Lisa Skolnik had a fabulous feature in this Sunday's Chicago Tribune Magazine. She interviewed the owners of a condo in the Mies-designed 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments who downsized from a 12,000-square-foot Wicker Park loft to an apartment with less than 20% of their old square footage. Click below for highlights from the article...
Architect William Drake worked for Mies van der Rohe in the 1960s before beginning his career with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. When he and his partner Jo Ann Carney became overwhelmed by the upkeep of their loft space, they moved into an apartment designed by Drake's employer and mentor.
Skolnik's article details their transition from a large loft to a 750-square-foot space to their eventual combination of 2 apartments into 2,250-square-foot living quarters. It's a great story of how people with the means to live large can find ways to live comfortably with less.
Click here to read the full article.
All photos by Bill Hogan for the Tribune.
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Comments (11)
Did anyone catch the PBS special last night on Mies' Farnsworth House?
It was really interesting. It covered the whole story of the house from the initial conception, philosophy, construction, it's near destruction and near sale to a private owner.
The story behind it becoming a National Landmark and Illinois Historic Place is pretty exciting. There was quite a battle.
they live in 860-880 and don't have barcelona chairs! some nerve.
in all seriousness, i would kill to live in these buildings and they have done well. i love the womb chair and the tulip side table together.
Less? For most of my childhood, we had 5 people and a small business in about 2000 sq ft. We eventually moved to a larger house... and the small business got all the extra space.
Somehow, I don't think that article bears much relation to my idea of downsizing.
I agree with Torrilin. How is combining two apartments to create a 2250 sq. ft living space, living with less??
It's all relative...to rich people.
Two people are... oh goodness... forced to share a 2250sf space. Oh, the horror! And they can't seem to afford any new furniture- they're surrounded by nothing but those old mid century relics. Those poor little dears... I wonder how they struggle day to day...
i'm stuck on the 12,000 square feet.... WHAT do you do with that much space???? I honestly can't get my head around how big that would be.
I find this all very interesting. When a person of normal means is forced to downsize because they lose their job or have ridiculous medical bills because of an injury or illness, it's embarrassing or sad. When people of extraordinary means choose to downsize, it's worthy of a feature article.
Oh Gawd...
"Drake came to the rescue when he tracked down the consummate fold-away bed, which looks like a classy built-in cabinet when closed. Since that time, they've been plagued by one inevitable question: "Everyone who comes over asks, 'Where is the bed?' " says Carney."
Of course, it is the CONSUMMATE fold-away bed, and yes, they are PLAGUED by the question of the bed's location at every turn!
These devilish rogues are making due with the paltry space as best they can - until at last they must escape to the expanses of the Santa Fe compound!
This kind of article recap might be easier for your core readership of small apartment dwellers to swallow if it were presented with more editorial comment from AT...
On the one hand, a trend of the super-wealthy downsizing and moving to more urban locations is potentially significant for urban form (not necessarily in a good way, if it means ultra-high-end housing drives out affordable homes, as in San Francisco, but it's all an interesting trend and certainly worthy of discussion).
On the other hand, is 2200 sf really a tiny apartment that requires all sorts of design creativity for two people to squeeeeeeeeeeze into? Smallest, Coolest sets the top limit for a "small" apartment at 650 sf, and even then, AT readers complain that the apartments are too BIG to show good small-apartment design.
I live in a 1200 sq foot condo and always thought my space was too large to be considered a "small" apartment space--not huge but certainly not small---but yikes! 2200 sq ft?? and downsizing from 12,000 sq ft? My heart goes out to these space-challenged people. awwwww I have plenty of space for me and my miniature poodle---I used to live in a studio apt in Lincoln Park (probably around 700 sq ft) and had dinner parties for 10-15 people. No wonder the planet is suffering.