Louis Kahn house in Chestnut Hill on the auction block - PhillyBlog

kellyc · #1 (**permalink**) 03-19-2008, 11:27 PM

From NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/ga...tml?ref=garden

Quote:

On May 18, the Wright auction house in Chicago, which specializes in 20th-century art and design, will be offering Esherick House in its Important Design sale. Richard Wright, the firm’s president, estimates that it will bring $2 million to $3 million. “Louis Kahn only did three major architectural homes in his career,” Mr. Wright said. “Joe Rosa, the curator of the architectural department at the Art Institute of Chicago, who wrote a book on Louis Kahn, feels that it is his best residential structure.

Voodoo · #2 (**permalink**) 03-20-2008, 12:11 AM

It's very un-Chestnut Hillish.

I would consider buying it if it was in Nittabaconck.

Simon Wolf · #3 (**permalink**) 03-22-2008, 02:12 AM

I did a bunch of research into this house recently (it's one of two Kahn buildings in the city and one of three or four in the region) and it's an amazingly designed little house, right at the edge of a park.

The interior functions like a well-designed loft apartment, with an open living space on the first floor and a bedroom on the upper level.

My only question is why is this being sold by Wright in Chicago rather than by David Rago (who's at least in the region) or Freeman's? I know Wright is the leading Modernist auctioneer in the country, but still...

I think their estimate is very low: the kitchen, which is by Wharton Esherick is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars on its own. Esherick's work is highly prized and hard-to-find.

One more thought: if you drive around Chestnut Hill and look carefully, there are actually quite a few MCM houses from the 50's and 60's tucked in here and there, among the trees.

Simon Wolf · #4 (**permalink**) 05-20-2008, 02:00 AM

It didn't sell.

Interestingly, the better-known Kauffman House in Palm Springs (not to be confused with the Kauffman House in Bear Run) by Richard Neutra brought $14 million at Christie's.