You are here

Naisbitt-Aburdene House

-A A +A
1987, Theodore R. Brown. 459 W. Dakota Ave. (west bank of Cornet Creek)

Selecting for their own home not futuristic but historic design themes, futurologists John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene, the authors of Megatrends (1982) and Megatrends 2000 (1990), asked a San Francisco architect to use natural elements reflecting the local vernacular. Brown responded with a two-story house of lodgepole pine, cantilevered over Cornet Creek and terraced to reflect the strata of the surrounding Rockies. The creek is brought into the plan with a bridge that serves as the main entry, and stones from the creek bed are incorporated into the concrete foundation. Multiple dormers and gables adorned with prominent log bargeboards and projecting log vigas, as well as log decks, make this a prickly-looking composition, culminating in an octagonal tower observatory with a carved log finial. The architect drew inspiration not only from the site, but also from old mining camps, whose rusty metal roofs suggested the corrugated Cor-ten steel used here. The house, which was featured in the June 1989 issue of Architectural Digest, is a good specimen of neo-rustic design.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Thomas J. Noel
×

Data

What's Nearby

Citation

Thomas J. Noel, "Naisbitt-Aburdene House", [Telluride, Colorado], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/CO-01-SM17.

Print Source

Buildings of Colorado, Thomas J. Noel. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 589-589.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,