Bell Labs famed Holmdel building, designed by world-renowned architect Eero Saarinen, was placed on the 10 Most Endangered Historic Sites list by Preservation New Jersey, a nonprofit group dedicated to saving historic architecture and other sites of historic significance in the state.
While the age of the building wouldn’t qualify it as an antique on the Roadshow (it was built between 1959-1962), it does have an unzillowable provenance. Besides the Saarinen pedigree (it was his only New Jersey work), it was the birthplace of many life-changing scientific discoveries and inventions. Nobel prize winners, including Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson (those Big Bang Theory dudes), called Bell Labs home.
As our long time readers know, we have been involved in the Bell Labs story since this article appeared in The New York Times in June, 2006. It was the Engadget post that brought international attention.
To follow the story from the beginning, here’s the trail:
Help Save Bell Labs From The Wrecking Ball
Sellsius & Engadget Team to Save Bell Labs
Real Estate Developer Sensitive to Holmdel Lab Legacy
Bell Labs: Notable Bloggers Comment on the Story
Bell Labs Update: Letter from Re-Developer PREI
Bell Labs Focus Of Preservation Magazine
Bell Labs Update: Community Meeting August 30
Blog Readers Save Bell Labs: Developer Plans World Class Site
Bell Labs Rescue Reported by The New York Times.
Technorati Tags: Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ, Eero Saarinen, Preservation New Jersey
What do you mean you can’t Zillow this property?
http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.htm?addrstrthood=101+crawford%27s+corner+rd.&citystatezip=holmdel%2C+nj&GOButton=
“Unzillowable provenance”… have you lost your mind?
I CAN ZILLOW ANYTHING! Um, can’t I?
Now that’s a crop circle…Jersey style!
…what about table computing?
…William Gibson said the future arrives unevenly…Linda Ellerbee said, “and so it goes…”
Redmond has obviously been playing with the future-our future-long before we saw this vlog piece. The guy running Perceptive Pixel was obviously ahead of them in this roughly paralell universe.
While all of this has been going on-where have We been? Waiting - the single most monastic task in a compressed generation. We all wait alone; plugged into where everyone else is-or so we think.
There are more people doing Something Else in our Here than we realize.
A short answer for Realtor apps - virtual tours, sticky-still photos, anyway, fit this to the smack. Imagine a virtual tour holodeck style - Duh. Wear it. Open the cupboard doors or stroll onto the deck overlooking the waterfont. Check out the schools. Scratch and sniff.
The balance - well, where is the fulcrum?
I gotta go.
Obeoman
Hey Brian.
Unzillowables are intangibles which affect value—the smell from the nearby pig farm, traffic noise from the construction truck route beside the house (the ones that run early in the morning), the next door neighbor with the junk yard dogs, or the elaborate landscaping, distinct views etc.— Zillow does not factor these into its zestimates. Provenance is also an unzillowable. If you believe the experts on Antiques Roadshow, value is enhanced by provenance. In fact, I met with the CEO of PREI, the PA redeveloper who bought the property from Lucent, who told me the decision to keep the main building designed by Saarinen was based on the added value of this provenance.
Perhaps a more erudite way of explaining an unzillowable:
The challenge with relying on computers to establish value is the difference between stagnant data that exists in a database and knowledge that relies on human experience and complex thought processes. In the book “Social Life of Information,” John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid make exactly this point. A computer relies on information. When it comes to real estate, this means the property’s features, including bedroom-bath count, lot size and floor plan. Even when two properties have identical floor plans, one may sell for more because of the beautiful landscaping, the privacy, or some other factor the computer cannot access. The value of these features is often more intuitive rather than quantitative. As such, computers may estimate values, but the estimates will continue to be flawed because there is no scientific way to value these other factors. (Jonathan Miller, appraiser)
Anyway, I can’t find the box on Zillow where I add “provenance”. Someone said it was near the box where I insert my “view of the city dump”. Dang, how do those zillowists know how to value a view?
Luckily, you can leave out beds, baths, square feet, total rooms and still get zillowed:
http://tinyurl.com/nv243
Christian
Mowing the property requires a specialist. Check out the white “transistor” tower at the entrance of the property.
Obeoman,
Just get a new crystal ball. They sell them at the pro shop.
I was teeing you up, Joe. I’m into self-deprecation for comedic value these last few days.
…and I’m the only one laughing…but I’m laughing.