Architects often sought to blur the line between indoors and outdoors in their new suburban homes of the 1950s. Homes built around an atrium or a courtyard were common, and even houses with live trees growing up through the floor and out the ceiling of homes were not unknown. Walls of glass and large windows with foliage backdrops and walls and floors of stone and brick brought the outdoors in and provided texture to the interior of the home.
In a small city loft with teeming traffic outside, these same materials, along with the strategic placement of plants and flowers, could create a feeling of space and connection to nature. Glass interior walls, or sliding glass doors between rooms, created a suggestion of the outdoors and provided more light.
From Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s by Cara Greenberg
All photos courtesy Eichler Homes of San Francisco & Marin County
These inside atriums are one of my (many) favorite aspects of mid century modern homes. I DREAM of having my own some day. Thanks for this gorgeous post!
ReplyDeleteSo lovely!
ReplyDeleteI love how they wanted to bring the outdoors indoors, so to speak.
I have 6 large living room windows that face my backyard, and one of these days will call in a landscaper with an eye towards mid-century planting... =)
I remember going to a museum (for the life of me I can't remember if it was MOMA or the Philadelphia museum) that had a Frank Lloyd Wright home - inside the museum. Perfectly taken from whence it came and reconstructed in a wing of the museum with japanese gardens flanking it. This was before I was architecture-obsessed but I still *got* the feeling of not knowing if you were inside or outside, and how the lines of the rooms just blurred when you went to look out of the windows into the gardens. It was true genius.
ReplyDelete@Rhan Vintage: An atrium would be my dream too. I have seen plans for a very small house with an atrium which I tell my daughter and son-in-law I'm going to build in their back yard when I'm too old to live alone...LOL
ReplyDelete@1950sarh: How wonderful to have that many large living room windows facing the back yard. The front of my house is floor-to-ceiling windows, but I only have french doors at the back of my living room. I'm about to start a series of posts on mid-century landscaping that you might find fun.
ReplyDelete@stacey: I'm a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright, especially his Japanese influenced work. I think Fallingwater is probably the most beautiful house ever built not only because of its design but also because of the way it fits into its beautiful surroundings. If you remember which museum it was and if it was part of the permanent collection, let me know. I'd love to see it!
ReplyDeleteOh, man, that is such a dreamy house. You're blog is so informative; I love it!
ReplyDelete@Noelle: Thanks! I'm so glad you enjoy it and are a frequent reader now.
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