Both Ellen Cassilly and Frank Konhaus are well-known around the Bull City; Ellen as an architect, Frank as what used to almost be a sole-source purveyor of audiovisual at Duke and other schools through Kontek, and together as patrons of the arts here in town.
Most notably that took the form a couple of years ago in their initiative to bring French photographer Georges Rousse to Durham to create art installations in then-empty spaces downtown (one of which, the old Baldwin department store's first floor space, is now the kitchen at Revolution.) But that patronage of the arts didn't begin or end with Rousse -- and neither has their quest to create the perfect home in Durham.
It's a home that ended up getting featured this week in The New York Times. And it contains, fittingly, an artist-in-residence suite amidst its wooded lot in Duke Forest, a space where Konhaus and Cassilly can host visiting creatives in an 800 sq. ft. studio that connects to their residence by a bridge that itself contains an art gallery.
Check out the Times article for more -- and don't miss this elaborate photo slideshow, which shows the beautiful "Cassilhaus" home that took the couple three years to design and a year to build (once the hard-to-find lot the sought was finally found.)
Thanks so much for the nice mention. One minor comment - two s's in Cassilly.
Posted by: ellen cassilly | July 18, 2009 at 10:23 PM
@Ellen -- mea culpa! Apologies for the fact-check goof, now fixed.
Posted by: Kevin Davis | July 19, 2009 at 12:18 PM