March 1, 2004

In 1925, Clifford Reed Daily — tubercular, hunchbacked, a nut who fancied himself an architect — met Otto Kahn — millionaire banker and patron of the arts— and intrigued him with a plan to inspire artists and spark a new wave of artistic expression in Greenwich Village. He wanted to build a special building that would be so beautiful and unusual that painters would flock to get it on canvas.
Kahn liked the idea and bought an undistinguished 1830 Federal row house and provided the funds to transform it. Daily came up with a strange gabled design, then personally supervised the construction, hand picking every brick from the tons that were hauled to the site. Over the next two years, he also managed to thoroughly piss off his patron. Kahn hated the design and Daily's persnickety ways and finally took the title back, cut off funds and ordered his "architect" off the property.
Daily vowed to return before the year was out and drink the two bottles of champagne he had buried in cement in the basement. Instead, six months later, he died at the age of 44.
Twin Peaks remains unchanged on Bedford near Grove and, yesterday, in the unseasonably warm afternoon, Patti and I joined the long lists of creative folk who've been inspired by it oddness.