buildings news
A sentiment in a minor key
The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco is out of the way now, sandwiched between The Presidio military barracks and a residential neighbourhood. It was out on the edge because it it sits on what used to be the swampy 635 acre home of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition (“The Innocent Fair”). There’s little left to see of the buildings that made up the expo, but it was well-documented – here’s a good glimpse showing the Palace in construction.
Neutra Unsold
Richard Neutra’s house for Edgar Kaufmann in Palm Springs was auctioned at Christie’s in May (here’s the PDF flyer ), sandwiched between other modern painters and sculptors. Bidding started at $9.5M. and it sold for US $16.8M. Phew – though they were expecting up to $25M. The Art Newspaper revealed last week that a week after the auction, it all came unstuck. They quote Christie’s as saying, “the Kaufmann House contract has been terminated by the seller by reason of a breach of its terms by the buyer.” They must be worrying about their $1.8M commission…
12.08.08 in buildings
Architect / protaganist: