October 23, 2012/Mid-Century Modern /by Mid-Century Mike

Modern Snapshot: Vintage Touches Galore

While many mid-century homes in the area have been updated for the better–or in many other cases for the worse, so many homes that I see still have interesting vintage touches from lighting to kitchens to bathrooms. Here’s a round up of pictures from recent months to give you inspiration to hunt down similar vintage items or newer products inspired by the real mid-century designs. Which is your favorite?

A variety of lighting.

A vintage Westinghouse oven.

Wall clock radio.

Here are some indoor planters.

Here are a few vintage bathrooms, including Formica boomerang vanity.

October 21, 2012/Southwest /by Mid-Century Mike

Monday Night Event: Southwest DC: Then and Now

River Park by Charles M. Goodman.

If you want to squeeze in some DC architecture before the final presidential debate, the Southwest Heritage Project will be holding a program on Southwest DC’s history, architecture and public parks at Monday night’s Southwest Neighborhood Assembly meeting. The event, entitled Southwest DC: Then and Now, will be held Oct. 22 from 7-8 p.m. in the Molly Smith Library at Arena Stage.

Chalk House West by Morris Lapidus, Harle & Liebman.

Cecille Chen of the Southwest DC Heritage Project will be making a presentation on the history of Southwest with a focus on urban renewal and our modernist architecture, and historian Hayden Wetzel will present his research on Southwest’s public parks. There will be a digital exhibit of historical images of Southwest, including Garnet Jex’s slide presentation, “The Bulldozer and the Rose,” which chronicles the destruction of old Southwest between 1958 and 1964.The event is open to the public and is sponsored by the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly, with generous support from The Humanities Council of Washington DC.

October 18, 2012/Mid-Century Modern /by Mid-Century Mike

Help Save D.C.’s Wire Office Building

The 1949-50 Wire Building or Wire Office Building at the corner of Vermont Avenue and K Street, NW, is in danger of being torn down. The building was designed and constructed by Alvin L. Aubinoe and Harry Edwards for owner and developer Preston Wire, after whom the building was named. The Wire Building was one of the first buildings constructed in what would become a major wave of post-World War II commercial development in downtown Washington, particularly along K Street. In 2010, the D.C. Preservation League (DCPL) sponsored a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.

The owner recently filed a raze permit and the nomination will be heard by D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board on Oct. 25. The DCPL is urging that the building be included in the DC Inventory of Historic Sites, which are “deemed worthy of recognition and protection for their contribution to the cultural heritage of one of the nation’s most beautiful and historic cities,” according to the city’s Historic Preservation Office. Please email Catherine Buell, Chair, D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board at historic.preservation@dc.gov, to make the Board aware that there is support for preserving this building and mid-century modern architecture in the city.

Here’s more information from the National Register nomination:

“Designed by Alvin Aubinoe and Harry Edwards and constructed by Alvin L. Aubinoe Inc., the building marked a transition between an earlier period of Streamline Moderne and the period of Corporate International style that dominated commercial office building architecture during the 1950s. Aubinoe and Edwards built their reputations on the Art Deco and streamlined designs of the modern apartment buildings they produced for the Cafritz Construction Company. The Wire Building, as well as the Shapiro Building at 1413 K Street NW (1952) and the building by Edwin Weihe at 1001 Connecticut Avenue NW, share certain characteristics with ribbon windows, curved corners, and stone cladding reminiscent of these earlier designs. The Wire Building marked the beginning of a period of Modernism clearly illustrated by Federal Building at 1522 K Street (1953-54) and the Professional Building at 2100 K Street (1960).”

October 15, 2012/Mid-Century Modern /by Mid-Century Mike

Archer Launches The Jacobsen Collection

The clean lines of the Jacobsen-designed furniture grace the living room of I.M. Pei’s Slayton House in DC. Photo courtesy of Wright20.

Good architecture needs good furniture. Award-winning architects Hugh Newell Jacobsen and Simon Jacobsen have understood this throughout their careers, designing furniture for private clients around the world. Now Modern Capital sponsor Archer, in collaboration with the Jacobsens, is launching the 50-piece Jacobsen Collection. The father-and-son team’s lifework is distilled into a collection of living room, dining room and bedroom furnishings now available to the public. Both Jacobsen’s are members of Architectural Digest’s AD100, the magazine’s list of the top designers in the world. You can see the furniture and meet the Jacobsens this Thursday evening (Oct. 18) at Archer in Georgetown from 6 to 10 p.m. Please RSVP to Christopher Boutlier at chris@archermodern.com.

The Jacobsens have designed furniture for clients all around the world. Photo courtesy of Archer.

“The collection bridges a lifetime of designs for private clients on the coasts of Florida, The Dominican Republic, Europe, Asia, Colorado, Washington, California, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in a cohesive and effortless discipline that evokes style, elegance, and simplicity,” says Archer owner Robert Chapman. “Original and iconic, this exclusive collection for ARCHER is timeless, speaking to a vision that has evolved over a long and prestigious career devoted to excellence in architecture and design.”

Make sure to head to Archer to meet the Jacobsens, DC’s own modern architectural legends, and to experiences the launch of furniture once only available to their private clients around the world.

October 7, 2012/Mid-Century Modern /by Mid-Century Mike

Endangered: Harry N. Hirshberg Jr. House in Bethesda

The front door of the house.

When I saw this vacant mid-century modern house in Bethesda come on the market earlier this year, I knew it was likely not going to survive. Surrounded by $1 million+ McMansions, this 1948 one-level, 4 bed/4 bath home on an acre just inside the Beltway was prime land for a developer. I sent it out to a number of people who were looking, but it went under contract and sold for $960K (cash) to an LLC in less than a month. I recently saw this sign on the front yard.

Earlier this year, I reached out to Clare Lise Kelly of the Montgomery County Planning Department’s Historic Preservation Section (check out Montgomery Modern) to see if she had information on the house. She did.

Here’s what she sent:

The 3,400 square foot house was designed by Arthur H. Keyes and Basil Yurchenko for Harry N. Hirshberg Jr., the chairman if Hect Co. Hirshberg died in 1996. The house was featured in Architectural Record (November 1951) as a successful solution to privacy issues, with the living areas pushed back from the street. The design received an award of architectural excellence from the Washington Board of Trade in April 1951. The jury included Louis Skidmore of Skidmore Owings & Merrill; John W. Root of Holabird Root & Burgee; and Pietro Belluschi, dean of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning.

This house by Cohen & Haft I recently posted is around the corner. Maybe the lower price point will help someone save it from becoming a another McMansion. Just what Bethesda needs.

A view of the front of the house from the driveway.

A view of the back of the house.

Month: October 2012