Bob Vila: Difference between revisions

{{short description|American home improvement television host (born 1946)}}

|name = Bob Vila

|image =
|caption =

|years_active children = 3<ref name=bc/>

|spouse website = {{marriageURL|[[Diana Barrett]]https://www.bobvila.com/|1975bobvila.com}}

|signatureawards = =

Vila, a [[Cuban-American]], is a native of [[Miami]], [[Florida]]. When Vila was a child, his father built the family home by hand.<ref name=bc>{{cite web|title=Bob Vila – Television Host, entrepreneur|publisher=[[Biography Channel]]|url=http://www.biography.com/people/bob-vila|access-date=July 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622164740/https://www.biography.com/people/bob-vila|archive-date=June 22, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Vila graduated from [[Miami Jackson High School]]<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=The Miami Herald | date=September 11, 2005 | page=4H | last=Farrell | first=Jodi Mailander | title=Home expert strengthens house hit by Charley | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-herald-bob-vila-high-school/133176646/}}</ref> and studied [[journalism]] at the [[University of Florida]].<ref>[http{{cite web | title=About Bob Vila | website=Bob Vila | url=https://www.bobvila.com/pages/about-bob Bob| Vilaarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315142055/https://www.bobvila.com/pages/about-bob Trusted|archive-date=March Home15, Renovation2015 & Repair| Expert]url-status=deviated}}</ref> After graduating, he served as a volunteer in the [[Peace Corps]], working in [[Panama]] fromin 1971the late 1960s. He then went to 1973Europe for two years to study and travel, before returning to the US and enrolling at the Boston Architectural Center. <ref>[httphttps://www.paradewashingtonpost.com/newsarchive/slideshowslifestyle/editorstv/1991/08/18/bob-pickvila/famous77c7aa0a-peacedd12-corps4a4e-volunteers.html81e1-32779ac85f39/ 9 FamousBob Peace Corps VolunteersVila], [[ParadeWashington (magazine)Post|''Parade''The magazineWashington Post]]. Retrieved August 2210, 20112023</ref>

Vila was hired as the host of ''[[This Old House]]'' in 1979, after receiving the "Heritage“Heritage House of 1978"1978” award by ''[[Better Homes and Gardens (magazine)|Better Homes and Gardens]]'', for his restoration of a [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] [[Italianate]] house in [[Newton, Massachusetts|Newton]], [[Massachusetts]]. On ''This Old House,'', Vila appeared with [[carpenter]] [[Norm Abram]] as they, and others, renovated houses. In 1989, he left the show following a disagreement arising from his involvement with outside commercial endorsements for [[New Jersey-based]]–based [[Rickel|Rickel Home Centers]],<ref name="Conflicts"/> and the subsequent retaliatory pulling of underwriting by Rickel's competitor, [[Home Depot]], and lumber supplier [[Weyerhaeuser]].<ref>[https://newsweb.googlearchive.org/web/20110224011301/https://people.com/newspapers?nid=1948&dat=19890404&id=JaQuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3dcFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6613people/archive/article/0,3110369,20117314,00.html Google News Archive Search] ''The Modesto Bee'' {{Dead link|date=May 2022}}</ref> He was replaced by [[Steve Thomas (television)|Steve Thomas]].

After leaving ''This Old House,'', Vila becamebegan a commercial spokesman for [[Sears]], and beginning in 1990 he hostedhosting ''Bob Vila's Home Again'', (renamed to simply ''Bob Vila'' in 2005), a weekly syndicated home-improvement program. His series ran for 16 seasons in syndication before it was canceled by distributor [[CBS Television Distribution]] due to declining ratings; the series remains in reruns and on the PlutoTV streaming service.<ref name="GoodbyeWPblog"/> His relationship with Rickel was also short lived, as he was signed to an endorsement deal with [[Sears]] in 1990 to pitch their line of [[Craftsman (tools)|Craftsman tools]]; the relationship ended acrimoniously in 2006 following a lawsuit settlement.<ref>{{cite news |date=March 2, 2006 |title=Vila shows Sears' harder ride |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-03-02-0603020221-story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022151910/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-03-02-0603020221-story.html |archive-date=October 22, 2021 }}</ref>

Vila has appeared on the [[Home Shopping Network]] selling a range of tools under his own name brand that he founded in 2016.<ref>{{cite news|title=Check Out What's in the Works for Bob Vila Products|url=https://www.bobvila.com/articles/bob-vila-products-coming-soon/ |workpublisher=bobvila.com|date=April 28, 2016|access-date=September 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715064435/https://www.bobvila.com/articles/bob-vila-products-coming-soon/|archive-date=July 15, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Bob Vila's less widely known productions include: ''Guide to Historic Homes of America'' (1996), ''In Search of Palladio,'' (1996) for [[A&E Network|A&E]], and ''Restore America'' for [[Home & Garden Television|HGTV]].

===''Guide to Historic Homes of America''===

The ''Guide to Historic Homes of America'' (1996)<ref name="VilaHistoricAmerica"/> included two-hour segments on each of four major regions of the United States: the [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]], (including [[New England]] and the [[Mid-Atlantic States]]),<ref name="VilaHistoricMidatlantic"/> the [[Southern United States|South]], the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], and the [[Western United States|West]].

;==== ''The Northeast'' ====

* [[Morris–Jumel Mansion]] overlooking the [[YankeePolo StadiumGrounds]] in [[Washington Heights, Manhattan]].

* [[Dyckman House]] on [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] in [[Upper Manhattan]].

* [[Olana State Historic Site|Olana]] –— "a“a palatial amalgam of Middle Eastern and European influences."”<ref name="VilaHistoricAmerica" />

;==== ''The Mid-Atlantic StatesSouth'' ====

** [[University of Virginia]] –— ten residential pavilions surround [[The Lawn|the great, terraced Lawn]].

** [[Ash Lawn–Highland]].

** [[Poplar Forest]] –— octagonal house filmed while undergoing complete restoration.

** [[Monticello]] –— includes Dome Room at top of building (not open to the public) and Honeymoon Cottage.

** House on Endicott Hill –— early trader's house .<!-- NOTE: the source says "House on Endicott Hill" – not [[House on Ellicott's Hill]]. -->

** Rosalie –— [[Federal architecture]] mansion<ref name="RosalieTyler" /> with John Henry Belter<ref name="Belter" /> furniture and a panoramic view of [[Mississippi River]].

** Stanton Hall –— "perhaps“perhaps the grandest [[Greek Revival architecture|Greek Revival]] house anywhere."”<ref name="VilaHistoricAmerica" /> Designed by Captain Thomas Rose.<ref name="CaptainThomasRose" />

** [[Longwood (Natchez, Mississippi)|Longwood]] – begun—begun in 1860 by [[Samuel Sloan (architect)|Samuel Sloan]]. Never finished:; construction halted in April 1861.<ref name="StantonLongwood" />

* [[Texarkana, Texas|Texarkana]], Texas –— the [[Ace of Clubs House]].<ref name="AceClubs" />

;==== ''The Midwest and West'' ====

* [[Ellwood House]] –— built by [[barbed wire]] entrepreneur [[Isaac L. Ellwood]] in [[DeKalb, Illinois|DeKalb]], Illinois.

** [[Dana-Thomas House]] — [[Prairie School]] style home in [[Springfield, Illinois|Springfield]], [[Illinois]]. Quoted "It'sas being richer“richer in detail than any other Wright home."”<ref name="VilaHistoricAmerica" />

** [[Fallingwater]] — [[Organic architecture|Organically designed]] residence that draws heavily upon inspiration from [[Japanese architecture]]. Located in the [[Laurel Highlands]] of the [[Allegheny Mountains]].

* [[Cooper–Molera Adobe]] –— early Spanish Colonial owned by the [[National Trust for Historic Preservation]] in [[Monterey State Historic Park]].

* [[Filoli]] –— [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]] home designed by [[Willis Polk]]; located in [[Woodside, California|Woodside]], California inon the eastern slopes of the [[Santa Cruz Mountains]]. Designed by [[Willis Polk]].

* [[Tor House]]<ref name="TorHouse" /> –— stone house and tower overlooking the Pacific Ocean at [[Carmel-by-the-Sea, California|Carmel-by-the-Sea]], California,; built by [[Robinson Jeffers]].

===''In Search of Palladio''===

''In Search of Palladio'' (1996) iswas a three-part, six-hour study of the work and lasting influence of the 16th-century architect [[Andrea Palladio]]. Palladio designed various types of buildings, but the series concentrates on his domestic architecture. (Seesee also: [[Palladian Villas of the Veneto]]).

;==== I. ''Villas of the Veneto'': ====

* [[Villa Giustinian]], [[Roncade]]. –→ For Vila, this building (not by Palladio) providesprovided the context for Palladio's innovative thinking – gothicthinking—gothic [[battlement]]s, [[portcullis]], and stone walls concealingthat concealed a [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance palace]] and farm buildings.

* [[Villa Pisani (Montagnana)|Villa Pisani]]<ref name="VillaPisaniMontagnana" /> in [[Montagnana]] – → a descendant of the original owners served as Vila's guide.

* [[Villa Cornaro]] –→ A suburban villa on a town street, a palatial residence which was also an on-site place of business for running a large farming enterprise.

* [[Republic of Ireland]]: [[Casino at Marino]] – "the architectural equivalent of a [[Fabergé egg]]".

* [[Northern Ireland]]: [[Castle Ward]] – overlooking [[Strangford Lough]] with both [[Palladian architecture|Palladian]] and [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] facades and interiors.

''Restore America'' consistsconsisted of 50 one-hour segments which exploreexplored [[historic preservation]] and [[building restoration]] in each of the fifty U.S. states. Anticipating the turn of the 3rd millennium, it was first [[Broadcasting|broadcast]] on [[Home & Garden Television|HGTV]] between July 4, 1999, and July 4, 2000.<ref name="RestoreAmerica"/>

*[[List of Cuban Americans|List of Famous Cuban-Americans]]