Machine

The famous French architect, Le Corbusier (1887- 1965) once stated “A house is a machine to live in”. A pioneer in the modern movement in architecture, Le Corbusier declared the excessive decorative elements of Victorian dwellings and the flamboyant curves of Art Noveau to be things of the past. He stripped his home designs of decorations and doodads making them sleek and simplified.

I am a fan of his buildings which still look modern in this new century. However, I have a much different perspective on his famous words. A house is a machine, but it must be remembered that all machines break down. The Victorians had their upstairs and downstairs staffs to maintain their convoluted homes. My husband and I love being homeowners, but, sans staff, we are on our own to run our modern home.

A friend of ours once summed up the homeowner’s dilemma perfectly: “Having a house is like taking care of the Golden Gate Bridge. As soon as it’s finished being painted and repaired, it’s time to start all over again.” A home plus the yard it stands on generates a never ending “to-do” list.

Last week alone, the handle fell off the hot water faucet, the paint on the porch started peeling and the air conditioning stopped doing its thing. Our house, our machine for living, is again up and running, but so are we. There are days when we feel like Alice in Wonderland when the Red Queen says to her, “My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place.”