Famed American architect Louis Kahn built just nine private homes in his career and now, what looks like the most ill-maintained of the bunch has hit the market for just $289,900. Completed in 1962, the three-bedroom residence in Cherry Hill, NJ was designed for Fred E. and Elaine Cox Clever, who came to Kahn after seeing his seminal "Trenton Bath House." Understandably, then, the experimental Clever House conspicuously references the Trenton project, most notably with the cluster of pyramidal roofs.
Over on the PreservationNation blog, a recent feature provided a thorough update on the fates of all nine Kahn homes in existence. As is the case with Kahn's Shapiro House and Korman House, which are still inhabited by the family that commissioned them, the Clever House seems to have been well-loved by its original owners—the Clevers lived in the home until their deaths in the early 2000s. On the other hand, several other Kahn designs, such as the Fisher House, recently moved on to blissful new chapters with new owners. And now, it looks like it's finally the Clever House's turn, if somebody is willing to take on a big fixer-upper in exchange for a piece of architectural history.
The same PreservationNation article mentions that, according to William Whitaker, architectural curator and co-author of the House of Louis Kahn, the Clever House is "currently threatened due to lack of upkeep and maintenance." The roughly 1,700-square-foot is now being sold "as is." Though obviously timeworn, the place still has its show-stopping 18-foot-high ceiling in the living room, which lets in soft, natural light through its large, triangular windows on four angular gables. The rest of the home is made up of five smaller rooms, each housed under a gently-angled pyramidal roof.
· Louis Kahn "Clever House" Listed for Under $300K [Curbed Philly]
· 417 Sherry Way [Estately]
· New Owners of Kahn's Fisher House are Simply Charmed By It [Curbed National]
· When Louis Kahn and Roosevelt Created a New Jersey Utopia [Curbed National]
· All Louis Kahn coverage [Curbed National]
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