Way, way, OT

This just hit me as funny.
I've lived in my apartment for twenty years now, and somehow the
complete dadaist lunacy of this little architectural touch completely
evaded me.
All the walls have a stylish wooden baseboard around their lower edges
to help the transition from the from the sheet-rock walls to the
remaindered shag carpet be appealing to the eye.
And whoever built it back in 1963 cannot be criticized for lack of
diligence, or for maintaining the artistic integrity of their vision of
what it should look like.
This man exists in fiction; this man was celebrated in Ayn Rand's "The
Fountainhead"; this man demanded that the builders of this building cut
that baseboard into two little pieces, each one and a half inches long,
and join them at a perfect ninety degree angle, so that the little
corner between the bathroom and bedroom doors would also have a
baseboard at its lower edge, and realize his vision of what an economy
apartment building should be.
"Form must follow function" as we know, and someone was going to have to
cut those tiny pieces of wood into carefully sculpted diminutive
masterpieces, so that what was to be was a realization of one man's
dream of perfected architectural form and a daring attempt to achieve
the Platonic ideal, and not just another economy apartment building.
He, and they, succeeded.
This man is probably well remembered by the artisans who built this
8-plex, and its twin to the north, in truly profound and memorable
terms...and who had to cut those God-damned things sixteen times over.

On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 12:28:09 -0600, Pat Flannery wrote
(in article ):

This just hit me as funny.
I've lived in my apartment for twenty years now, and somehow the
complete dadaist lunacy of this little architectural touch completely
evaded me.
All the walls have a stylish wooden baseboard around their lower edges
to help the transition from the from the sheet-rock walls to the
remaindered shag carpet be appealing to the eye.
And whoever built it back in 1963 cannot be criticized for lack of
diligence, or for maintaining the artistic integrity of their vision of
what it should look like.
This man exists in fiction; this man was celebrated in Ayn Rand's "The
Fountainhead"; this man demanded that the builders of this building cut
that baseboard into two little pieces, each one and a half inches long,
and join them at a perfect ninety degree angle, so that the little
corner between the bathroom and bedroom doors would also have a
baseboard at its lower edge, and realize his vision of what an economy
apartment building should be.
"Form must follow function" as we know, and someone was going to have to
cut those tiny pieces of wood into carefully sculpted diminutive
masterpieces, so that what was to be was a realization of one man's
dream of perfected architectural form and a daring attempt to achieve
the Platonic ideal, and not just another economy apartment building.
He, and they, succeeded.
This man is probably well remembered by the artisans who built this
8-plex, and its twin to the north, in truly profound and memorable
terms...and who had to cut those God-damned things sixteen times over.

As amusing as your Christmas screeds usually are, this one must, alas,
fall short. Trim carpenters literally make their living doing ****
like this in an amazingly short order.

--
Herb Schaltegger
"You can run on for a long time . . . sooner or later, God'll cut you
down." - Johnny Cash
http://www.angryherb.net

On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 13:05:22 -0600, in a place far, far away, Herb
Schaltegger made the
phosphor on my monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

As amusing as your Christmas screeds usually are, this one must, alas,
fall short. Trim carpenters literally make their living doing ****
like this in an amazingly short order.

Yup. Piece of cake with a good table saw.

On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 12:28:09 -0600, Pat Flannery
wrote:

This man is probably well remembered by the artisans who built this
8-plex, and its twin to the north, in truly profound and memorable
terms...and who had to cut those God-damned things sixteen times over.

....This carpenter, who preached the Gospel of Apartment Building, was
later taken out to a restaurant by his employees, one of whom got him
so drunk that when he was accosted and beaten by a bunch of roaming
thugs he stumbled around until he collapsed in the middle of an
intersection and was run over by an 18-wheeler.

2000 years from now, nuns and priests carry miniature intersections
with a splotch of roadkill in the middle...

OM
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] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [
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Pat Flannery wrote:
This just hit me as funny.
I've lived in my apartment for twenty years now, and somehow the
complete dadaist lunacy of this little architectural touch completely
evaded me.
All the walls have a stylish wooden baseboard around their lower edges
to help the transition from the from the sheet-rock walls to the
remaindered shag carpet be appealing to the eye.
And whoever built it back in 1963 cannot be criticized for lack of
diligence, or for maintaining the artistic integrity of their vision of
what it should look like.
This man exists in fiction; this man was celebrated in Ayn Rand's "The
Fountainhead"; this man demanded that the builders of this building cut
that baseboard into two little pieces, each one and a half inches long,
and join them at a perfect ninety degree angle, so that the little
corner between the bathroom and bedroom doors would also have a
baseboard at its lower edge, and realize his vision of what an economy
apartment building should be.


If the apartment were a few decades older, it would have two pieces of
wainscoting, one and a half inches long, four feet high and joined at a
perfect ninety degree angle.

So count your blessings or your misfortune, however you look at it.

;-)


Rusty

Herb Schaltegger wrote:

As amusing as your Christmas screeds usually are, this one must, alas,
fall short. Trim carpenters literally make their living doing ****
like this in an amazingly short order.



You should see the caliber of the work on this building; if it were made
any cheaper it would be cardboard.
Sticking that little thing in the corner was like hanging a car air
freshener on a skunk.

Pat

Rand Simberg wrote:

Yup. Piece of cake with a good table saw.



You ever try to cut pieces of wood that small? It ain't easy. Especially
one that's beveled on both ends and has almost no flat area left between
the two bevels. You want to put your hand that close to a spinning saw
blade? One slip and you can try out for the part of Captain Hook in the
next Peter Pan movie.
Work like that is generally reserved for furniture makers.
I'm still trying to figure out how it's attached to the corner of the
wall; it may be glued.

Pat

Rusty wrote:

If the apartment were a few decades older, it would have two pieces of
wainscoting, one and a half inches long, four feet high and joined at a
perfect ninety degree angle.

So count your blessings or your misfortune, however you look at it.


I've seen buildings done like that... generally with push-button light
switches that have mother-of-pearl inlays.

Pat

On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 09:41:07 -0600, Pat Flannery wrote
(in article ):




Herb Schaltegger wrote:

As amusing as your Christmas screeds usually are, this one must, alas,
fall short. Trim carpenters literally make their living doing ****
like this in an amazingly short order.



You should see the caliber of the work on this building; if it were made any
cheaper it would be cardboard. Sticking that little thing in the corner was
like hanging a car air freshener on a skunk.

Pat

A True Hero of the Revolution takes pride not in the material quality
of his collectivist apartment home, but in the triumphant spirit of the
working class masses who crafted such a place as this for him to reside
and contemplate the glory of the People.

--
Herb Schaltegger
"You can run on for a long time . . . sooner or later, God'll cut you
down." - Johnny Cash
http://www.angryherb.net

Herb Schaltegger wrote:

A True Hero of the Revolution takes pride not in the material quality
of his collectivist apartment home, but in the triumphant spirit of the
working class masses who crafted such a place as this for him to reside
and contemplate the glory of the People.



If you want to read something hilariously on-target, read Tom Wolf's
"From Bauhaus to Our House".
Back during the years after the Russian Revolution and WW I, the big
challenge for all the avant-garde architects was to make housing for
workers.
This was of course going to be properly spartan in design, as to do
otherwise might taint the worker's souls with bourgeois decadence; so
unpainted poured concrete was the order of the day.
You can still see such houses...they are owned by the trendy rich to
show their identification with socialist ideals as their servants bring
them martinis served over 4,000 year old glacial ice.
The workers on the other hand are sitting in recliners with heat and
vibration, while sinking their tired feet deep into three inch deep shag
carpet. :-)

Pat