Where is a Guardian Angel When You Need One?

I heard a fascinating, heartwarming and inspiring story on WCPN's Weekend America [1] early this afternoon. It was about a fantastic sculptural building in Brooklyn called Broken Angel, the life's work of a unique romantic visionary, Arthur Woods. Outsider architecture might be a term used to describe his style. Woods is a self-trained architect and painter.

I have only been to Brookyn a few times and I never saw or even heard of Broken Angel when I was there, even though it is somewhat famous now. I tried to imagine what it might look like based on the description in the story. Phrases like impaled blimp, crumbling cathedral, moonshine distillery gone crazy and pedal driven flying machine have been used to describe Broken Angel. I was so intrigued I could not wait to get home and google search "Broken Angel Arthur Woods". What I saw in photos posted on various internet sites was something much more spectacular, beautiful and graceful than I had expect.

The story I heard today was really not just about Woods's genius or the beauty of Broken Angel -- I would have rather heard more about those aspects of the building -- it was about Woods's battle against time and the NYC building department. Woods, who is 72 and lives in Broken Angel with his wife, is facing eviction because of building code violations that he cannot afford to remedy following a fire.

Christopher Woods, Arthur Wood's son is leading a champaign to save the building and his father's art. They have requested help from architects or builders who would be willing to advise them how to meet code and they are asking for the funds to make the necessary repairs. Photographs of Broken Angel by Christopher Woods [2] are being sold for $50 to benefit the project.

What I find so extraordinary about this story and Broken Angel is what Arthur Woods was able to accomplish with  such limited resources. Or were they really so limited after all? We look around Cleveland and we see so many uninteresting buildings design by professional, paid architects using new, full price materials. They lack what Woods seems to have always had in abundance -- creativity, inspiration and the ability to recycle.