Dwelling: What if the Willis Tower, the...

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Dwelling: Before the limestone towers of Fifth...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Thursday, February 9, 2012, by Sarah Firshein

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? Previous: Thomas Hickey and Edward Yedid's Miami Living Room

? Next: Classic Yet Casual Coastal Maine Getaway Asks $6K a Week

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Dwelling: The nostalgic nuts over at Retronaut...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, October 7, 2011, by Rob Bear

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? Previous: Inside the Napa Estate of the Late Winemaker Robert Mondavi

? Next: Globe Trotting

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Dwelling: Denise Richards, on just how crazy...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, July 27, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

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? Previous: This Remote Alaskan Escape Might Be Too Close to the Wildlife

? Next: Tic Tac No...

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Dwelling: Gatsby House: Really Old Listing Photos Reveal Former Grandeur

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Thursday, March 10, 2011, by Sarah Firshein Photos via SPLIA via Old Long Island

Land's End, the Sands Point, N.Y., estate rumored to have inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald's vision of Daisy Buchanan's house in The Great Gatsby, has surely seen fairer times. The colonial revival is spending its final days as a decaying, peeling mess as it waits to be razed and turned into a development community. But like all Stanford White-designed properties built during the turn of the 20th century, it once had serious grace and grandeur, as proven by an old listing brochure posted on blog Old Long Island. We're awaiting confirmation of what year it's from, exactly, but it lists the house (as well as its on-grounds caretaker's cottage and two greenhouses) for $2.5M—and that includes "all furniture, drapes, linens, complete service of English threat silver and Baccarat crystal for 48, furnishings in all bldgs." To boot: we're assuming the brochure is from far before November 2009, when Land's End hit the market for $30M. In the mean time, have a look at the really terrific photos above.

UPDATE: Old Long Island estimates the photos are from the '70s or early '80s, before Land's End was purchased in 1983.

· Gatsby House to Become True "Valley of the Ashes" Development [Curbed National]
· When 'Kidd's Rocks'/'Land's End' Was For Sale [Old Long Island]

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Dwelling: Gatsby House: New Photos of Decaying Property REVEALED

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, March 9, 2011, by Sarah Firshein Photos via Daily Mail

Now that the news of the sad fate of Land's End, the Long Island estate said to be the inspiration for the setting of Daisy Buchanan's parties in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, has shocked and awed preservationists, lovers of literature, and haters of high-end development communities near and far, today the Daily Mail releases some new photos of the neglected property. Built in 1902, the house and its grounds cost owner David Brodsky $4,500 per day to maintain—and it was that hefty $30M price tag that apparently detracted potential buyers. Have a look above.

· Farewell to a golden age: Crumbling $30million 'Great Gatsby' mansion faces demolition... because no one will buy it [Daily Mail]
· Gatsby House to Become True "Valley of the Ashes" Development [Curbed National]

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Dwelling: The Creepy, Decrepit State of the Abandoned Kirkbride Asylums

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, April 6, 2011, by Rob Bear

Back in the late 19th century, medical techniques for the treatment of mental illness were—how do we put this—not quite as advanced as they might be now. Psychiatric studies and literature of the era focused on the importance of architecture in the treatment of the insane, and some 100 massive mental health facilities were constructed in the United States, adherent to the principles of Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride. Arranged in winged, stepped plans, these structures were designed by some of the preeminent architects of their day, including Calvert Vaux, Frederick Law Olmsted, and H.H. Richardson. Despite the storied architectural pedigree, as the treatment of the insane in such buildings waned, so too did an interest in maintaining the sprawling structures. So today, many of these Victorian era behemoths sit unused and unwanted, thanks to the stigma of their "loony bin" pasts. We've collected five of the best examples, in all their run-down glory.

Designed in by Pennsylvania architect Samuel Sloan—famous for his still-unfinished Longwood mansion in Natchez, Miss.—the State Lunatic Asylum at Morris Plains (above) was built to address overcrowding at New Jersey's Trenton Asylum. More commonly known as Greystone, the building opened in 1877 and first welcomed 342 patients. By 1954, the patient population had grown to an astonishing 7,674, before the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1970s came along. In 2000, after a decades of scandal, the site was ordered closed by the Governor of New Jersey and was sold to Morris County for $1.

? Designed by architectural royalty, the Buffalo State Hospital in Buffalo, N.Y. must have seemed destined for permanence when it was finally completed in 1895. After all, it had taken 24 years to finish the Richardson-designed colossus and the surrounding gardens by Olmstead and Vaux. By then, overcrowding was such an issue in other hospitals that Richardson curved the walls of the structure so that the placement of beds in public rooms would be difficult and inefficient. Still, even this forward thinking approach wasn't enough to save the buildings. Today, while maintained in a most basic sense by the state, the hospital has fallen into shambles. There is talk of converting the structure into an architecture museum for the city of Buffalo.

? There's another neglected New York asylum in Poughkeepsie, along the banks of the Hudson River. The Hudson River State Hospital opened in 1871 on land once owned by the Roosevelt family. Today, it is an odd amalgam of abandoned and inhabited spaces, with plans in place to redevelop the existing structure. Those plans had a setback thanks to a devastating 2007 fire in the south wing, with the downturn in the property market, we'd be surprised if the project resumed as planned.

? The asylum in Worcester, Mass.—the Worcester State Hospital—cost nearly a million dollars to construct in 1877. Designed by George Dutton Rand, it was an imposing, fortress-like stone structure and, according to historians, was contrary to the wishes of the hospital superintendent, who had hoped to build smaller houses arranged like a village. In 1991, a massive fire swept through the facility, rendering large portions uninhabitable. After a series of demolitions and the building of a more modern facility, only the clock tower and circular hall remain standing.

? Demolition isn't the only option for these impressive Victorian buildings, as the Danvers State Hospital can attest. Even after falling into disrepair and developing a reputation as a supernatural site so notorious it spawned a horror flick, the hospital was redeveloped into a residential project by mega-developer Avalon. Who were the victims in this scary movie? Why, none other than an asbestos remediation crew sent to clean up the mess. That must have been a stressful project. Check out the product, below.

· Kirkbride Buildings [official site]
· History [Preserve Graystone]
· Buffalo State Hospital [Kirkbride Buildings]
· Hudson River State Hospital [Kirkbride Buildings]
· Worcester State Hospital [Kirkbride Buildings]
· Danvers State Insane Asylum [fan site]
· Session 9 [IMDb]
· Avalon Danvers [official site]

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Dwelling: Five Female Designers Worth More Than Just a Passing Glance

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, February 14, 2011, by Curbed Staff

When one thinks about the history of furniture, home accessories, and textile design, the first visages that come to mind include Florence (Knoll, of course) Ray (Charles's wife and design partner) and Charlotte (Perriand). But what about Cini, Lilly and Greta? The wonks will know them, for sure, but they tend to be left out of the mainstream vernacular. Learn more after the jump.

? Lilly Reich (1885-1947) was the first female interior design teacher at the Bauhaus, where she also taught furniture design. She also worked in the studios of Josef Hoffman and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, collaborating and drafting many of van der Rohe's designs. In fact, she's credited as a collaborator on one of the most recognizable lounge chairs on the planet, the Barcelona Chair. In addition, Reich was the interior designer for the German Pavillion during the International Exhibition of 1929. Amid a war-torn Germany, she helped Van der Rohe get his architectural drawings to the United States. Today, one can view Reich's work at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

? In 1941, after leaving Sweden with her husband, architect and industrial designer Greta Magnusson Grossman (1906-1999) settled nicely into the California Modernism scene. Grossman (also shown at top) soon established her own successful Los Angeles-based studio and shop, which was frequented by actress Greta Garbo. Here she created livable spaces for her clients, both as architect and interior designer; in true California modernist fashion, some of her projects were photographed by the late, great photographer Julius Shulman. Her design work would go on to win two Good Design awards from the MoMA in the 1950s.

? Next up: textile designer Zina de Plagny (1914-2000), who was mentored in the industry by her husband. After World War II, she freelanced for several studios, later deciding to set out on her own with Atelier Zina de Plagny. Recently the Atelier's vaults have been opened and her bold patterns have resurfaced as a part of Surfaces View's collection of wall murals and prints.

? Architect and designer Gabriella Crespi (1922- ) is perhaps best known for her Z-shaped desk that featured prominently in a Harper's Bazaar spread on Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer's closet/office. In addition, her pieces are often seen and sold on online furnishings resource 1st Dibs. Crespi's work, which fuses functionality with glamour, can fetch up to $15K at auction.

? Architect and furniture designer Cini Boeri (1924- ) began her career in 1963 and has since designed pieces for Knoll and Poltrona Frau. Above: Boeri's molded-glass Ghost chair for Fiam. Some of Boeri's creations feature prominently in Blade Runner—look for the scene when Harrison Ford drinks from her Cibi glass tumblers.

· Knoll Bassett, Florence [Knoll]
· Charles and Ray Eames [Herman Miller]
· Charlotte Perriand [Cassina]
· Cini Boeri [Home Life]
· Association of Women Industrial Designers: Lilly Reich [Core77]
· The Collection: Lilly Reich [MoMA]
· Studio International [Frieze Magazine]
· Designs by Greta Magnusson Grossman [Los Angeles Times]
· Zina de Plagny Biography [Atelier Zina de Plagny]
· Top Brass [T Magazine]

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Dwelling: Where Martin Luther King, Jr. and Other Civil Rights Leaders Lived

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, January 17, 2011, by Sarah

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., we here at Curbed HQ decided to blog all day. We also thought it appropriate to explore his birthplace, a two-story Queen Anne-style house in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood of Atlanta. The residence, with front and side porches, scroll-cut woodwork trim, and two porthole windows, was where King lived from his birth, in 1929, to 1941. But what about his fellow civil-rights leaders? We take a look at some benchmark houses in American history after the jump.

? This unassuming brick house in Rochester, N.Y., is where women's-rights champion Susan B. Anthony lived from 1866 to her death, in 1906. Although it's not her birthplace (she's a Massachusetts native), it was in the front parlor, in 1872, that the U.S. Deputy Marshal arrested her for voting. She was fined $100 but never paid it.

? Civil-rights leader W.E.B Du Bois was born in 1868 in Great Barrington, Mass.; after much controversy, his birthplace was memorialized in 2008 by the University of Massachusetts, who owns the land. Above: the Queens, N.Y., home where Du Bois and Shirley Graham wed in 1951 and then lived until they moved to Brooklyn. As of 2008, the NAACP was fighting to get it registered as a landmarked place.

Photo: Patrick Henson/Flickr
? Shortly after her birth, a young Rosa Parks moved to her grandparents' 260-acre farm in Abbeville, Ala. In 1944, she returned to Henry County to as a representative of the NAACP to investigate rape charges brought on by a black woman.

? In March 1973, Harvey Milk and his partner, Scott Smith, moved into the second-floor apartment at 575 Castro Street in San Francisco and opened a camera shop on the ground floor. The building soon became the center of activity for an increasingly activist neighborhood; it's where Milk, the so-called "Mayor of Castro Street," developed into a local politician and pioneer for gay rights.

· Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site [National Park Service]
· Online Tours [Susan B. Anthony House]
· House where civil-rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois lived not landmarked [NYDN]
· Harvey Milk - 30 Years Later [The Castro]

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