March 23, 2017

The best tiny house.



Here's the article: "A Secret, Little Glass Home in the Heart of New York" (in the NYT).

Home? Yeesh. Never use "home" when "house" is at all possible. But it's particularly bad there. Not only are you talking about art and architecture, but there's no domesticity or family warmth at all.
Naysayers have always charged that Johnson’s committed minimalism had none of the political and social gravitas of his European influencers — indeed, his later-renounced support of Nazism would haunt him all his life. He was a social creature, a party boy, and the Guest House was a monument to ego, money and establishment, not to mention a place that lacked any conventional domestic comforts.
The place is called the "Rockefeller Guest House." It was built as a place to distance visitors from the family. There's a reason "guest home" doesn't sound normal. And, of course, "glass home" looks ridiculous when "glass house" is so obviously a standard expression — in the old saying "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" and in connection with Philip Johnson.

But it's only the headline writer who used "home," so throw the stones at her (or him).

AND: Here's the post from last week: "'The designation between house and home – is it semantics or is there a difference. Can I as 'the architect' influence the difference one way or another?' Is it all up to the people who move into the structure? Is modern-style architecture impairing their progress from house to home?"

27 comments:

Michael K said...

The best tiny house for me is the one I;m sitting in. The place is a mess with the floors torn up and the roof just recoated and the windows and doors about to be replaced. The plumbers were just here.

It is just the right size for older adults and we will be here as long as we can be. The "tiny house" thing is a fad form people who are virtue signaling.

The interior has all been painted white since these photos were taken.

The floor will all be saltillo tile, which I had in a previous house in California.

gspencer said...

"tiny house" and "best house" don't/can't go together.

Under any circumstances.

Expat(ish) said...

The narrator certainly has a voice for print.

What's up with that? I've noticed, lately, on NPR that several of the announcers have horrible vocal problems, which is not a big deal, but in a *communication* role seems to me to be a big deal.

-XC

Ann Althouse said...

""tiny house" and "best house" don't/can't go together."

Then I suppose expressions like "make the best of a bad situation" make no sense to you.

Within a category you don't like you could still have a preference.

Forced to eat in a restaurant where everything on the menu displeased you, wouldn't you still be able to pick the best thing?

And suppose you were going to be executed but given the choice of methods. One would be best, no? Firing squad would be better than thrown into the river in a bagful of rabid dogs.

Meade said...

"But it's only the headline writer who used "home," so throw the stones at her (or him)."

Okay, Ms. Althome.

Big Mike said...

This is the best tiny house, and it's been in Amsterdam for almost 280 years. And there's an even smaller one in the District of Columbia, but it's not 280 years old.

Meade said...

“What kind of house is this,” he said
“Where I have come to roam?”
“It’s not a house,” said Judas Priest
“It’s not a house . . . it’s a home”

Anonymous said...

Michael K: The best tiny house for me is the one I;m sitting in. The place is a mess with the floors torn up and the roof just recoated and the windows and doors about to be replaced. The plumbers were just here.

Nice crib, nice location.

JRoberts said...

RE: Interior decoration:

"Put a bird on it."

Earnest Prole said...

Funny coincidence, Michael K, this week I'm working on my own tiny house in the Sierra foothills, adding a small deck which will double the amount of public space available (and should tell you something about the size of the house).

Michael K said...

My daughter is negotiating a new job in Cupertino. It is not settled and one of her concerns is where to live.

I sent her a link to this article.

One Apple employee was recently living in a Santa Cruz garage, using a compost bucket as a toilet. Another tech worker, enrolled in a coding bootcamp, described how he lived with 12 other engineers in a two-bedroom apartment rented via Airbnb. “It was $1,100 for a fucking bunk bed and five people in the same room. One guy was living in a closet, paying $1,400 for a ‘private room’.

If she gets the job she is thinking of buying a small motor home if she can find a place to park it.

Now, that's a tiny house.

gadfly said...

Speaking of houses, I haven't seen or heard anything since 2014 about the curvy-walled house under construction near the Meadehouse. Online the pictures are the same as was available back in the day. The only thing difference is the label which says Madison House - 2017. Somebody must have run out of money.

Ann Althouse said...

@gadfly Oh, it got built all right. We were driving by it just yesterday and talking about it.

robother said...

"Johnson’s committed minimalism had none of the political and social gravitas of his European influencers — indeed, his later-renounced support of Nazism would haunt him all his life."

That seems like a back-handed compliment to the gravitas of the European architectural Nazis, no? No mere party boys they (except for the, uh, you know...)

Roy Lofquist said...

Well, Frankie Lee, he panicked
He dropped ev’rything and ran
Until he came up to the spot
Where Judas Priest did stand
“What kind of house is this,” he said
“Where I have come to roam?”
“It’s not a house,” said Judas Priest
“It’s not a house . . . it’s a home”

tim maguire said...

The misuse of "home" is one of my pet peeves. It's bad but understandable when real estate agents do it, inexcusable when real estate reporters do it, and journalistic malpractice when any other reporter does it.

buwaya said...

A chair is still a chair
Even though there's no-one sitting there
But a chair is not a house
And a house is not a home
When there's no-one there to hold you tight
And no-one there you can kiss goodnight

Dionne Warwick

CWJ said...

JRoberts,

"Ducks on the wall!"

Apologies to Ray Davies

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tim maguire said...

Good lord! It's not even a house, let alone a home. It's a party pad. Jesus, these people...

tim maguire said...

The distinction is simple: the structure is a house. The people who live in it make it a home.

Michael K said...

We are down to the original yellow linoleum in the family room of the house.

This is like archeology, Everything comes up and the tile goes on concrete.

When they tile the bathrooms, they have to take up the toilets and tile around the hole. Then the plumber comes back and resets the toilet.

I'm sure that is more than you wanted to know.

buwaya said...

"When they tile the bathrooms, they have to take up the toilets and tile around the hole. Then the plumber comes back and resets the toilet.

I'm sure that is more than you wanted to know."

Been there, done that. The hole is usually - interesting. That's why we pay plumbers.

Big Mike said...

@Michael K, @buwaya, there are a lot of things I can and will do around the house to maintain it. But I long ago decided that "toilet" was a French word for "turn off the water supply and call a licensed plumber."

Somebody said...

Whoever told real estate agents that they could increase sales by saying they sell "homes" rather than "houses" should be shot. Worst of all: "townhome." The old standard "townhouse" has a sophisticated urban connotation to my ear, but I would rather die than live in a "townhome."

lgv said...

This is an awesome house. For something a little bigger, there is this Philip Johnson house in Dallas for sale:

http://dallas.culturemap.com/news/real-estate/09-24-14-philip-johnson-house-strait-lane-27-million/#slide=0

JamesB.BKK said...

Why do former supporters of NAzis gather condemnation from lefty writers and their sources for thoughts while INTzis never do, whether they be current or former supporters? INTzis have made NAzis look like pikers, body count and wealth destruction-wise. Hmm, perhaps that's why the NAzis make good whipping boys for lefty journalists and politicians. Not savage enough?