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The all encompassing mid century modern appreciation thread


Patricio Swayze

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2 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Yes, the arts and crafts thing jumped the shark a couple years back, but there was a strong contingent that really was nice, before they started putting battered columns on 2 story boxes, and calling them Arts & Craft.  I think there has a been a nice new traditionalism movement though. I'm seeing it with some of the smaller, and mixed use developments in our region.

I think the development of cement siding materials in sheet form, and a little bit of an industrial twist with corten, and corrugated materials is making the new modern stuff very warm, and more inviting with nice textures and colors. Kind of a very loose Mondrian pattern look in many cases with glass, and material juxtaposition.

Absolutely.  When the kids are out of the house and we move to our acreage in the boonies, I'm going to have my best friend/architect design a glass box for me, that will also have a lot of the corrugated metals with patina, vertical wooden elements, and cement siding.  It won't look particularly MCM, but the interior furnishings will definitely trend that way.  Might even do a sunken living room, I've always thought those were pretty groovy.

 

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My son bought this Lakeway house in 1993 for $85,000. It was built two years after the village was started in 1962. Son sold it in 1995 for $145,000, IIRC. He put a lot of work in fixing it up. The brick was originally white, the trim brown. The split level plan was a PITA.

 

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On 9/1/2020 at 7:40 PM, utee94 said:

Absolutely.  When the kids are out of the house and we move to our acreage in the boonies, I'm going to have my best friend/architect design a glass box for me, that will also have a lot of the corrugated metals with patina, vertical wooden elements, and cement siding.  It won't look particularly MCM, but the interior furnishings will definitely trend that way.  Might even do a sunken living room, I've always thought those were pretty groovy.

 

Love level changes in a house. We have a sunken living room. It's a favorite feature of mine. Getting clients to buy into them is not easy.  I'm getting ready to start designing the empty nest house now 2,000 sq. ft of modern goodness. 

The site is like a damned ski slope, so level changes will play a role In taking advantage of the site, from the garage entry right on thru the terraces existing the back of the house and down the slope to a heavily wooded, creek bottom.

Edited by Onboard 2.0
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Well, for your forever retirement house, be sure it is wheelchair accessible (entryways & all interior doors, also a ramp cut in the garage  “curb”).

Plus, take pictures of the wall stud framing in your bathrooms so if you decide to add safety rails in the shower/tub you’ll have no anchoring problems.

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Just now, Armybrat said:

Well, for your forever retirement house, be sure it is wheelchair accessible (entryways & all interior doors, also a ramp cut in the garage  “curb”).

Plus, take pictures of the wall stud framing in your bathrooms so if you decide to add safety rails in the shower/tub you’ll have no anchoring problems.

All good points my man.  I design a lot of homes with in law suites or homes that are the last house thing. I always call for blocking in the walls for handrails in baths, zero entry showers, and look at how a ramp may need to be added at some point along with 3'-0" first floor doors everywhere.

Having said that my wifes' 96 year old grand ma was able to negotiate the small level changes in our home with no issues. We were always there when she was going between levels though at a certain point though.

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On 9/1/2020 at 6:28 PM, utee94 said:

Agree for the most part, but it seems like a lot of the "new" arts&crafts style is so... fake, or plastic, or over-produced, or something.  It's like they're capturing the forms, but not the materials and the craftsmanship.

While I think new modernism is actually going the other direction, utilizing more of the traditional modern materials and less of the fake-modern too-futuristic plasticky crap that came on in the 70s.

 

 

On 9/1/2020 at 6:35 PM, Onboard 2.0 said:

Yes, the arts and crafts thing jumped the shark a couple years back, but there was a strong contingent that really was nice, before they started putting battered columns on 2 story boxes, and calling them Arts & Craft.  I think there has a been a nice new traditionalism movement though. I'm seeing it with some of the smaller, and mixed use developments in our region.

I think the development of cement siding materials in sheet form, and a little bit of an industrial twist with corten, and corrugated materials is making the new modern stuff very warm, and more inviting with nice textures and colors. Kind of a very loose Mondrian pattern look in many cases with glass, and material juxtaposition.

I see a lot of craftsman style columns on the fronts of houses these days, but one thing that really just doesn't seem to work is that these new houses are all built on slab. When the porch is level with the ground it just doesn't give the same look as you get with the old craftsman style houses on pier and beam where the floor level is two or three feet above grade.

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They could hide a lot of that with a proper wrap around porch that’s not on slab but extends past it. And then have the entry with wood/deck steps up to the porch and the door under the overhang with the slab only for the interior part of the house. Not my style but there’s still something magical about a big ass covered front porch like that.

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  • 5 months later...

Cross posted from the Hifi thread.  It's not technically MCM but rather Hollywood Regency/Chinoiserie.  Anyway, the "Beautiful Monster" is in its new home (my home).  Getting the components refurbed, but have it up and running, complete with badass lamps, for now.

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On 8/13/2020 at 8:22 AM, Patricio Swayze said:


And that is exactly how I would want my house to feel. Which brings up a question for y’all, what is the tropical flavored mid century modern design called? Is it just “tiki” for everything? I’m talking the already mentioned villain lair (007, Incredibles). But I am not sure if that also describes Brazilian mid century modern, which probably could be its own subset.

Hollywood Regency, which incorporates Chinoiserie and the tiki style.  Just think Hollywood Golden age from the 20s until the end of the 1950s.  I grew up with it and love it.

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On 9/1/2020 at 7:14 PM, Armybrat said:

Well, for your forever retirement house, be sure it is wheelchair accessible (entryways & all interior doors, also a ramp cut in the garage  “curb”).

Plus, take pictures of the wall stud framing in your bathrooms so if you decide to add safety rails in the shower/tub you’ll have no anchoring problems.

We are building our last home - mostly modern but with a butterfly and shed roof with clerestory and transom windows it has strong mid century elements. Split level would be nice to bring it together, but at 50 and 45 we already need to be thinking about the ability to stay longer - wheel chair access etc.  we have an elevator shaft and nixed split level. Kinda wish we kept the lower level into the living room as we now try to figure out terrazzo tile in the kitchen but don’t want it on the living - we wanted wood there.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
4 hours ago, troph said:

Probably tear downs on the islands near Miami but man what could be done with this ...
 

 

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Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams home in Islamorada has been for sale for several years. 

https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/baseball-star-ted-williams-s-longtime-home-seeks-4-2-million-52405

large_BN-RT785_0126WI_GR_20170124141327.

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3 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams home in Islamorada has been for sale for several years. 

https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/baseball-star-ted-williams-s-longtime-home-seeks-4-2-million-52405

large_BN-RT785_0126WI_GR_20170124141327.

that's actually a really great house.  a rich man's fishing cabin basically.  I think it probably needs $300K maybe a tad more in an overhaul - mostly surfaces - but other than that it has a ton of appeal. I'd go in on it with 8 other uh... guys. lol.

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/23/2021 at 4:31 PM, troph said:

that's actually a really great house.  a rich man's fishing cabin basically.  I think it probably needs $300K maybe a tad more in an overhaul - mostly surfaces - but other than that it has a ton of appeal. I'd go in on it with 8 other uh... guys. lol.

I agree. Problem would be I’d need another 7 figures in boats.  

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48 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

I agree. Problem would be I’d need another 7 figures in boats.  

I’d say at least a 60 foot SFY and a 60 foot sailboat - at least. So mid seven figures minimum.  I could see a center console for quick rides and inshore fishing very easily. So 3 boats minimum. 

Edited by troph
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9 minutes ago, troph said:

I’d say at least a 60 foot SFY and a 60 foot sailboat - at least. So mid seven figures minimum.  I could see a center console for quick rides and inshore fishing very easily. So 3 boats minimum. 

Exactly. New IM cc for messing about (150k) and that 60’ Spencer...well, that one might be worth more than the house.  One can dream. 

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5 minutes ago, TexPx said:


Yeah. He spent a lot of time with FLW at Taliesin West.

Yeah maybe his biggest disciple ?  I've never consciously designed anything that would be considered FLW. I've used his concepts of expansion, and contraction of spaces to great effect, but that's about it. 

He's the genius of modern history architecture IMO, and I love his style above most other architects still, but would not want to be asked to design an FLW styled home.  That's a shit load of pressure, and I don't need pressure.

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I snapped this photo about a month ago of our family cabin my dad and his carpenter buddy built circa 1965. The owners weren’t there, so this is the best shot I could get. It’s on a hill/cliff overlooking a lake in South Dakota. It has a deck and big picture windows on the two sides overlooking the lake. It also had a 60s style free-standing fireplace in the middle of the living room that appears to no longer exist. Imagine Dean Martin walking in stirring a martini.04-D2-F615-4624-489-C-92-D2-CC525-E99-B4

My dad purchased the lot for cash from a friend who was a local mayor. It bordered a SD Game, Fish & Parks wildlife refuge, but my dad - not wanting to pay for a proper survey - relied of the mayor’s recollection of the property line.  My dad sold it to his carpenter friend when we moved to San Antonio in 1974, and the bank-ordered survey showed that it encroached on the GFP land. Oops! My dad had to pay to remove a nicely terraced grass patio on the downhill side that had a wall and crescent fire pit and grill made with huge sandstone rocks that he scavenged from God knows where.

That refuge along the shoreline was like heaven for me as a kid. I had it to myself to fish and (illegally) hunt frogs that I would use as bait (or sell to a bait shop for 10 cents until I found out that the bastards sold them for over a dollar).

Edited by ImissWallyPryor
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I snapped this photo about a month ago of our family cabin my dad and his carpenter buddy built circa 1965. The owners weren’t there, so this is the best shot I could get. It’s on a hill/cliff overlooking a lake in South Dakota. It has a deck and big picture windows on the two sides overlooking the lake. It also had a 60s style free-standing fireplace in the middle of the living room that appears to no longer exist. Imagine Dean Martin walking in stirring a martini.04-D2-F615-4624-489-C-92-D2-CC525-E99-B4-E6.jpg
My dad purchased the lot for cash from a friend who was a local mayor. It bordered a SD Game, Fish & Parks wildlife refuge, but my dad - not wanting to pay for a proper survey - relied of the mayor’s recollection of the property line.  My dad sold it to his carpenter friend when we moved to San Antonio in 1974, and the bank-ordered survey showed that it encroached on the GFP land. Oops! My dad had to pay to remove a nicely terraced grass patio on the downhill side that had a wall and crescent fire pit and grill made with huge sandstone rocks that he scavenged from God knows where.
That refuge along the shoreline was like heaven for me as a kid. I had it to myself to fish and (illegally) hunt frogs that I would use as bait (or sell to a bait shop for 10 cents until I found out that the bastards sold them for over a dollar).

Great looking cabin.
Some of those MCM Preway and Malm fireplaces can go for a few thousand bucks.


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2 hours ago, 52-80 said:

i dont know what style this is but its funky as shit and i love it

 

https://www.finn.no/realestate/homes/ad.html?finnkode=220104925

 

Industrial contemporary IMO. The corrugated metal used as a residential building material makes it industrial, The shed roof forms make it contemporary.

The brick doesn't work well IMO, but it is fer-in. They do things differently over there in the Europes, and the front door could have had more impact than that faded, sad looking thing with no protective roof cover.  Still definitely dig it overall.

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/23/2021 at 7:17 AM, troph said:

Probably tear downs on the islands near Miami but man what could be done with this ...
 

 

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Looks like the kinda place Jimmy Buffet and Jackie Treehorn would go to fists over purchasing.

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  • 1 year later...
I have this whole idea of a coastal/beachy MCM feel, that I want to figure out.


Decided to re-read this thread. Unfortunate q lot of the hosted photos are not showing up. And some of the links to real estate listings don’t have all the photos.

Anyways, I quoted Rip76 because I was just visiting my folks in Fulton and I always get this feeling down there. I have been going down there all my life as my grandparents had a house there then my parents retired down there. Nowadays you don’t get as strong a coastal MCM feel as back in the 80s, but it’s still there. I wish I had photos of the interior of my grandparent’s house with the items on the shelves and the aluminum cups. A few doors down from my parents there are two atomic ranch style houses with slate masonry. Really love those.
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  • 5 weeks later...

Speaking of MCM…… in 1952 I won a Bingo game at the officers club at Fort Brooke in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 
There were 3 tiers of prize tables to choose from A, B, C. 
For my simple straight Bingo win, my choice was from Table C. 
A neat gambling set that had a miniature Roulette wheel, cards, dice, etc. caught my eye. 
But Mom said that cheap plastic crap would break easily, so would’t the more durable aluminum canister set be a better choice?

Anyway, I still have two pieces of the four canister set….

 

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  • 1 month later...

I flew through there as a kid... connecting flight from Italy to wherever we were going.  

A mix of random houses... pics taken in the Houston Memorial area around 2003-2005 (thus the extremely high quality).  Pretty sure most of these are gone... I know a few for sure are history.  

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On 8/6/2023 at 9:12 PM, Chad Fuck said:

Bumparampamus.
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This place is like a spaceship on earth.

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I don’t want to leave.
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Delta fucked me a few weeks ago and I got stuck at JFK for the night.  My wife got me a room at this place while I was dealing with the shit show.  I had no idea it existed. I just followed the signs and was completely blown away when I saw it -- one of the coolest places I've ever seen.  Lobby, bar, restaurant, room, even the hallways were amazing.  

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37 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

This guy makes furniture out of old skateboards and several of his designs are mid-century modern inspired. Definitely cheap, but they look cool and are well made (has videos on his Instagram of him making them).

https://barousseworks.com/collections/furniture

I saw a video of a dude making solid-body electric guitars out of skateboards, I'm assuming it's the same guy.  Looked very cool.

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