The Edersheim Residence, a house in New York State that was renovated and extended by American architect Paul Rudolph, is being sold as an NFT.
Also called 862 Fenimore, the mid-century home in Larchmont, New York, is being auctioned on digital marketplace OpenSea for a minimum list price of one Etherium (ETH), which is currently worth $4,055. The reserve price is hidden.
An NFT, or non-fungible token, is a unit of data kept on the blockchain that is used to verify the uniqueness of something, usually a piece of digital artwork.
The sellers of 862 Fenimore said that selling a house, rather than artwork, as an NFT is simply an extension of this process.
“Architecture is a living breathing work of art, that people live or work in,” the 862 Fenimore team told Dezeen.
“Masterpieces such as Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesen or Paul Rudolph’s famous houses are all examples of famous architecture that qualifies as art.”
Rudolph, who died in 1997, is best known for his work in concrete and the brutalist Yale Art and Architecture Building in New Haven, Connecticut.
One of his residential projects, a 1950s beach house in Florida with a pulley system attached to a cannonball, went up for auction with fine art brokers Sotherby’s in 2019.
Rudolph was engaged to redesign The Edersheim Residence, which was owned by Maurits and Claire Edersheim, after the architect revamped the couple’s Fifth Avenue apartment in the 70s.
He altered the property for the first time in 1982, then again in 1989 and 1991. Rudolph designed the pool house, an entrance to the main house, a porch and skylights, along with a complete interior renovation.
Potential buyers for the Edersheim Residence can still make an offer on the house in the traditional way – through a broker – or they can make a bid on OpenSea.
“The 862 Fenimore listing is priced in Ethereum with a minimum list price of one Ether and a hidden reserve,” explained the selling team.
“Anyone with a wallet with one ETH in it, can make a bid on the architecture. The winning buyer will contact the seller via their real estate attorney,” they added.
“The winning buyer’s ether is transferred to the seller’s wallet, who uses the proceeds to complete the transaction, and pay off the fees.”
Some pieces of digital architecture have been offered for sale this way, including a virtual design for a house on Mars and a video artwork of a house that will come with the physical property the art was based on.
NFTs have come under fire for their high levels of energy consumption. Musician Imogen Heap has decided to combat this by selling six audiovisual NFTs where the profit was used to offset the carbon released to make them.
Photos courtesy of 862 Fenimore.
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