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Thu. December 29, 2005, 09:19am PST
Tacoma's Deriugin house to be demolished
A local eyesore landmark will soon meet its demise. The Tacoma News Tribune reported this morning (view PDF, 80K) that a rather surreal building will soon be sold and torn down. I stopped by this morning to snap some photos in hopes to preserve memory of the place which Mr. Dergiuin lovingly dubbed the St. Irene Office Condominium Complex after his late mother.
Cheers to you, Mr. Dergiuin, for challenging what is normally thought of as acceptible building practices. Your work is a testament to risk-takers everywhere and will not be forgot.
Update (2006-05-08 @ 8:05pm)
R.I.P. - Tacoma's Deriugin art house demolished
Comments (62) | To Top
12/29/2005 @ 10:28am
Got myself linked from BoingBoing -- check it out: http://www.boingboing.net/2005/12/29/outlandish_tacoma_wa.html
by KevinFreitas
12/29/2005 @ 10:37am
Just saw that. Ha.
by Kris
12/29/2005 @ 10:48am
I'm sorry your cool house is getting demolished. :(
by frank
12/29/2005 @ 11:20am
Can't say I like the house or anything but I have to say the owner is right when he calls it constructivist, I work in an art museum with a sculpture park full of constructivist sculpture. Sorry to see it go. I'm all for self expression. I don't know how or why people think they can tell you what your own house and property are supposed to look like.
by Gonzalo
12/29/2005 @ 11:40am
Sorry to see so much energy go for nothing, but glad he isn't my neighbor.
by Rachel
12/29/2005 @ 12:07pm
Can your monument be relocated to a more appropraite location for the rest of the city, like where it can be a tourist site or not seen by so many anal people?
What a staement to live there!
by Nickoleye
12/29/2005 @ 12:36pm
this is one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen. it pains me to hear about it shortly before it disappears.
by kludge
12/29/2005 @ 12:43pm
Would love to see the inside of this place. What kind of business occupy space there? What is holding it up?
by Keri
12/29/2005 @ 12:43pm
by Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Flim
12/29/2005 @ 12:44pm
How could the city planning commission ever approve or allow such construction on top of the roof of an existing structure? Doesn't Tacoma have height limitations? Engineering restrictions for building on top of structures? Permit process?
by Peter
12/29/2005 @ 12:49pm
Does Tacoma have a Landmarks board? If so they may be able to help you save you buiding/sculpture by declaring it a Landmark. I recently helped landmark a home in the South Park neighborhood of Seattle that was scheduled for demolition. The house was eventually moved down the street to vacant property and is now being restored. Good Luck!
by Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Flim
12/29/2005 @ 12:54pm
by cskosta (at) yahoo (dot) com
12/29/2005 @ 1:01pm
That is the ugliest house I have ever seen. It deserves to be ripped from the face of the earth. After looking at those pics, I feel like taking a shit.
by Matthew
12/29/2005 @ 1:19pm
Most certainly artistic. Structurally and Architecturally sound? I can understand why its coming down, but I for one would prefer to see it built to code in a similar if not exact external form.
by Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Flim
12/29/2005 @ 1:24pm
god I hate NIMBYs
by Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Flim
12/29/2005 @ 1:35pm
Anytime someone's hard work and creativity is wasted is bad. But he could've avoided this by doing things right. Select an area that doesnt cause HARM to others' property value. Build structurally sound, code approved structure. Many groundbreaking, artistic structures defy common methods, but get done by engineering, public relations, AND hard work. What makes him exempt from accountability like the rest of the world?
by Dwight
12/29/2005 @ 1:50pm
i used to live right by this house and i feel it should be preserved, however people shouldnt even attempt to inhabit it. people tried to save that stupid building that looked like a cowboy hat, save the grotesqueley outlandish house.
by nathan
12/29/2005 @ 1:50pm
what ever happened to "FREE" country? we see our rights disapearing left and right... this is just another example....
by Laura
12/29/2005 @ 2:28pm
How did the guy build this thing without falling off of it?
by Timmy
12/29/2005 @ 3:45pm
"Contructivism"?
"Landmark"?
I'm trying not to fall off my chair from the cramps I'm going through laughing at those remarks...
This is not art, nor is it a landmark. This is nothing more than a person suffering delusions of his own ability to achieve stuff...
He's clearly been working on making it bigger, and it's pretty obvious he's using whatever materials are available. I'd say this is a cleacut example of squalor, except that we can't see the inside of the house so it's hard to judge.
And he think's he's spent $2mil developing it... Fucking americans, sueing the city for not posting a "DANGER: Risk of serious injury or DEATH: Tall sidewalk" sign and they bump their toe on it... They could have fallen... and been run over... and DIED!!1!!1!11 Oh Noes...)
Laura: It's free alright, as long as you don't do something that's potentially dangerous to other people.
by Yonzie
12/29/2005 @ 3:53pm
The Rodia Towers in Watts were considered an eyesore by many as well, and were scheduled for demolition. They were preserved after a prolonged international effort and are now cherished for the cultural treasure that they are.
by Art
12/29/2005 @ 8:45pm
Wow. All I could think of when I saw that was "If I lived in that neighborhood, arson would be a distinct possibility."
That monstrosity looks cool from a distance, but really ugly and dangerous up close.
by NtroP
12/29/2005 @ 9:55pm
That's interesting. For you "constructivist" lovers out there, I just happen to have in my backyard a bunch of very artistic logs scraps. Free for anybody interested to come and get them out... No need to call the city for permission, I'll handle it...
by Viggo
12/29/2005 @ 10:58pm
Yeah, that house is a couple of blocks from my school. The first time I saw it I was driving with my mum up the hill (it sits towards the top of a San Fransisco worthy hill). I immidiatly exclaimed "What is that?! I love it!" My mother immidiatly exclaimed "Good lord, it's UGLY." It's all a matter of taste in the end but I think it's like something out of a dream. It immidiatly makes me think of a house out of a Miyazaki movie. I was horrified when I found out they were taking it down.
by Isabella
12/29/2005 @ 11:06pm
P.S. It should also be noted that this house is in the middle of Tacoma's worst neighborhood. The area had become a haven for Blood/Crypt gang warfare in the late 70's (I think?) and has never really recovered. Please, people, don't say it's an eyesore until you've seen the rest of the 'hood. Compared to its neighbors, this house is most certainly a piece of art.
by Isabella
12/29/2005 @ 11:30pm
it was allowed to be built over a long time so it is just an excuse now to tear it down
i would betya that a developer who has options on the neighborhood is the biggest detractor.
i live in a town with a mil median, and we have a guy with boats and hubcaps in his front yard. i do understand CA creativity despite being in a NYC suburb. i may go out and repaint my white chimbney tomorrow/ LOL
one man's junk is another man's treasure.
this is a treasure from 'some' era, was it the 50's free***, sixties dr*gs, seventies pop, eighties, carelessness, ninties distractions?
It is historic and deserves more than demolition, and i am not sure what that is.
by jondough
12/30/2005 @ 6:36am
What a nut house...
by Jo Jo
12/30/2005 @ 6:50am
ugly and nice
by el dau
12/30/2005 @ 8:15am
Every town should have one good, basically unstable, art house to show their friends. This was Tacoma's.
By the way - I wouldn't call this neighborhood Tacoma's worst. It was possibly in the seventies and eighties, but it's now prime redevelopment land with UWT just around the corner and expensive condo projects breaking ground literally a few blocks away.
by Derek
12/30/2005 @ 8:33am
Great!!! Russian crasy mazzafakka!
by Yeti
12/30/2005 @ 9:42am
That is an insanely beatiful building.
Maybe no the most graceful, or the cleverest academic building, but undoubtedly beautiful. Pity it's going.
by Peter
12/30/2005 @ 10:01am
Класный домик, говорят сносят..., жаль. С Наступающим Рождеством.
by Юрий
12/30/2005 @ 10:19am
I agree with Isabella, it does look like it's out of a Miyazaki movie. It's awesome! Too bad bland urban renewal strikes again.
by Jean
12/30/2005 @ 12:42pm
by That is just so obsessively wonderful. We need more people with imagination capable of such expression. Wow.
12/30/2005 @ 2:37pm
Пиздатый домик!
Happy New Year!
by Ivan
12/30/2005 @ 3:15pm
Wow! What a fantastic house. Save the Crazy House! Don't knock it down you Philistines.
If the owners were found to be keeping 487 cats in "squalid conditions" then it would be a perfect news story!!
by KevvyKev
12/30/2005 @ 4:30pm
great house!
don't be numb!
by omant
12/30/2005 @ 6:29pm
This is so effing righteous!
Аффтар жжот!
by Андрей
12/31/2005 @ 2:41pm
what an awesome show of creativity, shame they want to tear it down
by macewan
1/1/2006 @ 10:04am
just a regular "dacha", a summer house. we have a lot of these in Russia
by Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Flim
1/3/2006 @ 5:38am
the house on the right looks like shit...
by sneeze
1/3/2006 @ 8:59am
sculpture? ...yes, architecture?...no,
by liz
1/5/2006 @ 11:02am
It is nice to see a very unconventional building break-through the mediocrity of our cities even if it is probably outside of the bounds of the zoning and life-safety codes. I wish I would have been able to see it in person. Thanks to the author of this page for providing the rest of us these pics. Those of us in the design professions should remember little jewels like this when we are designing. It tells us a lot about adding whimsy and delight into architecture.
Thanks again!
by Doug
1/5/2006 @ 12:43pm
That is one lovely building, one I wish I could live in and around if only I were able to float to and from its rooms and rafters.
I understand why it would be torn down, and agree...partly. The other part of me would like it to stay, but that's my whimsical side.
by Ben
1/6/2006 @ 7:39am
for entertainment you could call vinyl siding salesmaen and window replacement companies.. just sit back and get a laugh as they try to sell their products....
man that would be a trip to paint.!!!+
by Tim
1/6/2006 @ 11:14am
While Dergiuin's house is close to the "Hilltop"--what Isabella refers to as Tacoma's "worst" neighborhood--it is also in one of the most desirable locations in the entire city. The notion of the Hilltop as a bad neighborhood is a relic of the past. It is now just as safe as any neighborhood in Tacoma, and real estate developers are quickly taking advantage of this fact. The current problem has arisen because Tacoma's redevelopment efforts have encroached too close to Deriugin's place and they have finally put their foot down.
by Steve
1/6/2006 @ 9:55pm
I'm just wandering what gang the "Crypts" are...
by B. Huggins
1/8/2006 @ 2:58pm
I don't particularly think that it's beautiful but I do agree with someone else's coment:
that obviously took a long time to build why wasnt it stopped before it got to that point. did the city not care till big developers came? If they let it be built then they should let it stay. its near my house its ugly but it should stay
by fallmae
1/8/2006 @ 3:02pm
also hilltop is a beautiful that is safe and getting safer by the day i love this area and who ever said it was "worst" obviously hasn't here in years and is talking out their a**
by fallmae
1/8/2006 @ 3:12pm
yes this house is ugly but this is just the tip of the icebrg. When are home owners in Tacoma going to catch on that the city of Tacoma is starting a coulture of back door investing in Tacoma. I think it's time they decide if they want to be city officials or real estate investers
by concerned stadium district citizen
1/8/2006 @ 3:38pm
i agree with concernd citizen. I think it is a major conflict of interest for the city to obtain real estate and sell to private investers or to force a home owner to sell for the same objective . This is a major abuse of intimate domaine. I think Tacoma's back door investing
should be brought to the attention to the Demacrats and Republicans in Washington DC who are trying to overturn congress' Intimate Domaine law. Tacoma would be
the Poster Child for the movement against this Act. Say No to Intimate Domaine Law
it hurts property owners and line the pockets of city officials
by lynne
1/8/2006 @ 5:54pm
you just know that it will be the stupid neighbors moaning " its just unsafe for us to step into the garden/yard" this is true art, outsider art lives on for ever. everyone stick to what ya love doing. great man doing what he loved . respect x x
by jay rennie
1/9/2006 @ 4:08am
Interesting design, why don't you tell us something about Mr. Dergiuin
is he schiophenic ? The design and house name "St. Irene Office Condominium Complex" sound and looks like a schiophenic theme. Or perhaps someone who burnt their conceptual brain links out on drugs.
Has Mr Dergiuin done any other "art works" ? Inquiring minds in Philly want to know. Yo!
by Mary Fisher
1/9/2006 @ 6:38am
Mary: I don't know of any other of his "works" but in the newspaper article he described himself as a "architect, sculptor and cinematographer" and wanted this to act as the base (he'd encase in concrete) of a 500 foot condo tower. Tacoma doesn't yet have any building over 100' so 500' would be a monstrousity.
My bet is that he's not all there. But I'm certainly not a professional in that arena.
by KevinFreitas
1/10/2006 @ 1:31pm
I don't know what a schiophenic is, but I can assure you this gentle man is a truly good person. What exactly is "all there" anyway Kevin?
by Bonnie
1/10/2006 @ 3:21pm
By "all there" I mean not completely in touch with reality. I could easily contend that I'm not always "all there" either and have certainly had my moments -- just the other night I took a seat on some pizza I'd dished up. Sat right on it. I just express my eccentricity in numerous, small, undetectable ways and it appears Deriugin does so with his house.
To each his own.
by KevinFreitas
1/18/2006 @ 9:39am
Contact the building presivation comission in ny ny, they may be able to put a presivation order on the property. ask also the govenor if he/ she would allow a presivation order to be placed on the propity. as the public opinion, would be for the presivation of this piece of art. the arts comission may also be able to help. best of luck!
by by greg sully
2/7/2006 @ 10:52pm
where it's located, it shoudn't bother anybody. you should see some of the new construction approved by the city of tacoma.
by john
2/7/2006 @ 10:55pm
By the way, thanks for the pictures.
by john
2/10/2006 @ 9:19pm
This is amazing! I believe there are many "art houses" that have been constructed with no regard to code or permit laws. What drives these people to construct these unique homes obviously overshadows what laws may be in place to restict them. Ever heard of Coral Castle in Homestead FL, or the Barn House in seymore IN? I'm interested in finding more of these structures. Does anyone have any leads?
by Amber
2/25/2006 @ 2:25pm
It's a shame to see a 19th century historic home destroyed because of this man's manic, obsessive, "artistic visions." Bless his heart...he means well. I guess this isn't the first historic house he altered and had to be demolished. It's a wonder he hasn't had a fall during cunstruction and broke his neck or worse! Or a large piece of his sculpture hasn't broken off during a wind storm and impaled a neighbor or their pet! Has lightening ever struck that building? I hope a wise, and patient mixed media artist(s), with sound knowledge of construction in wood, metal, welding, mason, rock, and cement will offer to mentor him and that he will accept it....for his safety and his neighbors. Then perhaps he can great a lasting landmark for generations to enjoy. Does anyone know about his background.childhood.education..employment...family...any special people or events that had significant influence?
He must be an interesting man to talk to! I would love to learn more about him.
by Gail
2/26/2006 @ 11:32am
TACOMA WAS PUT ON THE MAP WITH A STEVE MILLER BAND SONG [RECOGNIZE THIS TUNE] I WENT TO PHENOX ARAZONA ALL THE WAY TO TACOMA, PHILADELPHIA, ATLANTA , LA. THE SONG IS KEEP ON ROCKING ME BABY.
THE POINT IS THE CITY INSPECTOR SHOULD BE SENT TO LA. SOUTH CENTRAL
TO BE EXACT . THEY WILL APPRECIATE AN INSPECTOR WHO PRETENDS NOT TO SEE THINGS FOR YEARS AND YEARS. HA HA
by THEY CALL ME THE BREEZE