I want this house so badly, it isn't funny!

[Lefty]

Not bad. Here's my dream estate.
http://www.stanhywet.org/dynamic/default.aspx
Built for Frank Seiberling, the CEO of The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in 1912. I've been here a few times when I used to live nearby, and can attest to it's grandeur. I highly recommend a visit if you get to the Akron area in Ohio.

I'm in Highland Square, about five minutes away. My wife and I were members a couple of years ago. The membership paid for itself in three(?) visits, so we didn't feel the need to spend too much time on any given visit. We'd go with a picnic basket, find a nice area in the garden, sit and eat, and come back another day.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Here's a history on the house in Kenosha WI...
#6 W.H. ALFORD HOUSE
6315 Third Avenue
(1928-1930) Tudor Revival
Built for $350,000 between
1928 and 1930, this fine Tudor
Revival house is a red brick,
two and one-half story building
with a slate tile gable roof. The
entry pavilion is constructed of
stone and topped with battlements. The tudor-arched entrance is
decorated with stone label molding and a stone surround; above the
entrance is an oriel window trimmed in stone. Multi-paned, casementtype
windows are decorated with label moldings and tabbed stone
surrounds. There is a two-story tower section at the northwest corner of
the main block of the house. Richard Philip was the architect for the
Alford House.
Walter H. Alford was vice-president of the Nash Motor Company when
he began construction on the home. He was President of the city
council and promoted the 1925 city plan that brought about the
development of the Civic Center concept.

As Atomic Tom will tell you, I confessed to him a few weeks ago...I run the internet. If I can't find it, it doesn't exist...well most of the time.

 

[Tomasso]

...I run the internet.

And yet, you double posted..... But seriously, everyone knows that Lefty runs the interweb......

 

[Gregg Axley]

Yeah why did it do that.
Did it to me when the lounge was down too.
Fixed it...

 

[Tomasso]

Yeah why did it do that.

You tell me, you're runnin' the show.

 

[Oldsarge]

Well I'm sure he was all that and more but he was mistaken about the Kaufmanns feelings towards Fallingwater. They used it as a summer home (for which it was designed) for over a decade before Mrs Kaufmann committed suicide on the property, after which it went vacant for several years before being turned over to a foundation.

And I would stop way short of branding FLW's homes entirely unlivable; let's just say they were/are high maintenance properties.

Come to L.A. and visit Hollyhock House some time. It totally escapes me how a man who designed the most earthquake-proof building in Tokyo could in the same decade build a home that has to be heavily repaired every time we have a Richtor 5 or greater temblor. I suppose you can call that 'high maintenance' but I call it unlivable!

 

[scottyrocks]

Well I'm sure he was all that and more but he was mistaken about the Kaufmanns feelings towards Fallingwater. They used it as a summer home (for which it was designed) for over a decade before Mrs Kaufmann committed suicide on the property, after which it went vacant for several years before being turned over to a foundation.

And I would stop way short of branding FLW's homes entirely unlivable; let's just say they were/are high maintenance properties.

This is the way I've heard it, too.

FW, as avant-garde as it is, did have its design problems. When I was there about 10 years ago, the main balcony was supported by steel posts to the rocks below because it was sagging. The floor of the balcony was being pulled up so that it could be reinforced with a cable and pulley system which was supposed to keep the balcony from sagging. I never checked back to see if the repairs were successful.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Just research Tomasso, as for html stuff I never got that far. I'm not programmed for that.
As with life, glitches happen...
What I find interesting about the house that initially started this, is the vice president of Nash had that kind of dough back then. I understand they were a huge company, but wow.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

My God!!!!! That is absolutely gorgeous!!!!!! I love it!!!!!:eusa_clap Is that really your parents house?

That is most excellent! Good photo too,..the light makes it look rather like a Thomas Kinkade. (I wonder if his folks would adopt me?)

 

[dhermann1]

This house was built by Mr Packard of Packard automobiles in Chautauqua NY in 1916. I think it has 24 rooms. An English friend called it Stockbroker Tudor. Built from poured concrete. It's like a fort.

 

[dhermann1]

The house that I'm drooling over lately is this one. Built in 1925, it was bought in 1937 by FDR's Secretary of the Interior, Harold La Grange Ickes. I'm halfway through his 3 volume collected diaries from his time in office. It's like West Wing, but in 1937. Fun stuff. NOTTTHHHING has changed since 1937. Notttthhhing.

http://blog.searchpotomachomes.com/2011/01/31/own-historic-home-in-olney-md/

But what a great house. I can just see FDR lounging with a highball in the back yard.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I'm in Highland Square, about five minutes away. My wife and I were members a couple of years ago. The membership paid for itself in three(?) visits, so we didn't feel the need to spend too much time on any given visit. We'd go with a picnic basket, find a nice area in the garden, sit and eat, and come back another day.

Cool. Whenever I get back to Ohio, I will definitely try to get a visit in.
There used to be so many huge estates in the Cleveland/Akron area, too bad most are gone now.
Two that I know of that are public buildings that are worth seeing are the Lyndhurst Public Library on Mayfield Road. It was a French Chateau style home owned by William E. Telling who owned and operated the dairy that became Sealtest. http://www.cuyahoga.lib.oh.us/StdBackPage.aspx?id=1349http://
Another is The Wildwood Cultural Center in Mentor on Little Mountain Road. The former Oliver family summer residence. A sprawling Tudor style house on a large forested chunk of land.http://cityofmentor.com/play/explore/wildwood/

 

[Deco-Doll-1928]

I want this house!

http://www.gamblehouse.org/photos/index.html

I know it's being operated like a "museum" and historical landmark and is not for sale, but that's only a minor technicality.

If I can't have that. I will settle for a nice old Victorian house like the ones found in San Francisco.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I haven't been out to Kenosha in sometime, I had heard it had gone downhill. I guess not everywhere!

Tom, you'd be surprised. If you're ever down here go for a drive through the Allendale district; It has some fantastic mansions!

 

[scotrace]

Not bad. Here's my dream estate.
http://www.stanhywet.org/dynamic/default.aspx
Built for Frank Seiberling, the CEO of The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in 1912. I've been here a few times when I used to live nearby, and can attest to it's grandeur. I highly recommend a visit if you get to the Akron area in Ohio.

It's not to be missed! Last year, I saw the Ohio Shakespeare Company do "Taming of the Shrew" on the lawn - WOW! And on Father's Day, they used to hose a major car show.

 

[Lefty]

The car show is the biggest draw for Stan Hywet every year. It's really great, but about 80% of the cars are the same from year to year.

Kingwood Center is also a nice visit. It pales next to Stan Hywet, but it's free. Plus, you can make a day of it with the Richland Carrousel park/ and a visit to the Shawshank Redemption prison. I recommend skipping the guided tour of the prison, which is nothing more than a falling-down, rusted out pile of scrap, and sticking to the free areas.

 

[adouglasmhor]

My God!!!!! That is absolutely gorgeous!!!!!! I love it!!!!!:eusa_clap Is that really your parents house?

Everything Left of the arch (the house itself), everything right of the arch (stable which is used as my brother's workshop, a coach house dad uses as a garage for his car and a tack room he uses as a store for his scout troop's gear).
The steel door straight ahead of the arch is in to a self contained 2 bedroom cottage which belongs to the Met Office and where a weather computer is kept in the fireplace of one room, the other rooms are all empty, just a computer and a data line. They only service it twice a year. So not intrusive in the least, but a shame the cottage is empty.

 

[adouglasmhor]

A couple more pics not as well shot but different views in summer.

It's actually in a public park in Glasgow we moved there in 1968.

 

[MikeBravo]

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/6315-3rd-Ave_Kenosha_WI_53143_M88952-45904

I don't know much about the history, but it really shows the elegance of the Golden Era. Anybody wanna lend me a couple million?

That and the $30-40, 000 annual land tax! Yikes

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

This house was built by Mr Packard of Packard automobiles in Chautauqua NY in 1916. I think it has 24 rooms. An English friend called it Stockbroker Tudor. Built from poured concrete. It's like a fort.

Awesome. Comes with a huge garage full of Packards too I bet?
Stan Hywet Hall was built in the same way. Lots of poured concrete, steel I beam framing, lots of bricks, and the slate roof topping it all off, and of course a lot of carved wood inside. State of the art in that era. I can only imagine what something like that would cost to build today. :eeek: