As you well know, I’m actually a bit more involved with immobile curbside classics than the wheeled variety. Unfortunately, too many new houses have zero interest for me, but there’s the occasional exception, like this three story house we’ve been watching go up over the past four years (or is it five?), one story at a time. But it finally got its top floor, and it is definitely a bit out of the ordinary, in a good way.
I wish I’d photographed it over the years to show its progress. It was just the first story for at least 2-3 years. I asked the guy one day, and he said it was a workshop. Proof that it was already built in 2016 is on its exterior wall. And it’s presumably not coming down for a while longer.
We caught the tail end of the refrigerator being hauled up to the third floor via its built-in crane.
There it is, up on that top floor balcony, which conveniently has a a gap in its railing wall for access. That piece will likely get filled in later.
Here’s a better view of the crane. I suspect it will stay up there for future use.
This is essentially how every older house in Amsterdam and so many other old Northern European row houses deal with moving furniture in and out: pulleys and ropes are attached to those hooks, and then the furniture goes in through the large windows below it. In some cases there’s just a little door up there at the top that gets opened and the rail gets extended through the opening.
This new house isn’t the first three story house on the lot. The owner/builder had a trial run some years earlier with this smaller one on the back of the lot. I showed it to you here, but can’t find the post now.
Here it is from the other side, but the sun is playing havoc with my phone camera. But its easy to see that the new one is a direct evolution of the little one.
So they haul up the fridge, then fill in the hole? What happens when they need a new fridge? I’m fascinated by the whole thing.
As long as the panel for the railing gap is removable, they can duplicate the process whenever necessary. The gap has the darker wood framing the opening, so it’s already designed to accept a fill panel.
The owner can bolt in the panel with removable lag screws or even hang an half-door. I’d probably use barn door hinges on the outside, so you could pivot it out of the way and lay it flat against exterior wall.
I agree that it is set up to open/remove for future use. A friend of mine, a now retired contractor put in a similar system in the 3 story house he built. His is on a little balcony too and has a section of railing that is designed to be unbolted for when he wants to haul something up or down. He has it set up with a I beam that hangs out past the building and has a trolley that the winch hangs from. Slide the trolley out with the hook, drop the rope, winch it up and then use the hook to pull the trolley in and the item over the floor. Then it is an easy shot in through the french doors.
Great piece of architecture with that slanted wall. Here’s what some believe to be a good piece of design work as well, yet others, not so much. A very polarizing design for a building.
My son could have used a crane to hoist his sofa in to the second floor of his townhouse. Instead they had to get a bunch of guys to push it up a ladder and then over the balcony, as it would not make the turn to get up the tight staircase.
Yikes, in the first photo it kind of looks like the whole thing is going to topple over into the street.
Does Eugene have building code inspection an enforcement?
Looks pretty sketchy.
Dave
Yeah, “sketchy” was the first word I thought of, as well. But, then, when there’s a housing crisis (at least for those of normal means), you do what you have to do.
No, people just build whatever and however they want. Hey, this is the West. We don’t want no guvmint telling us what or how to build, even in a city of 165,000. I’m thinking of putting in a 60 story tower on a lot I own down the street. Or maybe a hog barn. I’m still mulling it over…
And if it looks sketchy to you, maybe you’ve been holed up in the desert too long? Do you ever spend time in a modern, growing city? Where some folks don’t want to live in another cookie-cutter Mini-McMansion?
I am getting a McMansion ads on the sidebar as I am reading this 🙂
How about a nice cookie cutter $600,000 townhouse Paul? Somehow I can’t see that happening…
A sixty story hog barn would be awesome. Hope the hogs can climb steps.
Vertical farming is a new trend.
A lot of small towns in the mid west don’t allow residential dwellings with more than 2 stories because the local fire departments don’t have the equipment in the event of a fire. And they can’t afford to buy equipment to support it.
I’m glad for you though Paul.
It looks sketchy, but that’s probably the point. The house is probably solid enough underneath.
It’s no Frank Lloyd Wright but if it’s built to code (assuming there actually are building codes), I guess it’s okay.
Define “sketchy”. I’m wondering why so many of you have called it that.
Well the kids today, actually the kids from a few years ago* would define sketchy as something that either looks scary, looks poor, ispoorly done, or won’t be able to do what it is advertised to do.
I’d give metal siding a sketchy as I think that part looks poor, both the color choice and all the dents.
Otherwise it looks like it was done with proper forethought to look like it was designed as they went along. From what I can tell from the pictures it looks as if it was done with at least an average level of craftsmanship, if not better than.
So yeah I might not build/buy something just like it but I can’t say it isn’t interesting and so much more welcoming than a neighborhood with 3 house plans and 3 approved colors.
*Source, spending a lot of time working with HS students for the past 11 years and it has fallen out of favor, at least with my most recent crops of students.
I don’t think color choice is
“sketchy”. They can paint it what ever they want. It might be well “less popular” Paint is paint and you can change it. But many places in the US are pretty strict in what you can build. As a home owner of a custom built home I found that out. Even the home size. I know this is why the “Tiny Houses” are struggling where I live.
Bob
I agree that color is a personal choice and root of my problem is the look of dents in that siding, that I bet would not show up so much in a lighter color.
The other thing is that being in the RE business and grey being the “in” color for a number of years I have a bit of PTSD around it. That comes from seeing way too much dark grey lipstick on outright pigs, and seeing those same houses a couple of years later where the cheap dark grey paint didn’t weather too well.
The current fashion today around here is “Coastal Plantation” in stark white with black trim. Two million dollar new homes that look cheap.
Like it will collapse after being hit by the first strong wind.
That confirms what I’ve long suspected about your judgement.
To put your mind to ease, all new construction here has to meet a very high seismic code as well as a wind code.
Sorry for stating the obvious. It would appear that I’m not alone in my judgement, either.
I think it’s a combination of factors, at least for me, and I like stuff like this. The sun clearly screwed with our ability to really “see” the house, but not only that, it seems to have highlighted the uneven texture in the siding. Then there is the wood trim that isn’t parallel, nor seems to have the creases align (probably again of the lighting). Then the lead photo shows that downward angled window style, that again screws with your mind relative to the roofline angles and to the wood directional application you see. I’d bet a ton of money the house looks very nice, but translates horriblbly in photos. Even to my eye it appears “wobbly”, hence the negative reaction. The earlier house doesn’t show those “extras”. YMMV…
There’s a house that looks somewhat like this (less exaggerated, but with a slanted wall) near us. My 4th grade daughter has developed an interest in architecture, and I love her critiques of buildings… with this particular house, she told me it “looks like it was designed by Spiderman’s 5-year-old son.” I always laugh at that when I pass by that house.
Children’s critiques can be so devastatingly candid!
Having been involved in some moves involving plenty of staircases, that rope and pulley system looks pretty attractive.
As a Dutch guy I approve of rope and pulley systems to move furniture. Beats turning around on stairs any day.
That was common to load hey on the loft on barns in the upper mid west. I wise idea.
Bob
Hoisting furniture via rope and pulley is not uncommon in the U.S. My wife had a cousin who lived on the 12th floor of an apartment building in Chicago (beautiful view of the lake from the patio). The only way to get his concert grand piano into the apartment was to rig a block and tackle, hoist it from the street and then swing it onto the patio and from there to its designated spot inside. I forgot the dollar amount he said it cost to have this done but as I remember it was more than the purchase price of the piano, which was 20-25 years old by this time (late 1980’s). Many older apartment buildings do not have elevators and hoisting bulky items is often easier than trying to carry them up via the stairs.
It reminds me of the old saying that ‘a camel was a horse designed by a committee’.
Sorry,, but this was at least a 4 story house. (The 4th story being how this house came to be.)
While I like some of the design, I’m not a fan of the dark grey siding that appears to be metal, that has quite a few “dents” in it. Doesn’t look so great now and chances are it is only going to go down hill from here, collecting more dents and fading. Not to mention how hot that siding is going to get from the sun in the summer. Plus I’m just so tired of the grey everything fad.
Novelty architecture. Something for people to laugh at in 5 or 10 years time.
Out of scale with the surroundings.
No respect for the character of the locale.
Yep, call me a gnarly old curmudgeon.
And you kids, get off my lawn!
Out of scale with the surroundings.
No respect for the character of the locale.
Are you familiar with this area? If not, you’re making wild ass assumptions. This house is located in the Whitaker District, one of the oldest in town, and the only one zoned “mixed use” meaning there are large industries, commercial buildings, warehouses, breweries, restaurants, and some old and new residential houses. There are large commercial buildings very close to this house, including a giant warehouse. So your critique is baseless.
Yup, I’m calling you not just a gnarly old curmudgeon, but an one that shoots from the hip without knowing what he’s actually shooting at. 🙂
Paul, I won’t dispute your point about knowing the area. I based my comments on the little I could see in the photos, which seems fairly ‘normal’ residential.
In fact, your description of the area paints an entirely different picture. It appears your point is that the built environment is already so degraded that even the most ridiculous architectural fad could not harm it further.
Bah humbug! 🙂
It appears your point is that the built environment is already so degraded
Man, your judgmental blind assumptions just won’t quit. This neighborhood is extremely popular and a magnet for development precisely because of its mixed use and long history of that. Turns out some folks like living in a place where there’s also businesses, commercial buildings, art studios, etc.. That’s its appeal, and makes it an interesting one to walk through, which we do almost daily.
There’s a guy there that has a repair shop specializing in old Mercedes, and he and his family lives upstairs in an area he expanded and turned into a nice residence.
I’m imagining what your “undegraded” neighborhood looks like, and I suspect I wouldn’t like walking through it every day.
Amen, Paul. I’m personally a huge fan of neighbourhoods that have transitioned from industrial to residential/commercial, e.g. the Meatpacking District in Manhattan and Teneriffe here in Brisbane. Suburbia just isn’t for me at the moment and I don’t know if it ever will be. I’ll take the generally forgettable, dull hum of traffic noises over the grating sounds of lawns being mowed every single weekend.
I can’t wait to see Oregon.
Hey Paul,
Perhaps a little elaboration wouldn’t hurt here.
I’ve got no problem with interesting neighbourhoods etc. And I’ve got no problem with interesting architecture, in general. And I’m with you on boring urban sprawl suburbia – I would hate it myself. (I happen to live in an old inner city area, complete with former industries, commercial buildings, warehouses…)
And I make no criticism of the Whitaker District. I acknowledge you didn’t mean ‘the area’s already buggered, so a bit more crap won’t hurt’.
What I was touching on applies more generally, and that is that if the local people fail to enforce some standards, a code of some sorts, then some will take advantage of that and build whatever suits their own ends ($ or otherwise) at the expense of the local character and amenity.
The local people (i.e. anywhere) have a lot invested in their area, both financially and emotionally, so they may not be pleased when some clown comes along and builds a huge apartment block in their single story street, or something that is architecturally ‘challenging’. Clearly, the rules are different in a former industrial area to a place that has an established character of a different nature.
In regard to the house in the article, you think it’s great, I think it’s silly. Cool, we agree to disagree. 🙂
One person’s “degraded” is another’s “diversity”. Nothing wrong with some variety, it is far more interesting that bland conformity in any form.
That house gave the HOA a coronary!
HOA! In the Whitaker District! Fat chance. This is a very old mixed use area full of commercial buildings, warehouses, industries, breweries, a large grain processing elevator, and some residences.
’62 Dodge architecture.
Curious. The only reason I posted this is because when I posted the smaller three story (not storey, in the US!) house here some years back, it got a lot of positive comments. Not this time. Apparently CC’s readership is getting more conservative and curmudgeonly by the year! 🙂
Maybe you all need to a…open your minds just a wee bit.
Having watched the comments in this thread the last several hours I agree – I don’t get the “sketchy” and other, uh, doubt filled comments. It’s the man’s house and I’d wager he’s put a hell of a lot more sweat equity into it than a lot folks around here have put into their own home.
Not everyone is able or willing to simply write a check to make their dreams materialize.
I admire this guy’s ingenuity and making the most of what he’s got. That’s a timeless trait, but it seems such is no longer worthy of respect. For all the work I’ve put into my house (such as redoing every wall in the basement with dry wall and reconfiguring a closet, no permits sought or acquired, thank you very much) he makes my efforts look like a rank amateur.
If anything the world needs more people like this. And Lord knows I have a curmudgeonly streak.
I enjoy seeing articles about houses and other buildings. Thanks for posting this, Paul.
I’m with you, I don’t quite understand it, I wouldn’t buy it, but it looks like it was a labor of love for the builder/owner and that it was well thought out. It is unique, but that is a good thing in my mind. Much much better than a cookie cutter neighborhood which I just can’t see living in every again. I’ve got one house, that I previously lived in which was a bunch of houses all built off of the same basic plan. They did a couple of different roof treatments and some like mine had a 2 car garage instead of a 1 car and of course they had a reversed plan too.
The builder really got his money’s worth out of that plan too as well as obviously bought the same hardware over and over again. Two years ago I came across the identical house, built one year later, in another street of the same houses. That had been owned by the same person for several 4 or 5 decades that still had most of the same hardware, medicine cabinet, and cook top as ours did when we purchased it almost 30 years ago.
Meanwhile the last 2 houses I’ve purchased are in developments but in both cases the lots were sold to individual builders and owner’s for their custom house. So no two are alike and they range in styles very dramatically.
It’s possible to have an open mind and still find what enters unappealing. This falls under that category for me, It’s eclectic, artsy and postmodern, I GET IT! You’re a free spirit, want a trophy? Or is that reward too conventional too? Sorry but my cynicism slices both ways, I don’t like suburban tract McMansions either, but that doesn’t mean I need to embrace the full spectrum of alternatives with a pinned smile. In my experience the self proclaimed open minded are as hive minded as anyone they are so quick to label as close minded.
Having said that, I don’t mind the bones of this house all that much and would totally live there and make it my own over more conventional dwellings. It looks a lot like the tree house my cousins and I built at my grandpas old house when we were kids, right down to the mismatched siding and tilted side. The details are what throw me more than anything, I just don’t like clutter. I’m neat and prefer symmetry, it’s MY individual quirk
Maybe after all the additions are complete, it can be painted, have roofing and have siding put on the dormers
It could look like this when finished
Neat house, good to see something more individualistic than what is considered “the norm”. Of course if one compares houses in different states to each other even “the norm” looks different, and even more so when one involves different countries.
The more I look at the pictures the more I like what I see. Different textures, different angles, different materials used creatively (such as the wood siding zigzagging, what a pain to get right but such a great effect when done).
The metal color looks like “urbane bronze” one of the more popular accent colors on houses all over the place currently and quite common on modern standing seam metal roofing. Set off against the stained wood and in conjunction with the modern look fence it works for me. Say what you will but at least the shit ain’t boring. Good for him, one day he’ll sell it and it’ll likely fetch a nice premium over equivalent square footage homes in the same area due to unique character. I’d like to see the inside. Paul, I think you need to pop over there with a plate of brownies, standard or the other legal kind, in hand.
Count me in on one who’d like to see the interior and how it plays with the exterior, ie the slanted window areas, but then again I have a fascination with the storefronts that have the slanted glass, much more interesting.
Its a house version of the Johnny Cash song “One Piece At A Time”.
All of Occupy Wall Street got together and made a condo.
Maybe they were holding the plans upside-down when they built it.
That had a giant powerful magnet and it just pulled anything containing metal within half a mile together in a clump. Then they added some straw.
Sorry, it’s just so easy to mock. It is different from what I like so therefore it’s wrong…
For some reason reminds me of this
Hi James,
What the hell is that thing? It’s kinda awesome!
Columbus, OH in 2045.
Oh, okay. Thanks for explaining it.
I live in a trailer. My neighbors are also in trailers. One thing I know is that trailer people don’t like walking up a lot of stairs…
I believe the structures are the stacked mobile homes from Spielberg’s “Ready Player One”.
I like it and applaud the builder / owner.
Not carbon copy suburbia, individualistic and creative. Diverse architecture enriches our cities and by extension us.
And to the curmudgeons who seem to be replicating faster than suburbia: how many of you can say you built a house?
Andrew
First post from a long time reader here. While this design is challenging for some it does have certain continuity of form. It reminds me of old mining buildings and how they evolve over time based on changing needs. The owner has clearly liberated themselves from the banal vernacular regeneration common across the US. Even those with the financial resources to build something unique rarely step outside the box. Mostly for fear of poor resale value. Funny how so many of us here root for the oddball conveyance but not when it comes to home design. Something about unique design versus our traditional home design makes people feel uncomfortable and needing to discredit. Dare I say somewhat reflective of the current POTUS modus operandi??? Anyway. The only element that has me stymied is that little dormer at opposite angle of the roof and it’s got my brain stuck on duck lips.
I like how the angle of the roof picks up the look of the pop-up on the trailer
I kept quiet about the house as I thought about it. It is not to my taste (I’m a classical/symmetrical kind of guy) but I applaud the owner/builder for doing what he wants.
This is a more extreme version of a number of places going up in redeveloping parts of urban Indianapolis. It is like everyone reads the same stuff on modern archetectural styles and builds it everywhere. I like the house better in that type of neighborhood in Eugene, Oregon than I would in Indianapolis – where it would come off as “let’s all be cool and hip and unique together”.
This is probably the kind of place people will be laughing at in 20-30 years and then venerating in 50 or 60.
Wow! that’s gorgeous!
Puts me in mind of some of the more interesting modern in-fill buildings we occasionally get popping up in Mews & Closes here in Edinburgh. Stuff like the (RIBA award winning – see link) Murphy House (pictured), only moreso… and obviously on a suitably Oregonian scale 😀
Thanks for sharing Paul, that’s genuinely beautiful.
https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/richard-murphys-own-home-crowned-best-house-in-uk/10015858.article
I prefer a Mc Mansion to this. McMansions are honest, in saying (mostly) “I have limited funds, and time” and if not that, in admitting “I have no imagination, so I’ll take familiar”. Whereas this thing is a pile of current cliches, denoting less imagination than either of the above: those angled timber highlights, the extensive black metal cliplock siding, the circle window, the “interesting” leany front windows, the general “celebration” of “industrial chic” (celebrated only by those that have never grafted in grey-metalled lopsided factory).
Perhaps I’v been poisoned by developers locally for me to be rational, as they have co-opted every single element displayed here onto nasty money-making subdivisions. That is, it looks too much like every other tawdry stories-per-square millimetre pop-up pile of pus that’s appeared to replace some uninteresting 1/4 acre
’20’s or later house on every subdivided inner-suburban block here for it to be remotely appealing.
Not all dislike of this Curbside Clutter is necessarily due to age or conservatism.
To wit, I approve of their banner.
I like it… Cover art of a Jefferson Airplane or Quicksilver Messenger Service album form the late 60s comes to mind, just with more contemporary architecture. I am retired AIA, and I will presume it was well enough engineered with the minor bit of cantilevering. Huzzah?, to personal expression in ones home design.
I like it too, though I wouldn’t have chosen such a design for my own home (though I really like shed roofs), and in true NIMBY fashion wouldn’t want it overlooking my very private back yard. But it’s obviously a large enough project not to escape Eugene’s building inspectors, even if the builder was foolish enough not to pull permits. So hardly sketchy. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this on the cover of Sunset magazine or even a more serious architectural magazine.
But it’s obviously a large enough project not to escape Eugene’s building inspectors, even if the builder was foolish enough not to pull permits.
Even the notion that he would/could have built this without permits is absurd.
It’s an interesting house. These kinds of designs are popular for narrow, infill lots in Denver. I don’t imagine this one below in Denver is on more than a 30′-wide lot yet it’s got 3 beds, 4 baths, and 2,338 sq ft. Gotta’ go up if you can’t go out.
This is what $5 million buys in Manhattan Beach, CA on maybe a 4000 sq ft lot. No mcmansions. No HOA. Thankfully, not everything is “Mediterranean”, fake “Craftsman” or “Coastal Plantation”.
The Toyota truck may belong to a local resident, not necessarily a tradesman from out of the area.