So our friend Dave, who's place is down Millerton way, sent us a recent article that appeared in The New York Times about Tim and Nina Zagat (of restaurant guide fame), who have a gorgeous historic farmhouse on an 160-acre spread just outside of Millerton, NY.The second best part of the article is this little dandy, regarding renovations on historic homes. Tim starts:
“We gutted the whole house to the outer walls, and then we had to jack it up to dig a basement,” he recalled. “I said to the architect, ‘This is more expensive than building a new house.’ And he said, ‘Of course it is.’ He had never brought up the fact that it would have been cheaper to knock down the old house and build a new one!”
Har, har, har, har, har. Our design consultant that helped us with our place told us of a similar story (not with our place, our's is newish made to look old = SMART). In the end, it is cheaper to put up new rather than re-do the old (that's how you get these fabulous cities like Hong Kong), but I totally respect the Zagats for preserving their lovely farm house. It IS beautiful.
That said, the best (or maybe it's the worst) part of the article has to do with the photo of Tim Zagat that accompanies the piece. I mean, what the *&$#&?! Why anyone would agree to be photographed looking as if he's all too comfortable doing work in his business shirt and three-ring binder while hip deep in his (saltwater) pool is beyond me.
C'mon Tim, you know more about marketing yourself than most...what were you thinking?! Even Nina looks like she wants to pull you out for your own good.
Oh and if you've ever wondered what it would be like to work for the Zagats, check this out.
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