Not for the faint of heart — La Ronda, after
“I have long believed that preserving our historic heritage should be one of our top priorities. I am hopeful that this matter is resolved in a way that enables us to do that and allows everyone to enjoy the beauty of La Ronda for years to come.” — PA State Senator Daylin Leach
If you missed the link to this photoset in the comments section of the last post about La Ronda, here it is again. I’ve tried to get through it three times and have felt so sad, or ill, or discouraged… that I haven’t yet made it to the end. You’ll see the remarkable interiors of La Ronda, and then you will see trenches through brick walls where even the copper piping and wiring has been stripped for its salvage value.
Compare the photo below to the one above.
Update: A different sort of battle rages on. As reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Friday (9/4), the past owner and current owner are now squabbling over picking the bones:
The estate’s new owner, however, has already hauled some of those items out of the house – which was the last commission of famed architect Addison Mizner – in advance of a planned teardown.
Many of the unique Mizner-designed pieces of the house, “including over 70 doors [and] all plumbing and lighting fixtures . . . have been improperly removed from the premises in violation of my control rights,” Kania wrote in a letter Tuesday to Lower Merion commissioners….
The buyer’s attorney, Joseph C. Kuhls, declined again yesterday to identify his client and said Kania’s salvage rights do not include anything hauled out before the permit was handed over. The permit, Kuhls said, opened Kania’s 30-day opportunity to salvage what was left.
Nostalgic for the original Wayback Machine?
My Own Time Machine: Buildings, Places, People & Things 
my stomach is sick. i hope someone finds mr. anonymous owner and kicks his stupid, effing ass into next week. sorry–i know that’s not right eloquent, but what this monster has done to this piece of art/real estate should be criminal.
If ignorance is bliss, Kestenbaum is a very happy man. I just can’t fathom this degree of stupidity. The man had an offer that would save the house, allow him to buld on the land… a classic win-win. What the hell is he thinking? It make me ill as well.
This seems one of those tragic circumstances where one glitch sends the whole thing into a tailspin. What if Kania had been more reasonable in negotiating away his salvage rights? My understanding is that Kestenbaum was only willing to deal once that issue was out of the way. And Kania never got out of the way. And now he’s complaining Kestenbaum took all the good stuff…. I can’t tell if anyone had their heart in the right place on this one or if this was all about the wallet.
I just looked through the photos from the facebook album. That it would ever occur to someone to destroy this masterpiece of architecture simply astounds me.