Design Through the Decades: The 1950s
Travel back to when the fun colors, clean lines and glass walls of midcentury modern style were fresh and new
This series looks at the stories behind iconic designs from each decade, starting in 1900. This installment covers such midcentury classics as the Tulip table, Diamond and Egg chairs, and Bubble and Artichoke pendant lights, plus glass houses and bomb shelters.
Not everything in the United States was rosy in the 1950s, but there was a postwar sense of positivity and possibility amid the fears of nuclear war. It pervaded midcentury modern style via exteriors sparkling with glass and interiors beaming with ethereal lighting, blond woods, playful patterns and a whole lot of pink.
Previous: Design Through the Decades: The 1940s
Not everything in the United States was rosy in the 1950s, but there was a postwar sense of positivity and possibility amid the fears of nuclear war. It pervaded midcentury modern style via exteriors sparkling with glass and interiors beaming with ethereal lighting, blond woods, playful patterns and a whole lot of pink.
Previous: Design Through the Decades: The 1940s
First Lady Pink
Mamie Eisenhower knew a thing or two about making the White House a home when she and Ike moved in, in 1953. She estimated that it was their 33rd residence in 37 years of marriage and, for decorating expediency, she carried around a stick painted with her favorite pink, green and cream. Even though a 3½-year gut renovation of the presidential mansion had just been completed the previous spring, she set about making the White House comfortable for herself and her husband, starting with the master bedroom.
Working within a limited budget and her tried-and-true palette, she repurposed glazed floral chintz curtains from another room and then played up the pink with a new tufted headboard, dust ruffle and bed linens.
The first lady’s love of pink — also the color of her rhinestone-studded inaugural gown, shoes, gloves and Judith Leiber evening bag — sparked a trend that extended beyond fashion and Elvis Presley’s Cadillac. The Textile Color Card Association named Mamie’s preferred shade First Lady Pink, and manufacturers picked it up for paint, bathroom fixtures and kitchen appliances. “If forced to pick one color as leading this year,” Electrical Merchandising magazine said of appliances in 1958, “most industry men say pink is tops.”
In John Smagner’s Chicago dining room, pictured, he made his grandmother’s lovingly cared-for furniture the centerpiece and decorated around it in midcentury style. For the walls, he pulled a pink from the large painting by Genna and Signe Grushovenko above the sideboard, and he supplemented the 1950s blond wood dining set with four Edward Wormley armchairs he found on eBay and had repainted and reupholstered.
From 1931 to 1970, Wormley, an Illinois native, designed furniture for Indiana-based Dunbar, which still focuses on producing handcrafted pieces from his designs.
Find upholstery professionals near you on Houzz
Mamie Eisenhower knew a thing or two about making the White House a home when she and Ike moved in, in 1953. She estimated that it was their 33rd residence in 37 years of marriage and, for decorating expediency, she carried around a stick painted with her favorite pink, green and cream. Even though a 3½-year gut renovation of the presidential mansion had just been completed the previous spring, she set about making the White House comfortable for herself and her husband, starting with the master bedroom.
Working within a limited budget and her tried-and-true palette, she repurposed glazed floral chintz curtains from another room and then played up the pink with a new tufted headboard, dust ruffle and bed linens.
The first lady’s love of pink — also the color of her rhinestone-studded inaugural gown, shoes, gloves and Judith Leiber evening bag — sparked a trend that extended beyond fashion and Elvis Presley’s Cadillac. The Textile Color Card Association named Mamie’s preferred shade First Lady Pink, and manufacturers picked it up for paint, bathroom fixtures and kitchen appliances. “If forced to pick one color as leading this year,” Electrical Merchandising magazine said of appliances in 1958, “most industry men say pink is tops.”
In John Smagner’s Chicago dining room, pictured, he made his grandmother’s lovingly cared-for furniture the centerpiece and decorated around it in midcentury style. For the walls, he pulled a pink from the large painting by Genna and Signe Grushovenko above the sideboard, and he supplemented the 1950s blond wood dining set with four Edward Wormley armchairs he found on eBay and had repainted and reupholstered.
From 1931 to 1970, Wormley, an Illinois native, designed furniture for Indiana-based Dunbar, which still focuses on producing handcrafted pieces from his designs.
Find upholstery professionals near you on Houzz
During the renovation of his upstairs bathroom, Smagner ditched the burgundy floor tile but kept the pink sink, toilet and tub. He selected tile in midcentury pink and gray to cover the walls. Also on eBay, he found period towel racks, soap dish, cup holder and toilet paper holder still in their original packaging. For true authenticity, the latter would hold colored bathroom tissue, introduced by Northern in 1954.
Tour the whole house on Houzz TV
Tour the whole house on Houzz TV
Color in General
The decade was a color-happy time overall. French artist Henri Matisse was making vibrant collages from cutouts of painted paper. Color-field abstract artists like Clyfford Still and Mark Rothko were covering swaths of canvas in saturated hues.
Harry and Patricia Kislevitz, a couple of young art students in New York, wanted to create big chromatic artworks too, but with paint being pricey, they got vinyl from a handbag manufacturer instead. Since it clung to the orange enamel walls of their bathroom, they left a roll and scissors out for their guests to have some fun. Thus Colorforms was born in 1951.
That’s right, an orange enamel bathroom — on the home front, modern brights, conservative pastels and Scandinavian-influenced neutrals were all in play.
Larry Lambert of Chi Renovation & Design researched midcentury palettes for clients who wanted their renovated Chicago kitchen, pictured, to have a retro twist. Minty-green paint (the cheerily named Jocular by Sherwin-Willliams) on the cabinetry by Bellmont Cabinet goes a long way toward achieving the goal.
The white subway tile walls and the black-and-white octagonal floor tile recall a 1950s diner or soda fountain. The bar stools, small appliances and polka-dot valance are the cherry on top.
Read more about this kitchen
Find red small appliances in the Houzz Shop
The decade was a color-happy time overall. French artist Henri Matisse was making vibrant collages from cutouts of painted paper. Color-field abstract artists like Clyfford Still and Mark Rothko were covering swaths of canvas in saturated hues.
Harry and Patricia Kislevitz, a couple of young art students in New York, wanted to create big chromatic artworks too, but with paint being pricey, they got vinyl from a handbag manufacturer instead. Since it clung to the orange enamel walls of their bathroom, they left a roll and scissors out for their guests to have some fun. Thus Colorforms was born in 1951.
That’s right, an orange enamel bathroom — on the home front, modern brights, conservative pastels and Scandinavian-influenced neutrals were all in play.
Larry Lambert of Chi Renovation & Design researched midcentury palettes for clients who wanted their renovated Chicago kitchen, pictured, to have a retro twist. Minty-green paint (the cheerily named Jocular by Sherwin-Willliams) on the cabinetry by Bellmont Cabinet goes a long way toward achieving the goal.
The white subway tile walls and the black-and-white octagonal floor tile recall a 1950s diner or soda fountain. The bar stools, small appliances and polka-dot valance are the cherry on top.
Read more about this kitchen
Find red small appliances in the Houzz Shop
Homeowner Marty Arbunich, builder Craig Smollen and interior designer Lucile Glessner restored an experimental 1956 steel-framed house designed by architects A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons and built by developer Joseph Eichler south of San Francisco.
“We scraped the old paint off the beams to get a chip of the original orange paint, and then we had it matched,” Glessner says. They did the same thing with the kitchen cabinets, returning them to their yellow-and-gray glory. They also got the intercom radio on the backsplash and the blender built into the perimeter countertop working again. The island, which pulls apart to reveal two electric burners, is original too.
Read more about this onetime “house of tomorrow”
“We scraped the old paint off the beams to get a chip of the original orange paint, and then we had it matched,” Glessner says. They did the same thing with the kitchen cabinets, returning them to their yellow-and-gray glory. They also got the intercom radio on the backsplash and the blender built into the perimeter countertop working again. The island, which pulls apart to reveal two electric burners, is original too.
Read more about this onetime “house of tomorrow”
The work surfaces of this remodeled Northern California kitchen combine aqua, a popular 1950s color, with lava stone, which has a long architectural history in France but is relatively new as a countertop material. After being quarried and cut into slabs, the volcanic rock is glazed with enamel and fired in a kiln, a process that makes it durable, nonporous and thermally stable, and gives it a characterful crazing pattern. In short, it has the benefits of granite in a virtually unlimited range of colors.
Melina Copass of Melinamade Interiors and her clients boosted the midcentury aesthetic with Saturn cabinet knobs and Star backplates, both from Rejuvenation, and a custom Roman shade in a silk-screened, atom-patterned fabric of Copass’ own design. The red metal chair is also of the era.
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Melina Copass of Melinamade Interiors and her clients boosted the midcentury aesthetic with Saturn cabinet knobs and Star backplates, both from Rejuvenation, and a custom Roman shade in a silk-screened, atom-patterned fabric of Copass’ own design. The red metal chair is also of the era.
Find an interior designer on Houzz
Boomerang Motif
Copass’ boomerang print on the custom silk-screened curtains brings color to the living room. An oval table — with a bone-inlay starbust top on 1950s Shelby Williams chair legs — stands between custom seating pieces designed by Copass and Preston Sharp.
Read more about this midcentury-meets-Mediterranean house
Copass’ boomerang print on the custom silk-screened curtains brings color to the living room. An oval table — with a bone-inlay starbust top on 1950s Shelby Williams chair legs — stands between custom seating pieces designed by Copass and Preston Sharp.
Read more about this midcentury-meets-Mediterranean house
Symbolizing motion and a rocket’s trajectory, boomerangs and parabolas decorated all kinds of items in the 1950s — especially the Formica countertops in homes and diners.
Daniel O’Conor and Herbert Faber founded Formica in 1913 after discovering that high-pressure plastic resins could substitute “for mica” as an electrical insulator, but over the years, the company shifted to decorative laminate products. In the 1950s, sales skyrocketed thanks to the postwar building boom and vigorous advertising.
Whereas previous patterns had simulated wood or stone, Brooks Stevens’ iconic Skylark (now called Boomerang) made no such pretenses. Back then, the overlapping boomerangs were outlined in up to three colors on backgrounds of pink, aqua, baby blue, yellow, coral, white, gray or charcoal.
Today, Formica offers Boomerang only in charcoal (though other companies have stepped in to fill the void). Vidal Design Collaborative used it for this bar sink counter (more visible in a close-up shot) in a Southern California kitchen, complementing it with boomerang-shaped cabinet pulls, retro glassware and an elongated hexagonal tile in acid yellow.
Buy a sheet of Formica’s Boomerang laminate on Houzz
Daniel O’Conor and Herbert Faber founded Formica in 1913 after discovering that high-pressure plastic resins could substitute “for mica” as an electrical insulator, but over the years, the company shifted to decorative laminate products. In the 1950s, sales skyrocketed thanks to the postwar building boom and vigorous advertising.
Whereas previous patterns had simulated wood or stone, Brooks Stevens’ iconic Skylark (now called Boomerang) made no such pretenses. Back then, the overlapping boomerangs were outlined in up to three colors on backgrounds of pink, aqua, baby blue, yellow, coral, white, gray or charcoal.
Today, Formica offers Boomerang only in charcoal (though other companies have stepped in to fill the void). Vidal Design Collaborative used it for this bar sink counter (more visible in a close-up shot) in a Southern California kitchen, complementing it with boomerang-shaped cabinet pulls, retro glassware and an elongated hexagonal tile in acid yellow.
Buy a sheet of Formica’s Boomerang laminate on Houzz
Architect Francisco Garcia of Modern Architecture Services designed a copper boomerang installation to partially shade the entrance of an accessible San Diego home. The motif repeats on the glass door insets as well as on windows and trusses, visible in other photos of the renovation.
Find an architect on Houzz
Find an architect on Houzz
Photo of Lucienne Day patterns by Sergio Ortega
Lucienne Day Textiles
In creating her own fabrics, Copass follows in the footsteps of midcentury British designer Lucienne Day, whose award-winning Calyx screen-printed linen, top right, for the 1951 Festival of Britain became one of the period’s most popular textiles. Calyx’s abstract parabolic plant forms were a departure from the usual muted floral chintzes; so was the designer’s palette, which often included acid yellow.
Shop for fabrics by style and color
Lucienne Day Textiles
In creating her own fabrics, Copass follows in the footsteps of midcentury British designer Lucienne Day, whose award-winning Calyx screen-printed linen, top right, for the 1951 Festival of Britain became one of the period’s most popular textiles. Calyx’s abstract parabolic plant forms were a departure from the usual muted floral chintzes; so was the designer’s palette, which often included acid yellow.
Shop for fabrics by style and color
Robin Day Furniture
The Festival of Britain also boosted the career of Day’s husband, Robin, a designer of Scandinavian-influenced minimalist furniture, especially seating and storage units.
Robin Day’s 675 chair, created in 1952, is composed of a steel tube frame and an elegant piece of veneered plywood that curves to form the back and arms. Interior designer Beth Dadswell’s son uses this licensed reproduction by Case Furniture in his bedroom in the family’s London home.
“We also have Robin Day’s Forum leather sofa in our living room that we have had for the past 20 years, as well as Robin Day polypropylene dining chairs,” Dadswell says. “The weirdest thing is that we didn’t consciously decide to have his designs everywhere. We bought them all over a long period of time and just realized it recently! We do both love his pared-back, simple style of midcentury furniture, though, and had been to see exhibitions of his and his wife’s work.”
Read more about this converted dairy
The Festival of Britain also boosted the career of Day’s husband, Robin, a designer of Scandinavian-influenced minimalist furniture, especially seating and storage units.
Robin Day’s 675 chair, created in 1952, is composed of a steel tube frame and an elegant piece of veneered plywood that curves to form the back and arms. Interior designer Beth Dadswell’s son uses this licensed reproduction by Case Furniture in his bedroom in the family’s London home.
“We also have Robin Day’s Forum leather sofa in our living room that we have had for the past 20 years, as well as Robin Day polypropylene dining chairs,” Dadswell says. “The weirdest thing is that we didn’t consciously decide to have his designs everywhere. We bought them all over a long period of time and just realized it recently! We do both love his pared-back, simple style of midcentury furniture, though, and had been to see exhibitions of his and his wife’s work.”
Read more about this converted dairy
Eames Lounge Chair and Mouille Three-Arm Ceiling Lamp
The Days, with their shared studio and decadeslong careers, are often compared to American designers Charles and Ray Eames, who followed up their molded plywood chairs of the 1940s with their iconic plywood-and-leather Lounge chair and ottoman, introduced by Herman Miller in 1956.
The set adorns the living room of this Victorian house in London that was designed by Cinzia Moretti. The ceiling light, with its three angular arms and breast-shaped reflectors, is a 1958 design from Serge Mouille, a gifted Parisian metalsmith who was reacting against the overly complicated Italian lighting of the time. One day, actor Henry Fonda showed up at his studio and vowed not to leave until Mouille promised to make him a lamp — the first to reach U.S. shores. Now Mouille’s designs are a favorite in renovated brownstones in Brooklyn, reports New York magazine, which traces their path to ubiquity in its April 29 issue.
Find the Eames Lounge chair in the Houzz Shop
The Days, with their shared studio and decadeslong careers, are often compared to American designers Charles and Ray Eames, who followed up their molded plywood chairs of the 1940s with their iconic plywood-and-leather Lounge chair and ottoman, introduced by Herman Miller in 1956.
The set adorns the living room of this Victorian house in London that was designed by Cinzia Moretti. The ceiling light, with its three angular arms and breast-shaped reflectors, is a 1958 design from Serge Mouille, a gifted Parisian metalsmith who was reacting against the overly complicated Italian lighting of the time. One day, actor Henry Fonda showed up at his studio and vowed not to leave until Mouille promised to make him a lamp — the first to reach U.S. shores. Now Mouille’s designs are a favorite in renovated brownstones in Brooklyn, reports New York magazine, which traces their path to ubiquity in its April 29 issue.
Find the Eames Lounge chair in the Houzz Shop
Coconut Chair
Herman Miller design director George Nelson and his associates also produced distinctive seating in the 1950s. With clutter contained in streamlined storage walls, “the only place left for furniture is out in the open. Hence silhouette becomes important,” Nelson wrote in Chairs in 1953.
The 1955 Coconut chair — a chromed steel tripod topped with a plastic shell encased in foam rubber and leather or fabric — is now attributed to Nelson associate George Mulhauser. It resembles both a coconut segment and architect Eero Saarinen’s Kresge Auditorium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Its informal shape suits this family room in a Southern California home that Laidlaw Schultz Architects expanded with midcentury modern architecture in mind.
Read more about this house and see its boomerang-shaped sofa
Herman Miller design director George Nelson and his associates also produced distinctive seating in the 1950s. With clutter contained in streamlined storage walls, “the only place left for furniture is out in the open. Hence silhouette becomes important,” Nelson wrote in Chairs in 1953.
The 1955 Coconut chair — a chromed steel tripod topped with a plastic shell encased in foam rubber and leather or fabric — is now attributed to Nelson associate George Mulhauser. It resembles both a coconut segment and architect Eero Saarinen’s Kresge Auditorium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Its informal shape suits this family room in a Southern California home that Laidlaw Schultz Architects expanded with midcentury modern architecture in mind.
Read more about this house and see its boomerang-shaped sofa
Marshmallow Sofa
The playful 1956 Marshmallow sofa, now attributed to Nelson associate Irving Harper, was ahead of its time: The idea — to combine 18 prefabricated, interchangeable disks in an array of colors on a standardized metal frame — outpaced both the available technology and the nascent Pop Art sensibility. Since the foam rubber cushions couldn’t be mass-produced, the expensive piece had few buyers until its reintroduction in 1999.
It’s right at home with Andy Warhol art in this 1962 San Francisco Bay Area residence designed by Jones, built by Eichler and restored by Gary Hutton.
Read more about this house and see its Warhol
The playful 1956 Marshmallow sofa, now attributed to Nelson associate Irving Harper, was ahead of its time: The idea — to combine 18 prefabricated, interchangeable disks in an array of colors on a standardized metal frame — outpaced both the available technology and the nascent Pop Art sensibility. Since the foam rubber cushions couldn’t be mass-produced, the expensive piece had few buyers until its reintroduction in 1999.
It’s right at home with Andy Warhol art in this 1962 San Francisco Bay Area residence designed by Jones, built by Eichler and restored by Gary Hutton.
Read more about this house and see its Warhol
Diamond Chair
Technological advances since Marcel Breuer turned tubular steel into chair frames in the 1920s brought about thinner gauges of steel in the 1950s. Harry Bertoia, who learned jewelry making upon immigrating to Detroit from Italy (and later made Ray Eames’ wedding ring), took advantage of this to create a collection of wire-lattice chairs for U.S. furniture manufacturer Knoll. Their intricate design required them to be made by hand, but even so, they were such a commercial success that Bertoia was able to devote himself to sculpture from then on.
In Tom Hannigan Jr. and Carree Syrek’s midcentury home in New York, pictured, four airy Diamond armchairs and a bluestone-topped table create a seating area near the kitchen that enjoys Hudson Valley views through expansive windows.
Read more about this house and see its classic furniture collection
Technological advances since Marcel Breuer turned tubular steel into chair frames in the 1920s brought about thinner gauges of steel in the 1950s. Harry Bertoia, who learned jewelry making upon immigrating to Detroit from Italy (and later made Ray Eames’ wedding ring), took advantage of this to create a collection of wire-lattice chairs for U.S. furniture manufacturer Knoll. Their intricate design required them to be made by hand, but even so, they were such a commercial success that Bertoia was able to devote himself to sculpture from then on.
In Tom Hannigan Jr. and Carree Syrek’s midcentury home in New York, pictured, four airy Diamond armchairs and a bluestone-topped table create a seating area near the kitchen that enjoys Hudson Valley views through expansive windows.
Read more about this house and see its classic furniture collection
Photo from the Indianapolis Museum of Art
Miller House and Girard Textiles
In 1952, Nelson hired Alexander Girard to direct the fabric division of Herman Miller. Having studied architecture in Rome, London and New York, Girard had a globalist view of design: “The whole world is hometown,” an Italian proverb he liked to quote, guided him as he created textiles and collected folk art.
A year later, industrialist J. Irwin Miller for the second time commissioned Saarinen and Girard to design and decorate a residence. The first commission was a vacation cottage on an Ontario lake; this time, the request was for a modernist home for the family of seven in Columbus, Indiana.
The Miller House’s square conversation pit, pictured, is one of its defining features, in part because of Girard’s brilliant pillows and slipcovers, which are changed seasonally. One side of the pit looks out on grounds designed by Dan Kiley. Another side takes in Girard’s 50-foot-long storage wall, which he artfully arranged with books, sculpture and other objects from all over the world. He also designed the rugs and curtains.
Discover Columbus, Indiana, a showcase for modernist architecture
Miller House and Girard Textiles
In 1952, Nelson hired Alexander Girard to direct the fabric division of Herman Miller. Having studied architecture in Rome, London and New York, Girard had a globalist view of design: “The whole world is hometown,” an Italian proverb he liked to quote, guided him as he created textiles and collected folk art.
A year later, industrialist J. Irwin Miller for the second time commissioned Saarinen and Girard to design and decorate a residence. The first commission was a vacation cottage on an Ontario lake; this time, the request was for a modernist home for the family of seven in Columbus, Indiana.
The Miller House’s square conversation pit, pictured, is one of its defining features, in part because of Girard’s brilliant pillows and slipcovers, which are changed seasonally. One side of the pit looks out on grounds designed by Dan Kiley. Another side takes in Girard’s 50-foot-long storage wall, which he artfully arranged with books, sculpture and other objects from all over the world. He also designed the rugs and curtains.
Discover Columbus, Indiana, a showcase for modernist architecture
The focal point of the dining room in the Miller House, which is open to the public, is Saarinen’s built-in marble table, 8 feet in diameter. Its flared pedestal base contains a brass pipe that pumps water up to fountain jets in a plastic centerpiece bowl, which is lighted around the edge. Girard designed the tableware and seat cushions.
Tulip Table and Chair
The Miller House’s custom dining table evolved into Saarinen’s Tulip table and chairs, issued by Knoll in 1956. The design was his solution to clear up what he called “the slum of legs in the U.S. home.” This vintage Tulip set and a built-in banquette form an eating nook in a late-1800s California wine country farmhouse remodeled by Bevan + Associates.
Read more about this farmhouse
See how Tulip-style tables work with other sorts of chairs in many kinds of settings
The Miller House’s custom dining table evolved into Saarinen’s Tulip table and chairs, issued by Knoll in 1956. The design was his solution to clear up what he called “the slum of legs in the U.S. home.” This vintage Tulip set and a built-in banquette form an eating nook in a late-1800s California wine country farmhouse remodeled by Bevan + Associates.
Read more about this farmhouse
See how Tulip-style tables work with other sorts of chairs in many kinds of settings
Wegner Chairs
After World War II, designers in Saarinen’s native Finland and other Nordic countries made a concerted effort to promote their minimal, natural and functional aesthetic abroad. Frederik Lunning, the Danish‐born owner of the Georg Jensen store in Manhattan, established the annual Lunning Prize for young Scandinavian designers in 1951, the same year the Scandinavian Design for Living exhibition opened in Heal’s department store in London. The Design in Scandinavia exhibition solidified the look’s popularity when it toured North America from 1954 to 1957.
Danish furniture designer Hans Wegner and Finnish sculptor-designer Tapio Wirkkala were the inaugural Lunning Prize recipients. Wegner is especially known for his 500 or so chairs, including the Round chair, whose back and arms merge in a graceful crescent; the Valet chair, whose backrest mimics a coat hanger; and the Wishbone chair, in continuous production since its introduction by Carl Hansen & Son in 1950.
Today, the popular Wishbone chair comes in 97 variations, including the beachy blue model pictured in the dining area of this waterfront home on New York’s Long Island, which was remodeled by Mitchell Wilk Architecture and Willey Design.
Shop for midcentury-modern-style dining chairs
After World War II, designers in Saarinen’s native Finland and other Nordic countries made a concerted effort to promote their minimal, natural and functional aesthetic abroad. Frederik Lunning, the Danish‐born owner of the Georg Jensen store in Manhattan, established the annual Lunning Prize for young Scandinavian designers in 1951, the same year the Scandinavian Design for Living exhibition opened in Heal’s department store in London. The Design in Scandinavia exhibition solidified the look’s popularity when it toured North America from 1954 to 1957.
Danish furniture designer Hans Wegner and Finnish sculptor-designer Tapio Wirkkala were the inaugural Lunning Prize recipients. Wegner is especially known for his 500 or so chairs, including the Round chair, whose back and arms merge in a graceful crescent; the Valet chair, whose backrest mimics a coat hanger; and the Wishbone chair, in continuous production since its introduction by Carl Hansen & Son in 1950.
Today, the popular Wishbone chair comes in 97 variations, including the beachy blue model pictured in the dining area of this waterfront home on New York’s Long Island, which was remodeled by Mitchell Wilk Architecture and Willey Design.
Shop for midcentury-modern-style dining chairs
Jacobsen Chairs
Like the Eameses, Wegner compatriot Arne Jacobsen experimented with molding plywood into three-dimensional forms, and in 1952 he created the evocative Ant chair (pictured in this 1956 house in Washington state) for a company cafeteria.
The architect-designer was so confident about his creation — a pinch-waisted single piece of veneered plywood attached to three legs — that he promised his skeptical Danish furniture manufacturer that he would buy every chair that didn’t sell. But Fritz Hansen never had to collect. Light, stackable and easy and cost-effective to make, the Ant chair has been in production ever since (though Hansen later added a fourth leg). Jacobsen then followed up with his similar Series 7, one of the most popular chairs ever.
Read more about this house designed by midcentury U.S. architect Kenneth Brooks
Like the Eameses, Wegner compatriot Arne Jacobsen experimented with molding plywood into three-dimensional forms, and in 1952 he created the evocative Ant chair (pictured in this 1956 house in Washington state) for a company cafeteria.
The architect-designer was so confident about his creation — a pinch-waisted single piece of veneered plywood attached to three legs — that he promised his skeptical Danish furniture manufacturer that he would buy every chair that didn’t sell. But Fritz Hansen never had to collect. Light, stackable and easy and cost-effective to make, the Ant chair has been in production ever since (though Hansen later added a fourth leg). Jacobsen then followed up with his similar Series 7, one of the most popular chairs ever.
Read more about this house designed by midcentury U.S. architect Kenneth Brooks
In the late 1950s, Jacobsen tackled his largest project: the SAS Royal Hotel, Copenhagen’s first major skyscraper. He designed everything from the exterior facade to the restaurant cutlery. At 22 stories, the hotel has long been surpassed by other structures; its curvaceous Egg, Swan, Drop and Pot armchairs, though, have stood the test of time.
Jacobsen used a new technique of steam-molding polystyrene beads to a fiberglass base. The Egg chair and ottoman seen here nestle between a Girard silk-screen panel and an Eames walnut stool in Highfield House, a Mies van der Rohe-designed building in Baltimore. Architect Robert Berman renovated the condo for himself.
Read about how manufacturers are bringing old Danish designs to light
Jacobsen used a new technique of steam-molding polystyrene beads to a fiberglass base. The Egg chair and ottoman seen here nestle between a Girard silk-screen panel and an Eames walnut stool in Highfield House, a Mies van der Rohe-designed building in Baltimore. Architect Robert Berman renovated the condo for himself.
Read about how manufacturers are bringing old Danish designs to light
Mole Chair
Halfway around the world from Scandinavia, architects and designers in Brazil were building a new capital city that was more centrally located than Rio de Janeiro. Lúcio Costa was the planner of Brasília, and Oscar Niemeyer was the chief architect. Both were impressed by furniture designer Sergio Rodrigues’ work and invited him to contribute pieces to their new buildings. Among them was this slouchy leather-and-jacaranda Mole chair (aka Sheriff chair), which brought the country international attention and paved the way for fat, oversize and bohemian furniture.
Halfway around the world from Scandinavia, architects and designers in Brazil were building a new capital city that was more centrally located than Rio de Janeiro. Lúcio Costa was the planner of Brasília, and Oscar Niemeyer was the chief architect. Both were impressed by furniture designer Sergio Rodrigues’ work and invited him to contribute pieces to their new buildings. Among them was this slouchy leather-and-jacaranda Mole chair (aka Sheriff chair), which brought the country international attention and paved the way for fat, oversize and bohemian furniture.
Photo by Ruy Teixeira
Bowl Chair
Architect-designer Lina Bo Bardi moved with her husband to Brazil from war-torn Italy, where she had worked with renowned architect Gio Ponti. The year 1951 was a momentous one for her: She became a Brazilian citizen; she completed her first piece of architecture, their glass house on stilts in the São Paulo rainforest; and she designed her most famous piece of furniture, the delightful Bowl chair.
The upholstered half-sphere seat resting loosely in a steel ring on four legs, pictured in Bo Bardi’s Casa de Vidro, can tilt as desired or even pop out. On the centennial of Bo Bardi’s birth in 2014, Arper relaunched the Bowl chair in black leather and seven colorful fabrics.
Read about Brazil’s midcentury designers and their striking chairs
Bowl Chair
Architect-designer Lina Bo Bardi moved with her husband to Brazil from war-torn Italy, where she had worked with renowned architect Gio Ponti. The year 1951 was a momentous one for her: She became a Brazilian citizen; she completed her first piece of architecture, their glass house on stilts in the São Paulo rainforest; and she designed her most famous piece of furniture, the delightful Bowl chair.
The upholstered half-sphere seat resting loosely in a steel ring on four legs, pictured in Bo Bardi’s Casa de Vidro, can tilt as desired or even pop out. On the centennial of Bo Bardi’s birth in 2014, Arper relaunched the Bowl chair in black leather and seven colorful fabrics.
Read about Brazil’s midcentury designers and their striking chairs
Glass Houses
Saarinen’s Miller House and Bo Bardi’s Casa de Vidro were links in a chain of mostly glass midcentury structures that included the Eameses’ 1949 house in Los Angeles, Philip Johnson’s 1949 Glass House in Connecticut, Mies’ 1951 Farnsworth House in Illinois, Paul Rudolph’s 1953 Umbrella House in Florida and Pierre Koenig’s 1959 Stahl House (aka Case Study House No. 22), pictured, in L.A.
The cantilevered glass-and-steel home’s simple lines, flowing layout, natural light and strong connection to the landscape epitomize the modern architecture of the 1950s. But given that the original windows were plate glass, it’s clear that safety and energy efficiency weren’t among the Stahl House’s better attributes. With the era’s oil glut, fuel didn’t cost much, so insulation often wasn’t a big concern, especially in mild climates.
See what it’s like to live in a glass house on Houzz TV
Saarinen’s Miller House and Bo Bardi’s Casa de Vidro were links in a chain of mostly glass midcentury structures that included the Eameses’ 1949 house in Los Angeles, Philip Johnson’s 1949 Glass House in Connecticut, Mies’ 1951 Farnsworth House in Illinois, Paul Rudolph’s 1953 Umbrella House in Florida and Pierre Koenig’s 1959 Stahl House (aka Case Study House No. 22), pictured, in L.A.
The cantilevered glass-and-steel home’s simple lines, flowing layout, natural light and strong connection to the landscape epitomize the modern architecture of the 1950s. But given that the original windows were plate glass, it’s clear that safety and energy efficiency weren’t among the Stahl House’s better attributes. With the era’s oil glut, fuel didn’t cost much, so insulation often wasn’t a big concern, especially in mild climates.
See what it’s like to live in a glass house on Houzz TV
Feldman Architecture designed this residence on the central California coast for a client who had grown up in a Cliff May house and wanted to replicate the California architect’s nature-centric midcentury modern ranch style. The challenge was to accommodate expansive glass in an eco-conscious way. The team addressed it with east-west siting to maximize passive solar gain; concrete floors and rammed-earth walls to act as a thermal mass; photovoltaic panels on the south-facing roof; and overhangs, ceiling fans and operable shading to act as a passive heating and cooling system. Three tanks capture rainwater for landscape irrigation.
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Find a green-building specialist on Houzz
Bubble Lights
Inside the home, the open, casual floor plan revolves around the kitchen. Selected midcentury furnishings include the Saucer Crisscross pendant light over the dining area.
Nelson decided to design this model and the others in his Bubble collection for Herman Miller after finding nothing that met his need for a large lighting fixture of low intensity. Working with William Renwick, he came up with the idea of spraying a metal cage with a translucent plastic developed for the military.
Inside the home, the open, casual floor plan revolves around the kitchen. Selected midcentury furnishings include the Saucer Crisscross pendant light over the dining area.
Nelson decided to design this model and the others in his Bubble collection for Herman Miller after finding nothing that met his need for a large lighting fixture of low intensity. Working with William Renwick, he came up with the idea of spraying a metal cage with a translucent plastic developed for the military.
Artichoke Pendant Light
Poul Henningsen didn’t have electricity growing up in Denmark, and while designing his ingenious light fixtures, he fondly remembered the soft glow of the gas lamps of his youth. He experimented with concentric tiers of metal bands in an effort to direct light to just the right spot, distribute it evenly and reduce glare. The work resulted in his highly successful PH collection for Louis Poulsen.
His elaborate Artichoke pendant light of 1958 illuminates the kitchen island in this new custom house in Vancouver, British Columbia, by design-build firm Kerr Construction and Design. In the seating area to the left is a glimpse of a sofa that Danish architect-designer Finn Juhl created in 1951 for Michigan’s Baker Furniture. Juhl was inspired by abstract painters and often worked with teak. The wood — inexpensive and readily available at the time due to military clearing exercises in Southeast Asia — is a hallmark of Danish modern furniture.
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Poul Henningsen didn’t have electricity growing up in Denmark, and while designing his ingenious light fixtures, he fondly remembered the soft glow of the gas lamps of his youth. He experimented with concentric tiers of metal bands in an effort to direct light to just the right spot, distribute it evenly and reduce glare. The work resulted in his highly successful PH collection for Louis Poulsen.
His elaborate Artichoke pendant light of 1958 illuminates the kitchen island in this new custom house in Vancouver, British Columbia, by design-build firm Kerr Construction and Design. In the seating area to the left is a glimpse of a sofa that Danish architect-designer Finn Juhl created in 1951 for Michigan’s Baker Furniture. Juhl was inspired by abstract painters and often worked with teak. The wood — inexpensive and readily available at the time due to military clearing exercises in Southeast Asia — is a hallmark of Danish modern furniture.
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Akari Lights
Isamu Noguchi’s Akari collection has the sculptural look and diffused light of Nelson’s Bubble collection. But instead of forging ahead with a metal cage and a cutting-edge plastic shade, the Japanese-American sculptor harked back to bamboo and mulberry paper — the traditional materials of Japanese lantern making. In so doing, he revived a centuries-old handicraft that is still going strong today in Gifu, Japan (where there happens to be an exact replica of Juhl’s personal house in Denmark).
The rectangular components of this UF4-L10 model, one of the largest in the collection, echo the backrest of the walnut-and-cane chair designed by Paul László circa 1950.
Read about Isamu Noguchi’s famous table from the 1940s
Isamu Noguchi’s Akari collection has the sculptural look and diffused light of Nelson’s Bubble collection. But instead of forging ahead with a metal cage and a cutting-edge plastic shade, the Japanese-American sculptor harked back to bamboo and mulberry paper — the traditional materials of Japanese lantern making. In so doing, he revived a centuries-old handicraft that is still going strong today in Gifu, Japan (where there happens to be an exact replica of Juhl’s personal house in Denmark).
The rectangular components of this UF4-L10 model, one of the largest in the collection, echo the backrest of the walnut-and-cane chair designed by Paul László circa 1950.
Read about Isamu Noguchi’s famous table from the 1940s
Bomb Shelters
László was born in Hungary, fled Europe’s rising anti-Semitism for New York in the 1930s and drove across the country to Beverly Hills, California, where he designed chic modern homes and interiors for the likes of Cary Grant and Ronald Reagan. In 1952, Time magazine dubbed him The Millionaire’s Architect.
For rental car magnate John D. Hertz, László designed this bomb shelter, which was built in Hertz’s L.A. backyard in 1955. László also conceived Atomville, a futuristic underground city.
Bomb shelter construction wasn’t only for the rich and famous. The U.S. government in 1959 produced a how-to booklet, which the National Concrete Masonry Association helpfully developed into a TV show called Walt Builds a Family Fallout Shelter. (The shelter could double as a darkroom or a place to put the grandkids!) Those unable to afford even that could rest assured that they would be protected from nuclear annihilation by proper home maintenance and housekeeping, according to a 1954 film called The House in the Middle from the National Clean Up-Paint Up-Fix Up Bureau in conjunction with the Federal Civil Defense Administration.
László was born in Hungary, fled Europe’s rising anti-Semitism for New York in the 1930s and drove across the country to Beverly Hills, California, where he designed chic modern homes and interiors for the likes of Cary Grant and Ronald Reagan. In 1952, Time magazine dubbed him The Millionaire’s Architect.
For rental car magnate John D. Hertz, László designed this bomb shelter, which was built in Hertz’s L.A. backyard in 1955. László also conceived Atomville, a futuristic underground city.
Bomb shelter construction wasn’t only for the rich and famous. The U.S. government in 1959 produced a how-to booklet, which the National Concrete Masonry Association helpfully developed into a TV show called Walt Builds a Family Fallout Shelter. (The shelter could double as a darkroom or a place to put the grandkids!) Those unable to afford even that could rest assured that they would be protected from nuclear annihilation by proper home maintenance and housekeeping, according to a 1954 film called The House in the Middle from the National Clean Up-Paint Up-Fix Up Bureau in conjunction with the Federal Civil Defense Administration.
About 60 years later, Robeson Design in San Diego designed this bunker, 20 feet underground, composed of two 25-by-8-foot tubes. With water tanks, ventilation units, power grid access, generators, solar panels and large cans of shelf-stable food, it’s intended to sustain a family of four for three years. Everything was custom-built to fit the curvature of the tubes and to maximize storage. In the kitchen, a backsplash of thinly cut mirror mosaic tile creates the illusion of space and light.
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Shop for mirror mosaic tile
Fornasetti Ceramics
The beautiful opera singer Lina Cavalieri, her fourth husband and their servants ran to the air raid shelter on their estate outside Florence, Italy, at the sound of Allied bombers in February 1944. The couple reportedly went back to the villa to collect some jewelry, a fateful decision that cost them their lives.
Italian artist, interior designer and all-around Renaissance man Piero Fornasetti was obsessed with Cavalieri. In addition to the fanciful images of classical architecture, astronomical bodies and mythological figures he used in adorning thousands of home and fashion products are more than 350 variations on the theme of her unforgettable face.
Share: Which designs from the 1950s would you highlight? What are the standouts of 1960 to 1970 and the current decade? Let us know in the Comments.
More on Houzz
Houzz Quiz: Which Midcentury Modern Chair Are You?
Roots of Style: Midcentury Styles Respond to Modern Life
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Shop for home products
The beautiful opera singer Lina Cavalieri, her fourth husband and their servants ran to the air raid shelter on their estate outside Florence, Italy, at the sound of Allied bombers in February 1944. The couple reportedly went back to the villa to collect some jewelry, a fateful decision that cost them their lives.
Italian artist, interior designer and all-around Renaissance man Piero Fornasetti was obsessed with Cavalieri. In addition to the fanciful images of classical architecture, astronomical bodies and mythological figures he used in adorning thousands of home and fashion products are more than 350 variations on the theme of her unforgettable face.
Share: Which designs from the 1950s would you highlight? What are the standouts of 1960 to 1970 and the current decade? Let us know in the Comments.
More on Houzz
Houzz Quiz: Which Midcentury Modern Chair Are You?
Roots of Style: Midcentury Styles Respond to Modern Life
Find a pro for your home project
Shop for home products
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