I'm lucky to have done a little travel in my day. Far from enough, but I'm grateful for the marvels I've seen. During my wanderings, I've visited many a stately home. I've been inside Blenheim Palace, Hearst Castle and Monticello. While the majestic cribs of the mighty become routine tourist attractions, I far prefer the dwellings of famous artists and writers from the past, such as Vanessa Bell's Charleston and Robinson Jeffers's Tor House.
Best of all, I love the homegrown DIY creativity that flourishes in homes of contemporary artists such as Pils and Talbot. It is a whimsical playland of a house--as might be imagined by Dr Seuss and Pee Wee Herman. It features mosaics of a Gaudi, with the forward thinking technology of a Buckminster Fuller. I'm inspired what can be done with some hard work, resourcefulness, and most of all, a FEARLESS and PLAYFUL IMAGINATION.
Although I've never had the privilege of seeing it myself, one day I vow to travel to the faraway--if slightly barbarous--land that is TEXAS to behold for myself this fantastical domicile.
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| source: Paul Bardagjy |
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| mr talbot at his front door: source |
Originally, the house was a 1917 two-bedroom bungalow, which Talbot purchased in 1979 for $13,000. Since then, Talbot and his partner Pils have transformed the humble abode into a three story fantasy chalet. Houses in that neighborhood of Austin now typically sell in the 200 thousand dollar range, but an appraiser would be hard-pressed to put a price tag on the one-of-a-kind home.
Visitors at the front door don't simply ring the doorbell. A doorbell would be too bore-dinary. Instead there is an offering of bells, chimes, wooden blocks, and xylophones to announce their presence. Pils and Talbot might answer by speaking through a talking tube pipe, which runs behind the walls of the house connecting many of the rooms. The house also has lofts, an elevated chain-and-truss footbridge, firefighters' poles, curving plasterwork, a look-out tower, nooks and hideaways, a backyard artist's studio, balconies, mosaics, turrets, archways, treehouses, and color, color, color. Not surprisingly, Talbot is a designer of children's playgrounds. Pils is the mosaic artist.
Pils and Talbot did much of the work on the house themselves, using salvaged materials and purchases from re-use centers. Casa Neverlandia is also environmentally green, featuring solar panels and a rainwater collection system for washing clothes and watering the garden. Pils and Talbot carefully considered the environmental impact of every one of their many inventive construction projects.
Casa Neverlandia is truly an artistic tour de force, a most imaginative and fanciful abode of the MUSE. Until I can see it myself, I must content myself with this intriguing video:
If you happen to be in Austin, Texas, you will want to see it for yourself. Casa Neverlandia offers monthly tours, which are by reservation only, on the second Sunday of the month. Call (512) 442-7613 for more information.
And if you see it before I do, I'll be jealous. And call you a LUCKY DUCK.
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