One of those stories that reinforces my motto - "Just once I'd like to find out if money really doesn't buy happiness."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/wcvb/20070925/lo...4P9qUE1vAI
After spending $16 million to buy a palatial Brookline, Mass., estate complete with a main house and 5,000-square-foot guest house, Red Sox owner John Henry plans to tear it down.
Henry filed paperwork with the town's Preservation Division Monday to get permission to tear down the red brick Georgian Revival mansion and build a new home.
"Oh my God," John Ford, head of Ford Realty, told The Boston Herald. "This could be a record-breaking teardown."
The seven-bedroom, 11-bathroom mansion, built in the 1930s, was previously owned by Frank McCourt, who owns a baseball team of his own, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
McCourt had renovated the home when he lived there, but Henry has decided to build from scratch rather than remodel again.
If it seems extravagant to spend $16 million and tear down a home, Henry may have gotten something of a bargain. McCourt's original asking price for the property was $27 million.
Henry must still get permission from the town before beginning the demolition.
The sad thing is that so often the house built after the tear down is a monstrosity.
Older homes tend to be scaled to the lot size and the neighborhood. The McMansions tend to be far out of proportion.
One thing for sure, money and taste do not go hand in hand.
I'll need to do a before and after drive-by so I can mourn the old house.
Unless Mr. Henry's got a lurking fondness for well-done Frank Lloyd Wright knockoffs... which I doubt. Wonder how many square miles of vinyl siding the new build will have?
Can't seem to form a sentence to adequately express what I'm thinking about this - - so will just borrow from the dictionary
ostentatious: characterized by or given to pretentious or conspicuous show in an attempt to impress; crass, egotistical, exhibitionistic, tasteless, grandiose, showy, vain, vulgar
[ edited by AH to delete social commentary ]
Can't seem to form a sentence to adequately express what I'm thinking about this - - so will just borrow from the dictionary
ostentatious: characterized by or given to pretentious or conspicuous show in an attempt to impress; crass, egotistical, exhibitionistic, tasteless, grandiose, showy, vain, vulgar
works for me!
edited by AH to delete social commentary
sorry I missed it!
I'll need to do a before and after drive-by so I can mourn the old house.
Unless Mr. Henry's got a lurking fondness for well-done Frank Lloyd Wright knockoffs... which I doubt. Wonder how many square miles of vinyl siding the new build will have?
You can bet your sweet ass it won't have vinyl siding on it.That would
rate them right up there with trailer trash.
I feel sorry for people like that I really do.Money will not and does not buy happiness.
Have you ever seen John Henry?
He's a very quiet person. Very nerdlike. I'm sure this new house will be gorgeous...it just seems like such a waste!
...it just seems like such a waste!
not quite sure how quiet and nerdlike personality traits figure into good taste in architectural choices
but what I'd rather know is if he's ever looked around outside of whatever gated community or penthouse he lives in now and thinks about what even 10% of that "waste" could mean to a school system struggling to buy textbooks, or a community trying to establish a place for an after school program where kids can go and be safe, or to a library that has to cut the hours they're open and the reading programs they can offer, or to the homeless shelters that have been hit with significant federal funding cutbacks and have to put families with infants and young kids out to fend for themselves between 8 AM and 8 PM - - anyone have any idea of how many teachers and nurses salaries it would take to equal $16 million ? ?
I really need to shut up now and either take one of DH's blood pressure pills or have a drink
Margaux, that's milder than what I deleted but you get the idea
Oh, I agree with what you're saying. I do, however, admire what the Henry money has done for Boston, the Red Sox and their charities, including the Jimmy Fund and the Red Sox Foundation. (There is a charity called A Foundation to Be Named Later - which to baseball fans - namely me - is the coolest name for a baseball charity.
) The man apparently has bottomless pockets, as do his partners & co-owners of the team. This particular project for his home seems like an unnecessary waste of a perfectly good home (and then some...). But, his money has done a lot of good for various local charities.
...it just seems like such a waste!
not quite sure how quiet and nerdlike personality traits figure into good taste in architectural choices
but what I'd rather know is if he's ever looked around outside of whatever gated community or penthouse he lives in now and thinks about what even 10% of that "waste" could mean to a school system struggling to buy textbooks, or a community trying to establish a place for an after school program where kids can go and be safe, or to a library that has to cut the hours they're open and the reading programs they can offer, or to the homeless shelters that have been hit with significant federal funding cutbacks and have to put families with infants and young kids out to fend for themselves between 8 AM and 8 PM - - anyone have any idea of how many teachers and nurses salaries it would take to equal $16 million ? ?
I really need to shut up now and either take one of DH's blood pressure pills or have a drink
Margaux, that's milder than what I deleted but you get the idea
Ditto,you said what I couldn't put into words ! When I think of all the people that could be fed and all the good 16 million could do for the needy I get ill !! OK,I'm going to take my BP medicine now LOL