A PALACE OF POLES
In Greenwich, Connecticut, of all conventional towns, was built the Ritts House, or Telephone Pole House, in 1968. Some 104 40-foot telephone poles, shipped by flatcar from Oregon, braced the house into one side of a steep ravine.
The prevailing experience, as one looks out at the already existing hemlock forest, is that of actually living up in the trees. The poles are arranged in clusters and braced together, notched and bolted by old Norwegian boatbuilders. Some poles rise from concrete footings at inclines to support the floor platforms, crisscross to define divisions of functional space, some poles act as stringers to the stairs that go up to the upper loft, and some poles thrust out to support a cantilevered roof. Glass is scribed around the poles that extend from inside
to outside. All air ducts are exposed, as is the electrical wiring connecting outlets and switch boxes.