Yesterday I went out to Queens to visit the "Maison Tropicale," a mid-century kit house designed by Jean Prouve for use by French colonials in Africa. It's on exhibit near the Queensboro Bridge prior to being auctioned by Christie's.
I've always liked mid-century design, and this is an interesting structure - a basic metal box with wood floors and these terrific little blue-glass porthole windows. I'm not sure how comfortable it would be in the heat of equatorial Africa, but it's visually pretty great.
Apparently only a handful of them were ever made, and Christie's expects the house to fetch $4 million at auction on June 5. Anyone need a vacation house?
Today is the AIDS Walk, for which I have been assembling a team of coworkers for the last several weeks. I wound up raising about $1,250, which made me pretty happy. More about that tomorrow!
Congratulations on earning so much money for such a great cause! And you are already proud generous and tolerant. Your fortune was completely accurate!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Steve.
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting house. I am a few million short of being able to get a bid in.
Congrats Steve.
ReplyDeleteNice pics, I have to see this place.
This structure looks termite proof--I learned (while doing fundraising for Habitat for Humanity) that they use a lot of cement block and metal construction because they want the homes to last --hurricanes, termites--the comfort level might be slightly compromised, though, especially when people are used to a certain design and native materials.
ReplyDeleteps I think 15 habitat houses could fit into this one pictured. I am always amazed by a family of 4 living in a 10x10 space.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about the termite connection, Ched -- that could indeed be the reason for all the metal. In terms of size, this house is actually very small, if you count only the interior space. But when it was purchased by the owner in Congo, many people were living in it.
ReplyDelete$4million, blimus. Some property prices in london are like that - sickening really.
ReplyDeletewell done on your sponsorship.
and - like Reya said!