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houses that morph...
2002.06.16 15:23
houses that morph into something else
The Sessorian Palace, as it morphed over centuries from imperial home of Elagabalus to the baroque church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme today, is what started me thinking about houses that morph into something else. Such changes are not at all uncommon however, and any trip through inner urban areas, like North Philadelphia, for example, will present many former houses that are now either churches, or stores, or some other businesses. Houses that morph into something else are likewise not uncommon among the 88 Houses of Ill-Repute as presently featured at Quondam.
Of the 88 houses so far, those that (have) morphed comprise:
Franklin Court **
Bye House
Maison Millennium 001
Maison Millennium 002
Maison Millennium 003
Maison Millennium 004
House for a Schizophrenic [Brother] 01
House for a Schizophrenic [Brother} 02
Houses 10: Museum **
House in Laguna 01
Knowleton
Pennypacker Mills **
Lemon Hill **
Japanese House * (**)
Hatfield * (**)
Mount Sharon Baptist Church
Letitia Street House * (**)
Glencairn (**)
Cairnwood
Fonthill **
Sessorian Palace
Ryerss Library and Museum **
Glen Foerd
Cedar Grove * (**)
Mount Pleasant **
Lynnwood Hall
Maison l'Homme **
Deshler House **
Design-L House
Of these houses, several are houses (marked *) that have physically moved from one site [their original site] to another site, and in one case, the Japanese House, to a third site. Here, the houses themselves have not changed but their location has. Incidentally, all these houses that have moved are on or adjacent Girard Avenue, Philadelphia.
John Hejduk's Bye House has recently moved from being a virtual building (in this case 'paper' architecture) to an actual building now in the Netherlands, and in this 'morphing' process the built rendition was increased/morphed in scale by a factor of 1.2 (I think) for easier construction.
The Maison Millenniums, the Houses for a Schizophrenic [Brother], House in Laguna 01, and Design-L House are all virtual houses that morph mostly because of or to demonstrate that morphing is easy within and often an inert quality of being/remaining virtual.
Mount Sharon Baptist Church, the Sessorian Palace, and Lynnwood Hall are houses of residence that morphed into Houses of Worship [although Lynnwood Hall may be in reality only a tax shelter].
Deshler House, in Germantown, Philadelphia, morphed into the US Executive Mansion (i.e., presidential home of George and Martha Washington) in the mid-1790s, when Yellow Fever broke out in 'downtown' Philadelphia. I'm not exactly sure, but I assume Deshler House is today the only existing true (albeit quondam) Executive Mansion besides the White House.
Knowleton, Glen Foerd, and, to some extent, Cairnwood have morphed into popular catering/event facilities.
The rest of the houses on the above list comprise the type of morphed house that is most common to the list, namely, houses that morphed into museums (marked **). Museum houses, as they are usually called, are indeed popular around the world, thus it is perhaps not surprising that so many should be on a list of 88 houses from within an architecture museum's collection. Personally, I find houses that morph into museums fascinating because the best ones are more museum's of someone's life(style) rather than museums of a certain field of natural or historical significance. Houses that morph into museums also often have limited design input from architects--I like the lesson of that irony as well.
ps
While writing this letter I noticed that Stenton, Robert Venturi's favorite building in Philadelphia, was mistakenly omitted from the list of 88 Houses of Ill-Repute so far. Stenton is now (or at least by tomorrow) the 87th house.
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