Catalano House
Encyclopedia
The Eduardo Catalano House was built in 1954 in Raleigh
, North Carolina
by Eduardo Catalano
, a young Argentinian
architect
. The Catalano house design was highly publicized as the "House of the Decade" by House and Home Magazine in the 1950s and was noted for its modern architecture
, later becoming an icon of American
mid-century optimism
and praised by the rarely praising architect Frank Lloyd Wright
.
The 1700 square feet (157.9 m²) three-bedroom house featured a 4000 square feet (371.6 m²) roof which was a hyperbolic paraboloid, built of wood 2.5" thick. The roof was warped into two structural curve
s (similar to the shape of a shoehorn), with two corners of the roof firmly anchor
ed to the ground and two corners soaring high into the air. Sheltered beneath the double-twisted roof is a square interior enclosed entirely in glass. The undulation of the roof provided openness in some areas and privacy and seclusion in others.
As with most modernist houses in Raleigh, it was built by Frank Walser. The Catalano House was sometimes referred to as the "Potato Chip" house because of the swooping hyperbolic paraboloid roof.
Catalano sold it to engineer Ezra Meir and his wife Violet in September 1957. The Meirs sold it to William and Betsy Hinnant in December 1966. The Hinnants sold it to Raleigh attorney Arch E. Lynch, Jr. in May 1978. Lynch lived there until approximately 1996. From 1996 to 2001, the house was unoccupied. Vandals, storms, lack of heat, and neglect made the house rapidly deteriorate. The roof rotted in sections over time. It would have taken several hundred thousand dollars to repair if repair were even possible. Eventually the damage was too extensive to repair.
Preservation North Carolina bought an option on the house and tried unsuccessfully to sell it for $360,000 to anyone who would rebuild the same design. Lynch eventually sold it to JBar Associates in March 2001. The house was destroyed later that month. JBar, a partnership of Andrew Rothschild(a Durham, NC commercial property developer and owner of Scientific Properties) and Jonathan Bluestone(a Raleigh, NC homebuilder and owner of Bluestone Builders), have since built two large houses on the property.
Shortly after its destruction, Catalano unsuccessfully lobbied the NC Museum of Art to have just the roof rebuilt on their grounds in Raleigh. In early 2005, he proposed North Carolina State University with a gift of $1.5M to rebuild the roof as part of a Central Campus Pavilion plan but strong faculty opposition caused him to withdraw, despite the fact NCSU hired an architectural firm to evaluate seven other alternative sites.
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
by Eduardo Catalano
Eduardo Catalano
Eduardo Fernando Catalano was an Argentine architect.-Biography:Born in Buenos Aires, Catalano came to the United States on a scholarship to the Universities of Pennsylvania and Harvard...
, a young Argentinian
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
. The Catalano house design was highly publicized as the "House of the Decade" by House and Home Magazine in the 1950s and was noted for its modern architecture
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
, later becoming an icon of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mid-century optimism
Optimism
The Oxford English Dictionary defines optimism as having "hopefulness and confidence about the future or successful outcome of something; a tendency to take a favourable or hopeful view." The word is originally derived from the Latin optimum, meaning "best." Being optimistic, in the typical sense...
and praised by the rarely praising architect Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
.
The 1700 square feet (157.9 m²) three-bedroom house featured a 4000 square feet (371.6 m²) roof which was a hyperbolic paraboloid, built of wood 2.5" thick. The roof was warped into two structural curve
Curve
In mathematics, a curve is, generally speaking, an object similar to a line but which is not required to be straight...
s (similar to the shape of a shoehorn), with two corners of the roof firmly anchor
Anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .Anchors can either be temporary or permanent...
ed to the ground and two corners soaring high into the air. Sheltered beneath the double-twisted roof is a square interior enclosed entirely in glass. The undulation of the roof provided openness in some areas and privacy and seclusion in others.
As with most modernist houses in Raleigh, it was built by Frank Walser. The Catalano House was sometimes referred to as the "Potato Chip" house because of the swooping hyperbolic paraboloid roof.
Catalano sold it to engineer Ezra Meir and his wife Violet in September 1957. The Meirs sold it to William and Betsy Hinnant in December 1966. The Hinnants sold it to Raleigh attorney Arch E. Lynch, Jr. in May 1978. Lynch lived there until approximately 1996. From 1996 to 2001, the house was unoccupied. Vandals, storms, lack of heat, and neglect made the house rapidly deteriorate. The roof rotted in sections over time. It would have taken several hundred thousand dollars to repair if repair were even possible. Eventually the damage was too extensive to repair.
Preservation North Carolina bought an option on the house and tried unsuccessfully to sell it for $360,000 to anyone who would rebuild the same design. Lynch eventually sold it to JBar Associates in March 2001. The house was destroyed later that month. JBar, a partnership of Andrew Rothschild(a Durham, NC commercial property developer and owner of Scientific Properties) and Jonathan Bluestone(a Raleigh, NC homebuilder and owner of Bluestone Builders), have since built two large houses on the property.
Shortly after its destruction, Catalano unsuccessfully lobbied the NC Museum of Art to have just the roof rebuilt on their grounds in Raleigh. In early 2005, he proposed North Carolina State University with a gift of $1.5M to rebuild the roof as part of a Central Campus Pavilion plan but strong faculty opposition caused him to withdraw, despite the fact NCSU hired an architectural firm to evaluate seven other alternative sites.