Master Masons of Duluth (Close-up)

By Lloyd Kahn on May 7, 2012

About Lloyd Kahn

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:
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4 Responses to Master Masons of Duluth (Close-up)

  3. One definition of classicism that I've read is "It's either created for the ages, or it's not." Agree with that or disagree, there is a certain truth in that statement. This building, a beautiful example of late Richardsonian Romanesque, is clearly built for the ages, at least on the exterior. An antiquated heating system necessitated its closure years ago (it took eight tons of coal per day to heat in the winter), but the exterior appears to be in solid condition. How many buildings created now will age with such style? I prefer structures that either stand strong for hundreds of years or disintegrate back into the earth when done. The Central High School in Duluth will continue to be strong for awhile.

    Also, I love your blog.

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  4. From Wikipedia:

    Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston (1872–77), designated a National Historic Landmark. Richardson first used elements of the style in his Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane in Buffalo, New York, designed in 1870.

    This very free revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish and Italian Romanesque characteristics. It emphasizes clear, strong picturesque massing, round-headed "Romanesque" arches, often springing from clusters of short squat columns, recessed entrances, richly varied rustication, blank stretches of walling contrasting with bands of windows, and cylindrical towers with conical caps embedded in the walling.

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