Latest news with #architecture
CBS News
an hour ago
- Business
- CBS News
Frank Lloyd Wright's Elizabeth and Rollin Furbeck House in Oak Park hits the market for $1.9M
Have you ever visited a Frank Lloyd Wright home and wondered what it's like to live in one? Now, you can own one, but it comes with a hefty price tag. The Elizabeth and Rollin Furbeck House at 515 Fair Oaks Ave. in Oak Park has hit the market. Elizabeth and Rollin Furbeck House at 515 Fair Oaks Ave. in Oak Park. According to the realtor site Redfin, the 1897 home is one of Wright's earliest and most innovative residential works. The 5000-square-foot, three-story single-family home has five bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, and a five-car garage, the website said. Other amenities include a mezzanine reading nook that overlooks the main room, a heated pool, and a recreation room that can be used for movie nights, play space, or casual lounging. The home has been on the market for two weeks, according to the website. The cost to own the home will run the potential buyer $1,975,000.
Hindustan Times
5 hours ago
- General
- Hindustan Times
Delhi: With historical storeroom treasures, ASI hopes to revive Children's Museum
The Capital is a repository of monuments, architecture and history but seldom do the storerooms of these monuments become the topic of conversation — until now, when all things vintage and forgotten will come alive to reclaim space at the Children's Museum in Siri Fort. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been digging the storerooms of the Red Fort and the Purana Qila to find replicas of these historical pieces and install them across the museum. Opened especially for children in 2011 with an aim to apprise them of India's rich cultural history, the museum was closed for two years between 2020 and 2022 for repair works as well as for planning installation of sculptures in its lawns, an ASI official said aware of the matter said. Those plans, however, never came through. ASI did not have enough funds, said officials. 'In the face of severe fund crunches, we decided to get our hands on whatever important sculptures we could get and start installing them at the museum,' the official added. ASI is primarily funded by the Union ministry of culture. Surrounded by beautifully mowed lawns, the two-storey museum building primarily hosts three rooms: one where important sculptures are kept, the second for educational purposes, while the third room is where ASI screens its documentaries. Most visits are in the form of school trips, officials said, but admitted that the footfall has been low. 'We are hoping that the footfall will improve with all the new additions,' an ASI official said. Right opposite to the entrance of the museum lies a newly installed replica model of the Red Fort. 'This replica, along with a model showing the plan of the Red Fort, has been procured from the Purana Qila's storeroom,' the official said. The much smaller model depicting the plan of the Red Fort lies in the main room of the museum, along with the other sculptures like that of Shaalabhanjika, which celebrates the culmination of the artistic activity flourishing in Madhya Pradesh, Mahishashura Mardini, an epithet of the Hindu goddess Durga, and the Standing Buddha. Existing sculptures in the room are made by students of the College of Arts and Crafts, Patna, under the direction of KK Mohammad, the erstwhile superintendent archaeologist of ASI's Delhi wing. The Red Fort plan, according to the official, will soon be installed on a proper table for visitors. Currently, it has been kept on the floor near the entrance of the room. The lawns remain peppered with smaller sculptures procured from the storeroom of Purana Qila, and some even from storage of the museum — all of these will be installed by ASI soon. These include a Standing Vishnu or Sthanak Vishnu, Vyala, which consists of a composite leonine creature with the head of a tiger, elephant, bird, or other animal, Nayika sculpture inspired by the Vishwanath temple in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, and a sculpture of one of the Jain Tirthankars. Then there are pieces from the courageous story of India's fight to freedom. 'Three wall mountings of freedom fighters Ashfaqulla Khan, Bhagat Singh, and Shivaram Rajguru found from the Red Fort storeroom have been installed on a wall inside the museum.. Two sculptures of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, have also been procured from the same storeroom, and are currently in one of the lawns,' the ASI official said. 'All of these will be properly installed after which it will feel more coherent,' the official said, pointing to the lawns, which currently look like an artist's gallery awaiting curation. Original plan The original plan had included commissioning and installing new sculptures of monuments and important historical figures on the lawns. 'The plan never went through and finally in 2022, we wanted to open up the museum properly because there was no point in keeping it closed,' the official said. However, as part of the upgrade, a second hall was built for educational purposes — a part of it recreates how visitors often destroy heritage monuments by scribbling on walls and putting up encroachments. 'We will not be installing anything in this room. Right behind the building, however, we have put two huge models depicting temples from South India procured from the National Museum in Delhi,' the official said. In the coming days, ASI will install all the procured pieces as the agency hopes that the renewed efforts will see more children take an interest in the museum. .
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bob Embry, retiring from the Abell Foundation, saw Baltimore's potential
As Robert C. 'Bob' Embry leaves his role as president of the Abell Foundation, it is time to reflect on his remarkable role in Baltimore and its neighborhoods. Before his days at the Abell Foundation, Embry was the city's housing commissioner (1967 to 1977) while also controlling the quasi-public downtown redevelopment agency, Charles Center Inner Harbor Management. Few realized the power Embry held. Embry could be quiet and self-effacing, even aloof, all while flexing muscle over the city of Baltimore. As a Harvard-trained lawyer, he also knew how things really work — and can work — in an aging city. He often let others take the credit while he pulled strings and got the job done. He worked with his deputy, M. Jay Brodie and wisely let Mayor William Donald Schaefer take all the bows and the credit. Schaefer was dazzlingly adept at putting on a show to open Embry's projects — once even dressing in a bathing suit costumes to great fanfare. To the public, it all appeared seamless as Baltimore emerged from its post-World War II paralysis. While the old downtown was patched up, the Inner Harbor rose to new heights, flying in the face of critics and doubters who said it would forever belong to the city's homeless residents. (It did not hurt that President Lyndon B. Johnson funded the early harbor reconstruction with a generous supply of federal funds, however.) Embry was a connoisseur of bold and risk-taking architecture. He sought out Moshe Safdie, the visionary Israeli-Canadian-American architect, to create a plan for Coldspring Newtown on the edge of the Jones Falls Valley near the Cylburn Arboretum. He took risks to get it built — or mostly built. Some thought it a wacky idea, but it was innovative. About the same time Embry backed the then-startling idea of urban homesteading, better known as the 'dollar house' concept. He found the money (often federal) to fund his plan and, by 1974 allowed a small band of people to reclaim the Stirling Street houses in the Oldtown Urban Renewal District. Urban homesteading — or buying a vacant house for a token $1 — was an enticing concept, but fraught with practical pitfalls. The cost of total custom renovation was expensive and required a reliable army of commercial rebuilders, plumbers, roofers and electricians. The onus fell to schoolteachers and social workers, who were often acting as their own general contractors. After Stirling Street, Embry greenlit concentrated homesteading projects in other pockets of Baltimore. Soon, we had Otterbein and Barre Circle, and all of a sudden, a sizable swatch of downtown Baltimore was on the rise. There were disappointments, too. Despite the care and money put into the rebuild and design at the Oldtown Mall (a portion of Gay Street in Northeast Baltimore), it failed not long after this historic shopping street reopened. The urban pedestrian mall's business collapse may have been linked to the 320,000 persons who have left Baltimore since 1970. Embry's attention wasn't focused solely on housing, however. One Monday night, after the City Council met, I ran into him as he sat alone at a table at the old Horn & Horn restaurant on East Baltimore Street. He called me over to tell me that the city (meaning he and his close associates) were going to reopen and run the old Morris A. Mechanic Theatre. This was a stretch — after all, the housing department would now control a commercial theater under the authority that it was squarely in an urban renewal district. The closure of the Mechanic, only a few years after its 1967 gala opening, was a real bummer for downtown Baltimore. The Mechanic's locked doors seemed to say the city was dying. Embry, who was also a powerful string puller behind the old Baltimore City Fair, made sure the Mechanic reopened and succeeded. Some 22,000 persons backed the reopening plan by paying for season subscriptions. Within a few years lines of theater patrons snaked around the block to buy tickets for 'A Chorus Line,' and Carol Channing and Vincent Price were headlining shows downtown. He also headed a public housing agency, ensuring apartments were maintained. Embry was Baltimore's civic architecture czar. He gave us the National Aquarium as designed by Peter Chermayeff of Cambridge Seven Associates, as well as the Columbus Center, just to the east along Pratt Street. As head of the Abell Foundation, Embry continued to influence Baltimore's architecture. By 2012, a new John and Francis Angelos University of Baltimore School of Law at Charles Street and Mount Royal Avenue, was complete. The foundation sponsored a design competition and paid $50,000 each to to three finalist designers; the winner was a firm from Stuttgart, Germany. The results made a bold statement. Embry saw Baltimore's potential and worked to make the best of it. Have a news tip? Contact Jacques Kelly at and 410-332-6570.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Mansion left 'gutted' by works to be restored
A 17th Century Grade II listed building in north-west London is set to be restored to its former glory after works carried out by the owner left it "literally gutted". Harrow Council's planning committee has approved plans for the complete restoration of The Rookery, a Georgian mansion house and stables in Stanmore. It was originally built for the owner of the adjacent Clutterbuck Brewery – Lord Clutterbuck – and remained in the same family for several generations. In recent years a series of "unlawful works" were carried out, the committee was told, including using décor described as "fake old" and removing original plaster from the walls, which had done "harm to the listed building". A new owner of The Rookery took possession of the site in 2022. Listed Building Consent, required to make changes to a listed building, was not obtained before work began. The refurbishment was halted by conservationists and enforcement in December that year, and has ceased ever since, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Consent has now been granted for internal and external alterations to take place, including a full interior "strip out" – much of which has already taken place – and renewal of the decoration. The plans outline how the building will be restored to "match the historic details" and "recreate the historic features" where genuine, according to Harrow Council's planning officer. The Rookery was described as of particular historic and architectural importance due to its age and association with the brewery, as well as its traditional architectural features and historic fabric. The planning officer said the restoration work would provide a "unique opportunity" to find out more information about the significance and historic development of the building as the modern surface fabric is removed. Asked if the building could be restored to its original state, the planning officer said it was "the best proposal [in] the moment we are at". No enforcement action was served when the works were discovered because officers sought "to get a better understanding of what had happened", but prosecution was still be an option, according to the committee chair Marilyn Ashton. She described the application as "a positive" in respect of moving things forward but called the building's current condition "a big disappointment" and that "accepting what's happened and being pragmatic doesn't make it all right". "Having studied the report very clearly, one might infer that we have still got the option of prosecution because it is actually quite a serious problem to do this to a Grade II listed building. It isn't just one room or just a small feature, the whole place has literally been gutted." She added there was "not much left of its historical value but hopefully we can put some of it back to make it look at least something like how it was". Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to Harrow Council
BBC News
11 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
The Rookery: 'Gutted' Stanmore mansion to be restored
A 17th Century Grade II listed building in north-west London is set to be restored to its former glory after works carried out by the owner left it "literally gutted".Harrow Council's planning committee has approved plans for the complete restoration of The Rookery, a Georgian mansion house and stables in was originally built for the owner of the adjacent Clutterbuck Brewery – Lord Clutterbuck – and remained in the same family for several recent years a series of "unlawful works" were carried out, the committee was told, including using décor described as "fake old" and removing original plaster from the walls, which had done "harm to the listed building". A new owner of The Rookery took possession of the site in 2022. Listed Building Consent, required to make changes to a listed building, was not obtained before work refurbishment was halted by conservationists and enforcement in December that year, and has ceased ever since, according to the Local Democracy Reporting has now been granted for internal and external alterations to take place, including a full interior "strip out" – much of which has already taken place – and renewal of the plans outline how the building will be restored to "match the historic details" and "recreate the historic features" where genuine, according to Harrow Council's planning officer. The Rookery was described as of particular historic and architectural importance due to its age and association with the brewery, as well as its traditional architectural features and historic planning officer said the restoration work would provide a "unique opportunity" to find out more information about the significance and historic development of the building as the modern surface fabric is if the building could be restored to its original state, the planning officer said it was "the best proposal [in] the moment we are at". No enforcement action was served when the works were discovered because officers sought "to get a better understanding of what had happened", but prosecution was still be an option, according to the committee chair Marilyn described the application as "a positive" in respect of moving things forward but called the building's current condition "a big disappointment" and that "accepting what's happened and being pragmatic doesn't make it all right"."Having studied the report very clearly, one might infer that we have still got the option of prosecution because it is actually quite a serious problem to do this to a Grade II listed building. It isn't just one room or just a small feature, the whole place has literally been gutted."She added there was "not much left of its historical value but hopefully we can put some of it back to make it look at least something like how it was".
