Essex Fells is a very posh little town in between Montclair, home of Stephen Colbert and North Caldwell, home of Anthony and Carmela Soprano
Tasteful Friends: The Very Midcentury NJ Home Richard Meier built for his parents
by Anonymous | reply 25 | February 24, 2021 12:39 AM |
My Dentist's office is in a professional building that looks just like this
by Anonymous | reply 1 | February 20, 2021 10:52 PM |
From 1990 to 2004 I lived a few houses down the street and would walk my dog past the house almost everyday. Not once did I ever see any sign of life in that house. There were cars parked there sometimes but often just void of life. I was not even aware of the owner's name at the time. It was a weird weird looking house and didn't fit the neighborhood. Connie Francis lived on the same street and she was a very sweet and kind lady, albeit a bit quirky. I moved back into the city after that and hardly get back that way, but the house looks unchanged after all these years.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | February 20, 2021 11:05 PM |
Unbelievably creepy. it has Overlook Hotel vibes.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | February 20, 2021 11:08 PM |
This is not Meier's best work and of course it wouldn't be as it was one of his first commissions (cited to be his very first with his own practice). I do love it nonetheless and would kill to have it replicated for myself somewhere else (California for instance) - with different flooring and finishes. The kitchen is particularly dreary as it stands. Features like the gorgeous entry courtyard and walls of glass are timeless; the mess of can lights and obtuse built-ins (like that terrible free-standing bar in the huge but poorly utilized dining area) are not. Updated and refreshed it could be astoundingly beautiful. His use of high ceilings and clerestory windows are stunning. Overall, t's an amazing space - thank you OP.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | February 23, 2021 10:31 AM |
Were his parents Bettina and Max?
by Anonymous | reply 5 | February 23, 2021 10:36 AM |
I love it. I could live there easily. The gardens need a lot of TLC.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | February 23, 2021 10:38 AM |
I can’t wait until the mid-century fad to be over.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | February 23, 2021 10:57 AM |
This Sunday's "Living In" feature in the New York Times was Essex Fells. Bitches commented that it's an all-white town with no commercial district. If you don't like it, don't move there.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | February 23, 2021 11:01 AM |
There's a reason I hate Richard Meir's work and this rare venture into color, such as it is, doesn't dissuade me.
I don't completely hate everything about all of his early domestic work. Douglas House in Michigan of 1973, and Smith House in Darien of 1965-67 (foto), for example have a compactness and sculptural quality that are striking externally (if shit inside), but his vast villas and commercial work is terrible. Again and again and again.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | February 23, 2021 11:22 AM |
R2 Connie's house on Holton Lane was last sold in 2018 for $1,732,500. Built in 1963. Taxes $26,981.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | February 23, 2021 11:39 AM |
I’m too paranoid to live with sliding glass doors and floor-to-ceiling windows.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | February 23, 2021 11:57 AM |
I absolutely love the interiors and how they feel. Lots of light and space and a very gracious feeling to it all. The exterior, however, leaves me cold.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | February 23, 2021 12:09 PM |
R12, I agree. The exterior looks too commercial/financial, but the interior is gorgeous.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | February 23, 2021 10:18 PM |
[quote]The exterior looks too commercial/financial...
It does, R13, like a branch bank. Where is the drive-in teller window?
by Anonymous | reply 14 | February 23, 2021 10:53 PM |
I caught that too R8
Though that's pretty much the comment on every town they feature, along with bitching about how expensive it is.
It's as if they don't get who the NYT core audience is, and/or they believe that every town should have a racial and ethnic balance that reflects the US...unless the town in primarily minority, in which case white people moving in is a no-no. So hard to keep up.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | February 23, 2021 11:01 PM |
It looks like a commercial/institutional building from the outside. Just meh on the inside. The c. 2010 updates just add to the lack of any character.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | February 23, 2021 11:06 PM |
This house is trash compared to the quality Chicago work of John Wellborn Root.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | February 23, 2021 11:16 PM |
I love Mid-Century Modern (go ahead and hate me, DL.), but this is too white, and the exterior is absolutely dreadful. I need more wood, more color in my version.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | February 23, 2021 11:17 PM |
I know of two other Brutalist building which are similar— a rectangular block with a staircase contained within a kind of cylinder at the side.
But the cylinder here has no staircase but provides an ominous space over the conversation area.
by Anonymous | reply 19 | February 23, 2021 11:36 PM |
This imitation-Corbusian house needs some decoration—
by Anonymous | reply 20 | February 23, 2021 11:40 PM |
Livable but the midcentury decor would have to go.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | February 24, 2021 12:15 AM |
I like the interiors a lot (though there's a bit too much brick) but the exterior looks sad to me.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | February 24, 2021 12:18 AM |
Imagine how many times they’ve replaced windows because of golf balls. They had to build that semi-circle just to protect A Art for Christ sakes.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | February 24, 2021 12:23 AM |
Yes, exactly. It's definitely influenced (too much) by Brutalism, R19.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | February 24, 2021 12:32 AM |
I like other Meier works and classi mid century design overall, but this is horrible. Hate both that exterior and the interior.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | February 24, 2021 12:39 AM |