Letters

A-Frame House

How It's Used

“Even at an elevation of 8,000 feet, in the bright light and thin air of a resort where A-frame fixer-uppers change hands for seven figures, avoiding bummer people and situations takes work. Thus Aspen has become one of the places most often cited — Nantucket, Mass.; Sea Island, Ga.; Sun Valley, Idaho; and Jackson, Wyo., are several others — on lists of the top American destinations for people who long ago left behind the sad pretzel mix and microwave cookies of in-flight snack service, and the weary attentions of airline employees who so often wear the expression of doomed souls working off a karmic debt.”

“If vacant embassies [in Washington, DC] can be unsightly, renovations aren't always the salve. Niger is spending $500,000 on its residence, which has been vacant for the past year and in disrepair for longer. The construction debris on the front lawn is only part of what annoys the neighbors. There's also the tarp-covered pool that breeds mosquitoes that swarm the adjoining back yard, said Alice Sessions, who lives next door with her husband, Bill, the former FBI director. But what especially offends her is the new A-frame roof over the entrance and a set of two-story-tall concrete columns. In an interview, she struggled to refrain from passing aesthetic judgment. "You just live with it," she said, her exasperation melting into resignation.”

“Moreover, Mr. Stevens asserted that his wife of 28 years, Catherine, was assigned to oversee the remaking of the Alaska home from a simple A-frame cabin to a grander, two-story residence fitted with two decks, a new garage and amenities like a whirlpool, a steam room and an expensive gas grill.”

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