Famous House - Page 2

jubilant · ‎06-10-2010

Michael Graves in 1999, with his Target designs. He was one of the New York Five, and designed more than 350 buildings.

jubilant · ‎06-10-2010

@Jk9 wrote:
So unique and beautiful. @jubilant What happened? An accidentally fire? Purposeful destruction?

They believe it was arson. The Snyderman's sold it to someone else and then I heard some developers want to buy it and tear it down to put in a new addition.... which is what is there now.

stevieb · ‎03-10-2010

I'm not a fan of modern architecture and yet while there is some I like, this monstrosity is not among them. Still, I can see where it had some positive attributes and it's a shame it was destroyed.

In my pantry with my cupcakes...

RNbynite · ‎05-10-2018

@stevieb ITA. MONSTROUS FOR SURE.

CANDLEQUEEN · ‎03-09-2010

Not my style, but very very interesting!

blueroses47 · ‎03-09-2010

@jubilant We're kind of neighbors, if you live in Princeton or the Princeton area. I live in South Brunswick. When did this house burn? Recently?

I met Michael Graves once, briefly at an outdoor party in Princeton that my friend asked me to go to with her. The hosts were friends of her husband, and she wanted to go (her husband couldn't go), but she didn't want to go alone. She tried to tempt me by saying Michael Graves would be there, but at that time I didn't know who he was, so that was lost on me.

This was about 25 years ago, a long time ago. I did meet Mr Graves, he came with a dog, a big yellow lab I believe. Very sweet dog. He came over to where my friend and I were sitting and chatted for awhile. Friendly and very nice.

I remember Nancy Snyderman from the TODAY show, and I remember the controversy when she left the show.

jubilant · ‎06-10-2010

@blueroses47 Actually, the Snyderman home is in Fort Wayne, Indiana and that's where I am from. Nancy Snyderman and I went to the same high school.

I felt she kind of got a raw deal on the Ebola debacle. While I don't know her personally (she was 2 yrs. behind me in high school) everything I know or have heard about her was good. She did apologize, too.

You are so lucky to have met Micheal. I read that he had passed away.

I edited this as I found his obituary

Michael Graves (Photo by Bobby Bank/Getty Images)

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) — Celebrated architect Michael Graves, who created whimsical postmodern structures and became well known to the masses later in life for designing products for people with disabilities and household goods such as whistling Alessi teakettles and stainless steel colanders for sale at Target and other stores, died on Thursday. He was 80 years old.

Graves died of natural causes in his home in Princeton, spokeswoman Michelle DiLello said.

He made his name in the 1980s as one of the popularizers of a new kind of architecture, admirers of his work said.

"Michael Graves was a kind of giant of the period of architecture called postmodernism, when architects around the 1980s looked back to European design precedence," said Pauline Saliga, the director of the Society of Architectural Historians. "They kind of rejected the sterility of modernism. They were looking for other design inspirations."

Graves designed buildings all over the world. But his most famous structures may be The Portland Building, the city administrative building in Portland, Oregon, and The Humana Building, a 26-story skyscraper in Louisville, Kentucky.

Those buildings, which opened in 1982, and others used a variety of colors and shapes and have sometimes eccentric juts in and out a little like Lego creations.

President Bill Clinton awarded Graves the National Medal of Arts in 1999, and the American Institute of Architects gave him its gold medal, the highest award for an architect, in 2001.

Later in life, Graves started designing signature household items such as teakettles and colanders for two major American retail stores.

Graves' Alessi kettle, introduced in 1985, features a spout with a bird that sings when the water boils. It's part of a series of Alessi-style items including pitchers and kitchen timers that have been very popular sellers.

In 2003, Graves was paralyzed from the waist down from an infection. He used a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

After the illness, he began a third career, designing for people with disabilities. He designed items including a wheelchair, heating pads and bathroom handrails and accessible homes for the Wounded Warrior Project.

He was recognized by another president for this work when President Barack Obama named him to the United States Access Board in 2013.

Graves, born in Indianapolis, studied architecture at the University of Cincinnati and Harvard University. He won the Rome Prize in 1960 and spent two years studying in Italy.

After he returned to the U.S., he began a four-decade career teaching at Princeton University.