Palmer House sale article

DavidC · Post by **DavidC** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:39 pm

Ann Arbor's only Frank Lloyd Wright home sold for $900,000

David

Jeff Myers · Post by **Jeff Myers** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:46 pm

Well at least it is some good news. Guest house,I will be there. Not really I don't like traveling. But maybe in the future.

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 10:45 am

$900,000.00 would not buy a mass produced Eichler house in Palo Alto.

Congratulations to the new owner, Professor Jeff Schox!

dkottum · Post by **dkottum** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 4:51 pm

All sounds wonderful but, in this house designed for music, how could the piano, the heart of this home and the most important furnishing in the home, be removed and sold ?

Doug Kottum
Battle Lake, MN

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:04 pm

dkottum wrote:All sounds wonderful but, in this house designed for music, how could the piano, the heart of this home and the most important furnishing in the home, be removed and sold ?

Doug Kottum
Battle Lake, MN

Quite simply I imagine. The new owner will find a good spot to put his 7.1 Surround Home Theatre system, and the sound produced will be stunning.

Wrighter · Post by **Wrighter** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:13 am

I was wondering how the easement, which seemed to specify that no books could be removed from the home, allowed the piano to be sold.

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:45 am

Speaking from the point of view of a professional musician, I don't really see what the problem is with selling and removing a piano from the house.

Did Wright specifically build a space for the piano? Or did he design the piano in question? If so, the piano must stay. But if the new owners do not play piano, and they can use the space for something else which has meaning in their lives, so be it.

To me, it would be a different matter if they were selling a piece of furniture which Wright designed. Too often, grand pianos sit in houses as some sort of status symbol, implying sophistication and education, when in fact, they are props. A musical instrument is not, in my mind, a piece of furniture any more than an easel, drafting table or a computer.

As a musician, the idea that the piano will be used by a musician who will play it and record with it seems better than it sitting as an artifact. These instruments should be played regularly as a part of their long term maintenance.

It's important to remember that in past times, the piano had an important function in a home. Usually someone in the family played, and many a popular song was sung around it. That is usually no longer the case.

Also, a good used grand (for example a Steinway) can go for $100,000.00, which might come in handy for the new owners as they encounter the additional expenses of a Wright home.

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:00 pm

peterm, there is also the fact, as you will undoubtedly agree, that every piano has its own personality. If the new owner should actually be a serious pianist, he would probably have his own instrument and not want someone else's.