3.04.2010

unpublished paul rudolph house discovered

I grew up in Northwest Florida, the "Real Florida" the "True South", just 5 miles from the Alabama border. So unlike parts of the rest of the state, such as Sarasota and Miami, a modern structure, let alone a modern house, is a very, very rare sight. 
I don't remeber when I discovered it growing up, but I always loved this house, I even lived down the street from it when I was in my 20s, but I never knew who designed it. Then a few years ago I bought this book:


And there it was! I really didn't think much about it other than I should have knocked on the door introduced myself and gotten a tour, but I was long gone to NYC by then. I assumed it was a published house and that I would see a picture of it somewhere at some point, but I never did. Flash forward to less than a month ago. A friend and I went to the monthly open house at the Paul Rudolph designed Modulator House, which houses the lighting company he cofounded and the Paul Rudolph foundation. 

The Modulator House
It was great, we got to see the amazing townhouse and speak to all the nice people from the foundation and to Ernst who was Paul's business partner and lover for years. Charming man. Anyway, I was talking to Kevin who heads the foundation and mentioned that I grew up where there was a PR house. He asked where, and I said Pensacola, and he looked at me and said that there was no PR house in Pensacola that was actually built. Hum, so I asked  him if he had the "Florida Houses" book so I could refresh his memory, or find out that I was crazy. Again, there it was on page 114. He was amazed that it still existed and that he had never heard of it. So I promised him I would get some pictures, which I did from my friend Gary, who is a professional photographer. He had shot the house a few years ago for an article in the local newspaper that I don't think ever ran. So, here are the never before seen pictures of the "lost" Paul Rudolph "Rubin House".


The shubbery is so grown-up around the house that is hard to see the architecture behind it.... 
Beautiful "butterfly roof". It's in the North Hill neighborhood which is very chic, well as chic as you get 5 miles from the border of the state that made Lynyrd Skynyrd famous. 


The entrance is attractive with the pavers matching the building's exterior brick.

Lots and lots of glass, and BAD furniture....

Original built-ins. 
The current owner purchased the house in 1999 from Dr. Rubin's widow, 
who had lived there since 1953.

More glass, this is frosted/textured for a little privacy if you want to get busy in front of the fireplace....

Check-out the chimney flue tubes. The furniture is getting a little better, 
but I would kill to see what it looked like when the Rudin's lived there.

More fireplace with more built-ins intergrated into it. 
Is that sofa trying too hard or what?

Hello Poochie! I wonder if he just peed in that skylight garden? 
He looks cute, but a little guilty....

The one free standing piece of original furniture designed by Paul, 
a great oversized bench/daybed.

PR designed exterior light. Bent plywood, steel, and glass.

Kitchen, "updated", but original layout. 
Also, love the floor as ceiling.

The bathroom is untouched except for the soap. 
Paul would have allowed for only Ivory, to be changed daily....

More built-ins in the bedroom.

I wish they had left this untouched, wow, that hurts. 
Mr. Cat doesn't seem to mind the bedspread, but I can't stand it, or anything else in the room except for the view...


...to the pool! This makes up for the lilac bedspread.
This was a later addition in the 60s, but I think Paul would approve, even of the chairs....

2 comments:

  1. Wow, coooool! And you got to teach the experts a thing or two while you were at it. Fancy!

    That bedset is gross!! Asian influence with metallic deatiling...nooooooooooooo!

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  2. I am Dr. Rubin's grandson and would like to correct some of the information in your blog. Please let me know if you're still around before I do so.
    Thanks - Randy Rubin

    ReplyDelete