Down the street from me, they are building a house. Rebuilding a house. Or rather, neither.
It is one of the oddest things I have ever seen. There was a house with a single story front and a two story back. The front of the house had no windows and always made me think of some Amazing Stories episode. It was an ugly house, and I'm not sad to see it replaced.
But the manner in which they are replacing it is amazing.
They have built a new two story house frame around the old house.
If you look in the windows of the new house you can see the roof, the door, the front porch of the old house. They even leave the porch light on at night, which makes for one of the strangest images I have ever seen.
I asked the contractor why they didn't just tear down the old house. He said that was his recommendation, that it would have been easier, cheaper and better.
But the owner wanted to use the old back and part of the side walls from the two story rear of the original house.
Which led to the house within a house.
There is no reason for the owner to have used the remnants of the old house, it would have been cheaper, faster and easier to build new ones. The owner just purchased the house a few months ago, so there is no sentimental attachment to the old house.
In addition to the oddity that it already is, the owner has insisted on living in the house during the entire construction. Moving from section to section, room to room, as they are gutted, destroyed, rebuilt, or just built.
Now that's what I call an intensely real metaphor.
Posted by orion at May 28, 2003 01:58 PM | TrackBack