No need for the thanks.Gorilla Mask wrote:I have to (again) warmly thanks you for taking time to bring these links. From a cultural point of view, i am learning a lot. That is exactly the style (Altogether with Art deco, i have to admit) i am fond of ! That was one of the reason why i first review all the MPI show six years ago.Pahonu wrote:
It is sad to think that Pahonu is gone given its beautiful design and high quality construction, but it was a design (internally) for another time, and even well built structures need maintenance. Pahonu was neglected for too long and ultimately it’s land became the real value of the property over the buildings themselves.
Those Zorro scenes were filmed on the soundstages at Disney Studios in Burbank, not far from where I grew up. Coincidentally, I briefly met Tom Selleck there back in the mid-90’s. I was there for a meeting that happened to be in an office next to the one he had there at the time.
I said to my wife, while staring at "Robin's Nest', : " that is the place i would have wanted to live !"
Here in Dordogne, we have just bought a very nice and quite large countryside house in "Périgourdine" style. I like it much too, but ol' Pahonu will stay as the "state of art".
The main House was only 80 years old when it was torn down (that is not very very old here, in France): did the inner structure suffered damage beyond repair or was it the new owner's choice ?
I’m glad you enjoy it.I’m a life-long student of architectural history and a high school teacher by profession. It’s what I love. I’ve even managed to combine the two as I currently teach in an academy the focuses on careers in architecture and engineering. I feel very lucky to be able to do so.
Congratulations on your new home! I was unfamiliar with the term for that style of home. I did a little research on it. Here in the US there was a brief period after WWI when a style of architecture we call French Eclectic was popular, at least on the east coast. It had lots of different influences from France, hence the “eclectic”, but it was largely based on rural types with the high-pitched hipped roofs such as yours. I find it a beautiful style with much in common with Spanish Colonial Revival. That may sound odd to you, but I find they both share a somewhat rustic manner, using traditional materials hand-crafted in a very traditional way. I’m quite drawn to these elements.
They are very different than Art Deco! I find that style of furnishings and architecture quite beautiful and spare, but it has always seemed less suited for domestic architecture to me. In fact, Art Deco homes are quite rare in the US. Apartments and hotels are more common, with streamline moderne being more common than the geometric, zigzag shapes typical of Art Deco.
Depending on where you are in the US, 80 years old may or may not be that old. No comparison to Europe, of course. In Boston, people live in homes 200+ years old, some approaching 300, and amazingly, many are wood! California wasn’t even settled by Europeans 300 years ago and Hawaii was unknown to them, so 80 years old is quite a long time, relatively speaking.
Pahonu’s early demise was largely from more recent neglect, perhaps the last 10-15 years. I’m pretty confident the wall and floor structures were still sound based on the construction method. Some of the foundation and floors are still there, but all the exterior woodwork was rotting. The homes roof leaked for years as evidenced by tarps over many parts of the house seen in past photos. Shortly before it was sold the roof was replaced, but interior water damage would have destroyed much of the plaster inside. Wrought iron detailing has to constantly be painted to avoid rust in what is a very wet climate. Without historic protection or any financial incentives like tax breaks, restoring the home made no economic sense. The value of the land ultimately far exceeded the home, and razing Pahonu to build new homes made more fiscal sense for both the owner and developer.
) in and out down the ramp (drive/boatway?) to the beach. It also has a regular sized door on the side as do many garages, to go in and out more easily than opening the big doors. I always thought it would have been the perfect place to have Magnum store his surf ski, but it was already being used to depict the guest house.
1970s television was a small world!