I have always been drawn to spaces that are at a fleeting moment of change. There is something about the moment in time when a place has just been rediscovered or is about to be unalterably changed or even disappear forever that stirs a longing in me to photograph it. Creating a visual record of spaces at this point in time has become a sort of specialty of mine – a bittersweet artistic calling. Artist Roy McMakin knows this about me. He is the one who called me after viewing Irving Gill’s Miltimore House when it had just hit the real estate market after being lived in for over 6 decades by its third owner. After some plotting by McMakin and the folks at Crosby Doe Associates, the realtors handling the sale of the property, I was on my way to photograph this historic home on the two days that straddled the property changing hands. It all felt very symbolic.
For those unfamiliar, Irving Gill (1870-1936) is considered a pioneer of the modern architecture movement and the Miltimore House, built in 1911, is his most significant residential project that is still in-tact. For this alone photographing it would have been a thrill but what made it more so was the spirit of its former owner that still flowed through every room. The choice was made to prepare the house for sale not by professionally staging it (thank goodness!), but by keeping some of the deceased owner’s choice furnishing and possessions in situ. I never learned the former owners name or too many details about her, but from being in the rooms where she spent most of her life, I grew to love her. From the phoenix she painted above the stove in the kitchen, to the delicious colors and finishes she chose for her walls, to the way the paint was rubbed down to the wood on her kitchen cabinets – every detail created a portrait in my mind of a woman I wish I had known. And her love of and care for this architectural gem only deepened that desire. She clearly loved this house and her love has preserved it for us all.
