After I posted, I googled to find images of the rest of the kitchen:

Lots of images of the house on-line. Esherick House

Oooooo. I find the whole view utterly beautiful! Thanks for posting.

Nice range. That's a wild kitchen.

Small, but really nice. It was probably really advanced for its time too, wasn't it?

This is a very nice modernist house that no one seems to want right now. It's a 1 BR (I believe) and the form is based upon a cube, and there is very little that could be done to it without ruining it. But by today's standards the kitchen is "too small" and many people don't want to live in a time capsule. Another Kahn house should be coming onto the market or is on the market, but it is two larger, intersecting cubes, and that one may have more of a potential market.

Kind of off topic but there is a great movie about Louis Kahn's life done by his son. It's an interesting story regardless of one's interest in Kahn, architecture, or MCM.

Here is a link that might be useful: movie reccommendation

I know nothing about present day Philadelphia, or zoning restrictions, but there are businesses/restaurants within a couple of blocks. Although the house is on a dead-end cul-de-sac, wouldn't it be a 'feather in the cap' of any up-and-coming architect or interior designer, to use as a base of operations? I have no idea if the asking price of 1.5 million (taxes almost $9,000/year) is reasonable.

From reading the articles I found on google, it seems that the house, while privately owned, is a tourist destination. I'd imagine that one would have to really discourage 'visitors,' or really embrace them. I wonder why the city hasn't purchased it to operate as a museum--there's a Wharton Esherick House Museum, designed by Esherick and Kahn, who were friends. Wharton Esherick designed the kitchen of the house above, for his niece, Margaret Esherick, who commissioned Kahn.

Louis Kahn certainly lived an interesting life, similar to F.L.Wright. One of the sites quoted Nathanial Kahn as saying that he'd like to live in the Esherick house, but evidently he hasn't bought it. I noticed that the pics show it unfurnished. The kitchen is really small for a house with 2500sf, but it was part of the 'service' area. I read that a 'seamless' addition that would have added a lot of square footage was commissioned in the 1960's. It would have been added on the service side (left side), but was never started.

BTW, the kitchen would have fit the W. Esherick house so much better--more sinuous, organic lines--much more fun IMO.

Wharton Esherick House

I've always thought that if you own a famous, historic residence, it doesn't really belong to you--how could you change anything without feeling immense guilt? LOL, even the decision to take out part of a wall in our old nondescript house was a major decision.

"But by today's standards the kitchen is "too small" and many people don't want to live in a time capsule."

pal, you say the most right-on thing! You are right, most do not want to live in a time capsule. Hence, my problem with the house that my DH wants to buy; a beautiful house I would love to restore but not live in. (off topic but...)

This Louis Kahn house is a stunning house! Yet, I could not LIVE in it.

Wow. Hate the exterior, but the kitchen is really cool. I mean, I hate the ceiling/fluorescent light, but that's an easy fix. I would use a different range and I don't love the backsplash at all. But the cabinets/counters/sink, wow, how cool!

I loved that movie. I lived in a house for a while that was a work of art - or at least part of it. A woodworker/architect designed and built a japanese addition to the original modern house for my grandparents. It was very beautiful - shoji screens make beautiful light - amazing woodwork. But these homes are difficult - nothing is standard or easily replaced or fixed. And the aesthetic of the space constrain how you can decorate your home. Although my grandmother had a bit of fun tweaking it around.