Previously Published 26 July 13
When you see magazine photographs of a building, the feelings and impressions you get never match the understanding when you see the building in real life. This was certainly true during our recent unplanned encounter with a Stephen Holl residence. During a bicycle sojourn in the Lake Champlain area, we came upon the Nail Collector’s House during a ferry ride into Essex. This is a small tower like residence clad in brass plates that we have been reasonably fond of for years as it has been published extensively. Shameless architectural sleuths that we are, after we confirmed that nobody was home, we were able to walk around it and look in the windows. Despite all of the publication hoopla and accolades, we were underwhelmed standing there looking at it. For one thing, the piece was glaringly ignorant of the site. Granted, there is interior spacial complexity which we could only peek at thru the windows so we did not get the full experience. Kurt recorded his impressions on a drawing the next morning. So maybe the building hit deeper than we at first realized or care to admit.
