1955 Home Show Photos

[PonderInc]

You gotta love the Beryl Ford collection.  As the owner of a 50's ranch house,  I thought these photos were fun.

[Hometown]

The 50s were a real high point in design history.  Designers of that time found a perfect balance between restraint and exuberance.  Leaders of Modernism had admonished their followers to allow "form to follow function" and in the 50s it did.  Homes from the 50s are a perfect fit for the human body, totally functional and quite beautiful.  That trend continued into the 60s until the end of the optimism about the future that had imbued Modernism.  Tulsa still has a great deal of Mid-Century Modernism.  Our under appreciated Civic Center comes to mind.

[Conan71]

Well I certainly couldn't pass on a topic that says "1955 home show photos".  I lucked out and found a copy of the Better Homes and Gardens design book, 1956 edition on eBay about the time I bought my little slice of Lortondale bliss last spring.  It's a binder and segmented just like a cookbook.  Way cool and similar photos, in fact some of those look familiar, so I'm curious where Beryl got them.

Speaking to HT's comments, I always lived in more traditional homes, but this MCM is the best fit for me and my lifestyle by far.  I love it and couldn't see living in anything but an MCM or ranch now.  I bought this one with the intention of being there until I retire off somewhere else, but if a great deal came along on another Lortondale with the more open floor plan down the road (my floor plan is very unique to Lortondale with separate living and dining with the kitchen perpendicular, and the baths are not siamesed like they are in all the other 2 bath models) I might consider it so I could have bigger furniture and have better space to entertain in the winter which is something I love to do. 

I'm an absolute MCM addict now and I really had over-looked this style until I went to a Christmas party in Lortondale this time last year.

[Kashmir]

Love the pics.  I am still lusting to go midtown but my son loves his school and I can't disrupt him just to satisfy my whim.  12 more years until I'm freeeeee to move!

[patric]

The outlet over the stove makes me cringe.  Many a house fire can be blamed on the melted cords of appliances plugged into them.

[waterboy]

My home on 27th place across from you Conan, was more traditional in style but its kitchen and bath looked just like those pics. It was THE look of the time period. Lots of dark mahogany, stainless steel, built-ins, turquoise formica etc. They loved to tile everything!  It was fun to live there.

The real difference in the MCM's it seems to me was in the roof lines, open interiors and slab foundations with not much thought for storage. They were so out of style that I couldn't get my wife to consider them back in the mid-seventies. But then so was art deco.

My dad painted homes over there and i have one of his brochures of the time period. I'll post it some day.

[Conan71]

My home on 27th place across from you Conan, was more traditional in style but its kitchen and bath looked just like those pics. It was THE look of the time period. Lots of dark mahogany, stainless steel, built-ins, turquoise formica etc. They loved to tile everything!  It was fun to live there.

The real difference in the MCM's it seems to me was in the roof lines, open interiors and slab foundations with not much thought for storage. They were so out of style that I couldn't get my wife to consider them back in the mid-seventies. But then so was art deco.

My dad painted homes over there and i have one of his brochures of the time period. I'll post it some day.

Hey, MCM was out of style for me too until last year, buddy!  Seems like the MCM's were real neglected till the early to mid '90's maybe Steve would like to share his viewpoint.  You are right about storage being an odd thought, though I do have better closet space than the 1928 gingerbread I recently moved out of.  And it is odd for a gear-head like me to live without a garage.  Best I can tell my house is one of the few that was built intentionally without a garage, it's most definitely not a conversion like a lot of the L'Dales had done.

[dbacks fan]

Although not part of the home show but part of the MCM, for those of us that remember when it was the Glass House

http://www.lileks.com/rest/exteriors/31.html

[Townsend]

Although not part of the home show but part of the MCM, for those of us that remember when it was the Glass House

http://www.lileks.com/rest/exteriors/31.html

Ah, and not a toll booth or billboard in sight.  That's be great.

[dbacks fan]

While looking up some info on MCM I found this after a discussion with a friend. It was the Googie/Atomic age architecture that followed the MCM. (Post Modern?) I know that most of this info is from the LA area but you will see lots of clues to other architecture that has been a part of the Tulsa landscape.

http://www.spaceagecity.com/googie/

Also found this http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoodlam/2612907275/in/set-72157608513000295/

[Steve]

The real difference in the MCM's it seems to me was in the roof lines, open interiors and slab foundations with not much thought for storage.

True, but back in the day, people did not accumulate so much useless "stuff."  I have heard some of my fellow Lortondale residents complain about "no attic, no basement, no storage" and if they are lucky enough to still have a 1-2 car garage, it is usually jam-packed with so much crap they couldn't get a car in there to save their life.  These folks need to learn to simplify and get rid of all the unnecessary, useless "stuff" that just takes up space.

[Steve]

Hey, MCM was out of style for me too until last year, buddy!  Seems like the MCM's were real neglected till the early to mid '90's maybe Steve would like to share his viewpoint.  

I don't know where those original kitchen photos were taken, definately not in Lortondale but they look very typical of 1950's ranch homes, maybe in Tulsa's upscale Ranch Acres development.  They are for sure upscale, not starter homes of the time.

MCM has been all the rage on the west coast for 25 years, but as usual it took about 20 years lag for the style to gain appreciation in Tulsa.  I knew when I bought my relatively intact, original Lortondale house in 1987, this was the lifestyle for me.  

[Red Arrow]

True, but back in the day, people did not accumulate so much useless "stuff."  

You just didn't know the right people.  Either that or Tulsa was 20 years behind the trend of collecting "useless stuff" (Actually valuable stuff).

These folks need to learn to simplify and get rid of all the unnecessary, useless "stuff" that just takes up space.

You must have been one of those rich families that could always hire out fixing things up.  My folks were more of the fix it yourself group.  In order to do that, you had to have stuff on hand, especially hand tools.  Of course when ever you did a project,  you couldn't find the valuable stuff and had to go buy new stuff anyway.  There was always a bit left over so you saved it for the next project.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

It's way of life.  Very difficult to "learn to simplify".  It's easier to quit smoking.

Edit: fixed quote commands

[FOTD]

True, but back in the day, people did not accumulate so much useless "stuff."  I have heard some of my fellow Lortondale residents complain about "no attic, no basement, no storage" and if they are lucky enough to still have a 1-2 car garage, it is usually jam-packed with so much crap they couldn't get a car in there to save their life.  These folks need to learn to simplify and get rid of all the unnecessary, useless "stuff" that just takes up space.

Great observation....Lortandale, before afluenza infected our country, was modest living. People had closer families and less crime....

Mad men took us to a new style of home to house all that stuff they were selling through the new tee vee....

[charky]

Makes me miss my old bungalow on Trenton. Had that exact Western Holly oven as in the second picture. Beautiful.