Kirsten Reach’s recent blog entry reminded me that I took some photos of the transformation of KR‘s new home last Sunday. I thought I’d share.
Let’s start from the front of Neff House, with our backs toward Wiggin Street.
If they leave the massive pile of dirt, I propose we christen it Mount Galipault, in honor of our departing Managing Editor, who was a rock in matters organizational and financial and who was quick to dismiss my requests for spending when my sole justification was “Because it’s there.”
We’ll continue our tour after the jump.
Let’s move clockwise around the building.
We use the backhoe for our slush pile.
Our hopes for a KR Jacuzzi and lap pool were dashed when we found out this hole is to become the new basement.
See that tiny window toward the rear of the building, under the eaves? That’s my office. Thankfully, I do not suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder.
As we continue around the house, we can see more giant piles of dirt and all manner of construction implements.
From this angle, you can see that the entire house is supported by massive steel beams and an assortment of wooden blocks. As Kirsten mentioned, the house has actually been raised considerably since these photos were taken. If you look at this photo and think “Jenga!”, you’re not the only one.
Closest to us, we can see the future office of Kenyon’s writer-in-residence, P. F. Kluge. My office is directly above his. I look forward to being serenaded by the clackity-clack of his old-school typewriter. I hope he will view my relentless clogging as fondly. (What can I say? I dig clogs.)
Here is the rear of the building, facing Southwest. Just inside the door with the light is a washer and dryer. I hope we get to keep them. That would be a nice job benefit. (Teetering on a steel beam while carrying a load of whites? Not so much.)
Finally, we see the front of the house. The stone porch has been preserved and will presumably be added once the move has been completed. We’ve got plans for a container garden on the balcony above the porch next Summer. In addition to containers, I’d like to grow a few herbs and tomatoes.
The last photo is of our historical marker, which is located in front of our current home, Walton House.
I think we should move the marker to the front of Neff House and pretend not only that the marker has been there all along, but that John Crowe Ransom, Robert Lowell and Flannery O’ Connor actually built Neff House one evening after a particularly spirited croquet match and decided to start a literary journal in it in an effort to justify its existence to President Chalmers.
John Pickard is the Assistant Managing Editor for The Kenyon Review and is clearly not a writer.