Keeping track of the ongoing construction of our new house is easier when you can
actually see some of what is going on. The following is a collection of pictures
that I hope will help you visualize the process as I live through it.
Clicking on any of the thumbnail images will take you to the full sized version of
that picture, and then you'll need to click on your browsers "Back" button to return
to this collection.
January 6th, 2001:
It's been a very long time since I've updated the Photo Gallery section of the site.
With construction being on the forefront for so long, I hadn't really been taking pictures just
of the house itself that weren't construction oriented. But with construction sort of taking
a bit of a rest at the moment, it gives me a good chance to just take pictures of the house
so you can see where things are at, and what it looks like overall. Here are just a few shots
to start things off. I'll try to add updates to this ever couple of weeks.
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December 17, 1999: As apparently is traditional in some areas, when the highest point of the
house is capped off, a "Topping Off" party is held and some form of greenery is attached to the
house for good luck. Here are some shots of the Topping party for Ravenwood, and since it is almost
Christmas time, the greenery was in the form of a wreath that was hung from the chimmney for the
cocktail lounge.
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Christmas 1998:
Just a little visit from the ghost of Christmas Future. For my Christmas cards for 1998, I
had an artist prepare a representation of what the house will look like when it is all done.
I spent some time trying to figure out what to put on the inside of the card, all sorts of
the standard saying came and went, then looking at the picture it suddenly struck me:
Think Fast! If you were Santa,
which rooftop would you land on?
Perhaps I'd better send one of these to Santa, so when the time comes, he won't have to
make such a quick decision.
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August 21, 1998:
Here is Doug Bennion from Quad-Lock Building Systems
lending a hand at getting the west wing ready for a pour that will be going on today. He's
been great about coming out to the job site and working through issues that arise and helping
the crew experiment with the best way to use the product on this complex project.
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August 8, 1998:
The first dinner in Ravenwood... even it it was a little premature.
I belong to a gourmet dinner group that gets together
every few months for a dinner from some specific region of the world. This time it
was my turn, and we had a lovely Provence picnic dinner out at the property.
It turned out great. A little covering to protect us from the sun, and we had
a great time. The cooking was done on bar-b-ques set up in the Great Hall where
the fire place will eventually be, and the dinner tables were set up in the area
that will one day be the kitchen / family room.
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July 8, 1998:
I don't think this picture quite does it justice, but this is the old barn that
greets you on the drive out from the property. It really is a simple and beautiful
view.
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June 28, 1998
I had a party for a bunch of my friends yesterday at "Chopsticks", one of my favorite
neighborhood restaurants. A good crowd showed up and we all had a lot of fun.
We had a good mix of people in attendence, as well as many of the key people involved in the
design and construction of Ravenwood. After all, now days it is hard to separate my life
very far from the construction of this house.
At the party, I unveiled a little suprise. Several months
ago I had my Architect start work on a scale model of the house. Like many people, looking
at lines and diagrams on a blueprint often just isn't quite enough for to be able to imagine
the form of the final product. So I felt a scale model would help folks to understand the mass
and form that the house has taken.
Everybody enjoyed getting this up-front look at what the house will eventually look like.
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June 5, 1998:
The dogs in the neigborhood just love hanging around the site.
I'm not sure if it is because there are people to give them attention,
or because some of the workers are giving them snacks.
This is one of the older dogs from next door.
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June 5, 1998: This is a shot of the stairway that comes down into the wine cellar.
It really is amazing how much different this area feels with all the walls and ceiling
in around you. When it was just the footing forms that defined the room it really felt
small. Now it feels huge!
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May 8, 1998:
Here are Bruce and Morris, a couple of people I work with, talking with George about how
the house is going together. They are standing about in the middle of the Great Hall, with
the view looking out toward the conservatory.
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May 7, 1998: Here is the newly installed "Job Sign". Guess that makes it offical.
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May 2, 1998: This shows the Quad-Lock forms in place and ready to be poured. Note how
the Quad-Lock is constructed as sheets of polystyrene with colored plastic spacers holding them
rigid. This flexibility allowed the Quad-Lock to easily conform to the curved shape of the wine
cellar.
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April 24, 1998: There are a few wetland areas on the property, it is important to
carefully understand where they are, and to take every precaution so as not to disturbe
them. It might often seem like a hassle to be so careful, but just look at the beauty
that these areas can provide. I look forward to having this view available whenever
I want to take it in.
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April 24, 1998: This is after the concrete was poured into the footings of the wine
cellar and electrical vault. The blue tarp is up because it was sprinkling slightly, and
they were getting ready to treat the cement with a vapor block sealant. You can probably also make
out the rebar sticking up out of the footings, the Quadlock will be arranged around this
to build up the walls.
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April 19, 1998: The first sign of some real building going on. This is the wood forms
for the footing that will eventually become the wine cellar and electrical vault of Ravenwood.
While all of the actual walls of the house will be made out of Quadlock, it is still necessary
to have standard footings in place which the Quadlock will rest on.
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March 29, 1998: Is this the storm before the calm? Dirt piles everywhere, and with
all the rain that has been coming down recently, there is also a lot of mud gathering in
places.
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March 8, 1998: This is the first shot taken from where I 'hope' I'll be able
to snap a bunch of progressive shots from. While I'm not taking any pains to make sure
that I get all the shots oriented from exactly the same spot, it should prove interesting
to watch how the house takes shape. This shot is taken from the other side of the circular
drive, looking straight at where the front door will be.
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November 20, 1997: Troy's Dump Truck. He's pretty proud of it, and it will sure get
a workout at the site.
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(Date Unknown): No water yet. This shot is probably when they hadn't gone
down much more then a couple hundred feet. Little did they know that they would have to go
all the way down to almost 800 feet before they'd finally hit the motherlode...
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