The term “Mid-Century modern” broadly describes architecture, furniture and graphic design from the middle of the 20th century, roughly 1933 to 1965. This, now over 50-year-old design movement, still influences interior design today. With a trend toward smaller footprint homes and renewed interest in neighborhoods closer to in-town areas, many homeowners are rediscovering these architectural gems.
Recently, the Charlotte Museum of History hosted their Mad About Modern home tour, featuring eight spectacular residences. Here is a snapshot of four of our favorite homes from the tour.
Restored to its former glory
This home, recently remodeled by the current owners and architect Andrew Woodruff, is notable for the slightly angled planes of its roof and its banks of ribbon windows. While the home had been remodeled several times over the years, some of these alterations were not true to the character of the house. Recently, wings were added to the house, to enhance the original rectilinear forms of the footprint. A new patio and swimming pool area were also added, which celebrates the owners’ modernistic love for outdoor living. It is accessible through the glass accordion door, which allows a great deal of natural light into the dining and living areas and provides a seamless connection between indoors and out. The character of the home was elegantly summed up by the owner when she stated, “It’s just as relevant now as it was in the fifties.”
Good things come in small packages
This home is a lot bigger on the inside than it appears from the outside, mostly due to the open floor plan. The living room and kitchen/dining area are separated by a fireplace, which used to be two-sided. A sunroom with three walls of large windows works with two decks to create a space that seamlessly blends the indoor and outdoor. The abundance of glass is further augmented by two skylights in the kitchen. The furniture in the home, while not Mid-Century modern, certainly fits the Modernist aesthetic of simplicity and functionality. The artwork displayed in the home also conveys a sense of the Modernist, showcasing geometric and organic forms in bold colors. Overall, this home may not be large, but what it lacks in square footage, it more than makes up for in quality of design and skillful adaptation to both the style of the owner and the tenets of the Modernist aesthetic.
Teal-licious
As you approach this house, it is impossible to miss the exquisite landscaping and the stunning teal colored front door. Both visually pull the house forward toward the street, and complements both the gable front with exposed beams and the pale brick exterior. The star of the interior is the living room, which is filled with light by floor-to-ceiling windows. This amount of glass allows the outdoors in, and creates a pleasant room for sitting and enjoying the neighborhood and trees outside. Many Mid-Century modern homes include a fireplace in the center of the main room, often dividing it into living and dining areas. However, the one in this home is unique. For one thing, only one side is a fireplace as opposed to the usual two-sided affair. Additionally, there are two niches beside the opening of the fireplace. They used to be enclosed by cabinet doors and may have been used for storage of wood or other fire-related accessories, but are now used in a more decorative manner.
A love of cooking and music
This gable front home has been extensively remodeled by the current owners. They embraced the indoor-outdoor living by keeping the large windows of the front room and adding a pool and patio. Previously, the home featured a sunken living room with a fireplace that divided it from the den. This den is now the kitchen, which was moved to a more prominent place in the home to accommodate the homeowner’s love for cooking. An open living and dining area showcases some of the homeowner’s son’s artwork and collection of guitars. Looking toward the rear of the home, their patio and pool area flawlessly extend the home into the outdoors, and the sliding glass doors help to bring the outdoors in. The pool itself is built into the land, yet another nod to to the Mid-Century modern aesthetic of incorporating the landscape into the home. The home is a testament to the fact that older homes can be updated and changed without losing their original character.