The phone rang one afternoon. “Is this Bob Augustine? Are you the architect for that house on Grove Street in Cambridge?”  A voice I can best describe as sounding like Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of OZ , cracked “Hideous. It’s Hideous......” More than taken back, I could hear shrill yelling and saw what might have been wisps of black smoke curling up from the holes in the hand set as I slowly and I think wisely set the phone back down to a conversation ending click. Wow, what’s going on here? I knew the house was modern and possibly controversial, but I was not quite prepared for the extremes of reaction it has drawn out. I thankfully found a message on my phone, when I got back from a Labor Day weekend in Maine……”Is this Bob Augustine the architect for that house on Grove street. I was out walking my dog and went by that house. I thought it was the coolest house I’ve ever seen. Keep up the good work.”

What is it about modernism that turns some people’s skin green?

(More to come.)