The blog of Richard Thompson, caricaturist, creator of "Cul de Sac," and winner of the 2011 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Another Old Almanac

I did this about 5 or 6 years ago, inspired by a house in my neighborhood of such cyclopean dimensions that it could not have been built for merely human tenants. Here's a screenshot from Google's streetview-

The owner, if I recall correctly, intended to use the place as a home for troubled boys, and so built it as a dorm. He somehow neglected to complete the required forms, the neighbors complained- about the size and the usage, the owner was his own contractor and he went bankrupt and ended up sleeping in his truck parked in front. So the house sat unfinished for several years. The thing about the house that's most visually arresting are the proportions: little teeny windows (they're actually normal-size) poked into a vast facade. The little teeny door under that gargantuan porch. It's like he built a house to normal specs using doll house parts.

4 comments:

Mike Rhode said...

Nice one! I don't remember a lot of these.

gilda92 said...

What a generous front yard!

pq said...

i'm pretty sure we saw this house in Arlington while house-hunting. it's surrounded by teeny tiny bungalows,one of which is cheek to jowl with the monster, whithering away in its shadow.

Theophylact said...

I especially love "Bob Dingnagian" (the world's largest Armenian?).