When the Weidlinger House was slated for demolition, the Cape Cod Modern House Trust went ahead and bought it up, and is now relying on Kickstarter donations to undo the effects 15 years of abandonment have had on the experimental modernist summer home. The trust has successfully hit the fundraising circuit to lease and restore two other derelict modern dwellings in the area, and seeing as the project is fast approaching its $50K finish line, it looks like they've struck a chord with the preservation-minded. It doesn't hurt that a $3,500 donation comes with a $2,500 tax deductible receipt and a weeklong stay in one of these homes.
The home in question came about after Paul Weidlinger, the man behind the prominent structural engineering and applied science firm Weidlinger Associates, Inc., moved nearby famed architect Marcel Breuer—who also has a home in the Cape Cod Modern House Trust, pictured in a NYT piece on the group's efforts—and took inspiration from the lauded architect's vision. The finished product hovers over the landscape on X-braced stilts and was fronted by a 16-foot-wide sliding glass door in its heyday, which you can catch a glimpse of in the photos below.
With historic modernist structures getting razed left and right, it might be time to reexamine Kickstarter as a valuable tool for the preservation movement, or at least dust off some of the cynicism that has settled over conversations about the site in recent years. Sure, there are thousands of other projects out there begging for your hard-earned dollars, but you can't take a summer vacation in a mason jar cocktail shaker.
· Weidlinger House Restoration Needs Funding Now [Curbed Cape Cod]
· Weidlinger House Restoration [Kickstarter]
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