In 1956, my father, Louis C. Cerrito, M.D. commissioned Paul Rudolph to design his home in Watch Hill, RI. Rudolph had remodeled our house in Sarasota, Florida in 1953.
The site was on a hill overlooking the lower 7 holes of The Misquamicut Club and the Atlantic Ocean. On a clear day, you could see Block Island.
This was a 4 bedroom and 3 bath house and was just under 4,000 square feet.
Paul Rudolph went on to become one of America's famous architects and his structures are known worldwide.
The current owners, who bought the house in 2000, have decided that they needed a larger home and have given the house to Kevin Lindores and Daniel Sachs who will essentially cut the house in half and place it on 2 flatbed trucks and move it to Catskill, N.Y.
The Paul Rudolph Foundation helped find Lindores and Sachs who are paying all the excavation and moving costs and the Rudolph structure will be saved.
I was in college at the time and only spent weekends at the house and enjoyed every minute of it.
My Dad sold it in 1969 which, in retrospect, was a huge mistake. But who can predict the future and he had other things to do.
The house was designed for this site and I will be very interested to see how it fits in in Catskill, NY.
I have lived in Sarasota, Florida for the past 40 years. Sarasota was where Ralph Twitchell, Paul Rudolph and others created the Sarasota School of Architecture. Sarasota has numerous Rudolph structures and unfortunately too many have been leveled to make way for another ugly McMansion.
Unlike the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Richard Neutra and Louis Kahn, buildings by Paul Rudolph today regularly disappear from the landscape. This is not some philistine conspiracy, but rather the sifting of time, which separates great architecture from period pieces. In the end, Rudolph was not a profound form-giver of proportion and function, but merely a stylist derivative enough to fool critics.
The Cerritto House designed by Paul Rudolph, to be saved from demolition by being moved to New York
Cerrito House by Paul Rudolph
ReplyDeleteIn 1956, my father, Louis C. Cerrito, M.D. commissioned Paul Rudolph to design his home in Watch Hill, RI. Rudolph had remodeled our house in Sarasota, Florida in 1953.
The site was on a hill overlooking the lower 7 holes of The Misquamicut Club and the Atlantic Ocean. On a clear day, you could see Block Island.
This was a 4 bedroom and 3 bath house and was just under 4,000 square feet.
Paul Rudolph went on to become one of America's famous architects and his structures are known worldwide.
The current owners, who bought the house in 2000, have decided that they needed a larger home and have given the house to Kevin Lindores and Daniel Sachs who will essentially cut the house in half and place it on 2 flatbed trucks and move it to Catskill, N.Y.
The Paul Rudolph Foundation helped find Lindores and Sachs who are paying all the excavation and moving costs and the Rudolph structure will be saved.
I was in college at the time and only spent weekends at the house and enjoyed every minute of it.
My Dad sold it in 1969 which, in retrospect, was a huge mistake. But who can predict the future and he had other things to do.
The house was designed for this site and I will be very interested to see how it fits in in Catskill, NY.
I have lived in Sarasota, Florida for the past 40 years. Sarasota was where Ralph Twitchell, Paul Rudolph and others created the Sarasota School of Architecture. Sarasota has numerous Rudolph structures and unfortunately too many have been leveled to make way for another ugly McMansion.
Charles W. Cerrito
Unlike the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Richard Neutra and Louis Kahn, buildings by Paul Rudolph today regularly disappear from the landscape. This is not some philistine conspiracy, but rather the sifting of time, which separates great architecture from period pieces. In the end, Rudolph was not a profound form-giver of proportion and function, but merely a stylist derivative enough to fool critics.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate when the harshest criticism comes from those hiding behind a veil of anonymity
ReplyDelete