Friday, April 27, 2007

Would you like to live there?


Would you like to live in a cathedral?
That's what on offer on 9, York Street. "Now Selling - Historic Cathedral Conversion" says a sign on the corner. Tempted ? Only the first few floors are old however. The building has been topped up in a strikingly different and modern architecture. What do you think of the conversion, do you like it? Would you want to live there? And if so, rather on the top or bottom floors?

Aimeriez-vous vivre dans une cathédrale ?
C'est ce qu'on vous propose au 9 York Street. Un panneau au coin indique "Appartements à vendre, conversion de cathédrale historique". Cependant seuls les quelques premiers étages sont anciens, l'immeuble a été complété en hauteur par une architecture ultra moderne (les stores orange !). Que pensez-vous de cette conversion, la trouvez-vous réussie ? Aimeriez-vous habiter là, et si oui, plutôt dans la partie ancienne ou moderne ?

19 comments:

Kate said...

Nah, Natalie-I think that it is an unattractive building and living above a Cathedral for me would be a bit creepy. Purely emotional, but not for me.

Cergie said...

C'est pas si ridicule que ça comme idée. A Bordeaux mon fils a habité dans une ancienne église
C'était un très beau studio, l'entrée et l'escalier étaient superbes on aurait jamais dit que c'était un ancien édifice religieux.
Par contre, est ce parceque je le savais que chaque fois que je pénètrais dans l'entrée (très fraiche) j'avais l'impression de sentir une odeur d'encens ?

Comme un fantôme du passé

Bel said...

A friend of mine had friends who lived in a converted church in Woollahra (another Sydney suburb), and she said it was an amazing home.

I'm not so sure about living in a church though. Kinda eerie.

Thanks for visiting my blog earlier in the week by the way. Look forward to reading more of yours now :o)

Anonymous said...

Well it's certainly original, ig nothing else. I'm wondering if the cathedral is just a facade, or if they built on top of the original structure. If so, they must have been very confident of the original foundations. Maybe they found a way of keeping the original structure and strengthening it. I'm curious becasue there must have been some cost/benefit analysis into the various redevelopment options. I know in the UK a lot of churches have been re-purposed as offices houses, anything. One in Edinburgh has been turned into a climbing wall centre. Similarly all the old bank buildings (remember, when we used to have real bank managers) have been turned into pubs and restaurants. Strange times we live in

Anonymous said...

It looks like a very attractive place to live in; not creepy at all. And then: how many people in this World, live in such a place. Isn't that what life is all about - difference and originality?

Fabrizio Zanelli said...

Well, the two styles "levels" (the old one with the modern top) suggest only one thing: to quickly pull-down the building hoping the none will remember it how it was.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't want to live in the bottom floors, which might be dark. But I'd love to live on an upper floor, where there might be lots of light.

Olivier said...

je trouve l'idee tres bonne, mais pas la realisation, je n'aime pas cette serie de store orange. je te souhaite un bon weekend

Anonymous said...

oh, Nathalie will you go view the inside?
if i can afford one, i'll go with the floor with those gothic windows!

Pierre said...

Hi Nathalie, intéressante photo. Je trouve cependant bien dommage que le style "cathédrale" des premiers étages n'ait pas été poursuivi jusqu'en haut. En fait en architecture moderne on a souvent vu des bâtiments religieux aux allures "civiles" et des immeubles de bureaux évoquant des cathédrales! Le Woolworth Building (la "cathédrale du commerce")en bas de Manhattan en est un parfait et magnifique exemple.

Deb said...

I can't quite tell if I like the new style. There's something interesting about it (color combination perhaps?), but there's also something somewhat institutional and unattractive too. Guess I would probably keep looking for another place to live!

Peter said...

I share Oliver's comment. The idea is OK, but the result is not a great success, at least seen from the outside. I believe also that only the facade has been saved from the lower floors; if not the whole thing would collapse.

This way of just keeping the facade - generally without adding too many floors on top - is quite often applied also here in Paris. It's at least a way of not destroying a specific atmosphere in a specific area. In Paris you are nowadays not allowed to build and "skyscrapers" - those are built around Paris.

However, basically, I have nothing against the idea of creating something new and modern. All old buildings are not necessarily nicelooking and you must leave room for some creation. Our generation should also give a heritage to the coming generations.

isa said...

If I had to, I'd pick the architecture of the bottom half and the modern conveniences of the top. And then I'd want to live in the penthouse (nobody above me!).
Is that asking for too much?

Oya said...

Himmm, I would love to live in the old part. Dogies allowed?:)

Pod said...

i have never liked the addition to that cathedral. whoever approved it wasn't in their right mind. tis a shame miss nathalie, a shame
;0(

Nathalie H.D. said...

Very interesting to see that not all make the same choice.

I would personally agree with Pod : ugly addition to the original building!
I'm not convinced by this box-like structure with its orange awnings.

Richard, regarding your question re the structure, I think a number of other buildings in Sydney have been re-done in the same way : keeping only the facade but gutting it, reinforcing it from the inside before building a (generally large) number of extra floors. Seems structurally sound, if not very attractive in this particular instance.

Maxime said...

Habiter en bas ou en en haut de cet étrange gâteau ? Ni l'un, ni l'autre; à vrai dire, j'ai déja choisi la cabine du surveillant, sur la plage !

DeepBlueSea said...

In the detail photo, near the lower left corner, I can see a faint spirit leaving the building, in a curving path, headed skyward. Spooky!
-M

Steve Reed said...

I like church conversions - they're very popular here in the states. (And often the apartments are expensive.) I bet the windows in the lower floors are beautiful!