the good house: pomo prairie (Patreon)

Sometimes you see a house that makes you want to hang out with the people who live there, even if they're rich people. This 1994 house in St. Charles, IL, is one of them. 

1994 was the height of Postmodernism, and postmodern irony, exaggeration, and distortion touched every available style and typology of architecture. Here, it (inconsistently!) integrated the regional Prairie style (see the front entryway glass motif) in a way that can only be described as mall-like. As someone who likes all of those things, I like this house, even though it can be architecturally hit and miss. 

The first thing you notice is that we are dealing with some very strange people. The entryway motif is carried throughout the house in unexpected ways attended to by equally unexpected furniture.

Parts of this house are generally cool and other parts, such as this room, are more reminiscent of the kind of people who go to Burning Man and enjoy Banksy and entry-level drugs but in an upper-management kind of way. 

Case in point. 

The kitchen is a kind familiar to many of you, the 80s-laquered-curvy kitchen that I personally think looks cool and will defend. 

Also of note is the always cool glass-block shower corner window bathroom. A 90s staple!

The playroom is where it really gets fun. I like seeing people be open about having kids and creating spaces for them. This is becoming less and less common as all children's activities have been pathologized as clutter or have been subjected to twee minimalism that ignores that children like bright and colorful things. Personally I think subjecting children to adult taste instead of letting them discover taste on their own is rather miserable. 

Like, I want this room! 

The backyard goes to show just how wonky and 90s the architecture is and is also a pretty nice piece of dad deckwork flanked by really beautiful trees. It's true the house could be better and the decoration is a little silly, but it's getting rarer and rarer to see houses of this size retain any of the owner's personality. 

Link to Listing: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/36W705-Stoneleat-Rd-St-Charles-IL-60175/4656857_zpid/