sunday drive: ford house- aurora, il

Sorry for the absence, but just when you thought life couldn't get any crazier, it proves you wrong- terribly wrong indeed. "Be flexible," the self help books say. Well, if I were any more flexible I'd be a goddamned rubber chicken. But I'm still here, and I get points for that.

And yeah, I've noticed that this Sunday Drive is being posted on Tuesday, so I guess it's YOUR turn to be flexible, gentle reader. besides, the pictures were actually taken on a Sunday Drive, April 14, 2001. I was in Chi-town looking at a car (big surprise) and saw an article about this deliciously crazy house in the tribune. My traveling companion and I picked up the phone and called the guy, who turned out to be an architecture professor at a local college. After a delightful chat, he invited us to drive out and see the house. Cheerfully, we did.

It was built for Ruth Van Sickle Ford and her husband, Sam. She was a driving force behind the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, and chose avant garde architect Bruce Goff to design a very courageous and fascinating structure. The spherical house was less than pleasing to some of their neighbors, to the point where Ford placed a sign in the front yard saying "We don't like your house either." They sold the house upon her retirement in 1961, but the fascinating house has survived in amazing original condition. These photos are by from my personal tour in 2001. Notice how astonishingly intact everything is, right down to the kitchen cabinets. A treasure. Enjoy.