Mid century fever is here. Interior designers have a deeper and deeper passion by scandinavian design and spaces and a love for mid century modern interiors that will keep going on strong for years to come.
Five Midcentury Homes Worth Touring for Interiors Inspiration
Visit these classic residences, including Modernist designer Eileen Gray’s 1929 villa, now open to the public after years of restoration.
SEE ALSO: Loving Mid Century Modern Interiors
Modernist houses may be (rightly) famous for their pared-back design and simplified construction, but there’s more to them than just clean lines, right angles and floor-to-ceiling windows. To step inside the Casa de Vidro in São Paulo, an aquarium-like box on stilts designed by Lina Bo Bardi in 1951, is to experience the designer’s eclectic aesthetic firsthand and see the couple’s Brazilian folk-art collection, still on view. American architect Philip Johnson, who built his Glass House in New Canaan, Conn., in 1949, aptly summed up the singular charm of living in a transparent box: “It’s the only house in the world where you can see the sunset and the moonrise at the same time, standing in the same place.”
These five architectural classics balance the sleek simplicity of midcentury furniture and that clutter-less comfort we all crave—in short, houses worth touring for what’s on the inside as much as for their more-renowned exteriors.
Wedged between a pine-shaded path and the rocky French Riviera coast, Eileen Gray’s simple white home is a reclusive beauty. Conceived as a poetic vacation home for the designer and her lover, Romanian architect and editor Jean Badovici, it was completed in 1929 but fell into disrepair in the 1980s.
THE REAL STAR IN THE HOLLYWOOD HILLS | Stahl House, Los Angeles, Calif.
The Stahl House has always been a popular spot for photo shoots and films, including the 1999 movie ‘Galaxy Quest’ and, more recently, Showtime’s ‘Ray Donovan.’ ENLARGE
The Stahl House has always been a popular spot for photo shoots and films, including the 1999 movie ‘Galaxy Quest’ and, more recently, Showtime’s ‘Ray Donovan.’
Also known as Case Study House No. 22, this floor-to-ceiling glass home was built in 1960 by American architect Pierre Koenig based on a model by its owner, Buck Stahl. It had a word-of-mouth open-door policy from the start. “My parents welcomed anyone who was interested,“ said Shari Gronwald, the Stahls’ daughter. “Our house was like a revolving door.”
OFF-THE-BEATEN-SCANDINAVIAN-PATH | Villa Mairea, Noormarkku, Finland
Villa Mairea’s undivided, 820-foot-long living space was inspired by the traditional Finnish peasant house, with slender vertical poles that evoke the outdoor landscape. ENLARGE
Villa Mairea’s undivided, 820-foot-long living space was inspired by the traditional Finnish peasant house, with slender vertical poles that evoke the outdoor landscape.
Built in 1939 by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto and his wife, Aino, this patchwork home, a 160-mile drive from Helsinki, was the private residence of longtime arts patrons Maire and Harry Gullichsen, who began hosting summer art exhibitions in the early 1970s. It opened to the public in 1984.
WELCOME TO THE TASTEFUL JUNGLE | Casa de Vidro, São Paulo, Brazil
Casa de Vidro’s floor-to-ceiling windows frame the lush vegetation on the home’s 75,300-square-foot plot. ENLARGE
Casa de Vidro’s floor-to-ceiling windows frame the lush vegetation on the home’s 75,300-square-foot plot.
Hidden behind tropical greenery, this elegant house, constructed in 1951 by Italian-born architect and designer Lina Bo Bardi as a private home for her and her husband, sits on thin columns called pilotis. Since 2000, it has been open to the public for seasonal art exhibitions. The current one, “Lina em Casa: Percursos,” runs until July 19 and traces the architect’s work in Brazil since 1946.
A SEE-THROUGH ABODE | The Glass House, New Canaan, Conn.
The living room of Philip Johnson’s Glass House features Nicolas Poussin’s 1648 ‘Burial of Phocion,’ which is supported by a stand. ENLARGE
The living room of Philip Johnson’s Glass House features Nicolas Poussin’s 1648 ‘Burial of Phocion,’ which is supported by a stand.
Built by American architect Philip Johnson in 1949, this minimalist retreat—a hilltop pavilion intimately immersed in nature—sits on a 49-acre estate. The home, where Johnson lived until his death in 2005, became a U.S. National Trust Historic Site in 1986 and opened to the public in 2007.
