5 million for the mansion, how much do you think it will take to make them release it from their deadly grasp?
The house is filled with beautiful details that are painstaking to reproduce and rarely are. The house was $3,000,000 to build back in the 20s (more than what the current owner paid for it) -imagine what it would cost today? Tear it down? What?! A grass roots effort has started to save the mansion through their local conservancy group, Lower Merion Conservancy and a cause that I support annually, The National Trust for Historic Preservation. I'll let you know if something comes through that we can help save this place. Currently it looks like the only way to save it is for a conservation minded purchaser to step forward. I've contacted numerous members of the local commission and they all say any buyer who intends to keep the mansion intact has their full support. The current owner paid only $2.5 million for the mansion, how much do you think it will take to make them release it from their deadly grasp?
While reading this months Preservation magazine (magazine of the national trust for historic presevation) I came across a plea to save a bank by Louis Sullivan (whom I've blogged about recently here). Of course, Sullivan is a great architect. He was a key innovator in the modern movement and was mentor to such great architects as Frank Lloyd Wright and generations of students. However, I think this is bigger than just this one bank and I'm really upset! Of course, I'm going to blog about my feelings on the matter and I hope you take the time to read this unusually wordy post from me!
Our nation's cities were decimated by city planners in the 50s-70s. They are only now beginning to regain a little strengh and the sense of place they once had thanks to preservation efforts. The powers that be in Cedar Rapids, Iowa are planning on destroying what is left of their historic urban center as well as a NATIONAL ARCHITECTURAL TREASURE in a strategy they feel is a cost effective way to combat nature (building levees). 
One of the fundamentals of urban planning is to work with what the land is giving you, in many cases to the advantage of the city! Look at places who have prominently featured rivers and waterways in their recent revitalizations: Chicago, Austin, Pittsburgh, Providence and others are feeling the benefits of creative solutions. Older cities that are based on water management also prove to be popular and successful: Stockholm and Vienna as examples. What do we know about levees? Well...look at how well they worked in New Orleans. Is that a long term or even a creative solution?
So much good work has been happening in the past 20 years to save our nation's architectural heritage as well as our urban cores; to let Cedar Rapids continue on this OUTDATED path of destruction is monstrous. PLEASE join with me and sign the petition to make city planners of Cedar Rapids, Iowa consider alternative ways to manage flood waters and save their urban core! Sign the petition online HERE, I have!
Thanks to Hello Beautiful blog and Fred Camper for letting me use the photographs of the bank.
Lets talk, Nicole Kidman. You're one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood. Why are you doing this to yourself? While pregnant, you stopped your 'treatments' and you were back to your old self; you even gained a few much-needed pounds. So why?? I'm one of your biggest supporters but if this is the train wreck we're headed towards - I'M OUT!PS if you don't know what I'm talking about -look towards the mouth region.
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