Vintage Interiors

[V.C. Brunswick]

Rare not to see a television set in the room.
View attachment 117356
My niece who lived in the King Williams District once chastised me when I asked,
"nice... but where's the TV...the Spurs are playing for the Championships tonight?

She told me...
"We are here to have a conversation,
not watch a silly basketball game!"

I'd love to have a TV with a picture frame and a screen-saver of a painting when you're not watching it.

 

[2jakes]

Those stunning interiors were designed by Billy Haines. It must have been sheer magic yo live there in those days. You appear to be rather fond of the Waners. Were they kind employers?

Yes, they were very kind to me.
Mrs. Warner did not want me to leave.
She enjoyed my company adding that when they traveled to Europe I would
accompany them.
But I was homesick and I knew that this line of work was only temporary and not something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

 

[vitanola]

Here is a "Colonial" kitchen with all modern conveniences, c. 1942, courtesy of the Armstrong Cork Company, and their designer Hazel Brown:

A 1941 design for a space saving larder, from the same source. I have built thes3 before and they are extremely effective in their use of space, and quite convenient for the cook:

A rather exuberant dining room, featuring inlaid linoleum and early Victorian furniture, updated with pink enamel:

Here is a 1936 update of a 1912 vintage Craftsman style dining room, which had formerly featured burlapped walls and heavy oak furniture. The sidebord was shorn of its legs and mirror. The china cabinet, too, lost its legs. Lattice was sechred over the glass doors, the china cabinet was set atop the remains of the sideboard, and all of th furniture was painted a soft grey. The addition of a little cheap cotton print fabric at the windows and on the chairs, some 35 cent a roll wall paper, and Armstrong linoleum created an up-to-the-minute modern room which now appears more dated than the original Craftsman style space.

 

[2jakes]

Not sure if my question makes sense.
But do you use new wood material or antique wood with nice patina?
I'm enjoying what you have done.

 

[vitanola]

View attachment 117409

Not sure if my question makes sense.
But do you use new wood material or antique wood with nice patina?
I'm enjoying what you have done.

Well, in most cases I am re- creating a period kitchen, and want it to appear as it might have when it's design was current, or I am building up a feature for an entirely modern kutchen, and so want it to match the rest of the finish. In both of these cases I use new wood, for it is easy to work and takes paint well.

 

[1mach1]

Maymont is a 100-acre Victorian estate and public park in Richmond, Virginia. It contains Maymont Mansion, now a historic house museum and formal gardens.

In 1893, Major James H. Dooley, a wealthy Richmond lawyer and philanthropist, and his wife, Sallie, completed their elaborate Gilded Age estate on a site high above the James River. According to their wishes, after their deaths Maymont was left to the people of Richmond.

I went to this house and park several times growing up. It is a Richmond landmark. I last visited in July 2017. Its a great place.

 

[vitanola]

Tenement in the Bedford Styvusant neighborhood in Brooklyn, c.1935

Lower East Side tenament in "Kleindeutschland" 1896:

Tenement kitchen in the midtown, c.1940

 

[2jakes]

Don’t expect Kubrick's “Hal" to show up !

 

[2jakes]

People's Drug store, Wash. 1920s

Close up of the leather seats on the left.
Similar to motorcycle and bicycle saddles from that era.

 

[2jakes]

Ice cream parlor 1900s

 

[vitanola]

Some more interior designs by Billy Haines:

U. S. Ambassador's house, London, C. 1970, commissioned by Walter Annenberg:

Corner of Betsy Bloomingdale's bedroom, commissioned in 1960:

Here is a more modernistic (and far less expensive) design, a living room commissioned by writer Nunnaly Johnson in 1938, photographed in 1954.

Haines' designs still appear remarkably fresh and livable, I think. He was a practical man, who designed rooms for the people who were to live in them.

 

[vitanola]

Kitchen in respectable apartment on the upper East Side of New York, circa 1910:

Bedroom in respectable brownstone on 54th street, Louisville KY, circa 1910:

Bedroom in a respectable boarding house C circa 1905. This is the sort of accommodation which would be acceptable for a lower middle class man or woman who perhaps worked in business. The cost would have been between $10 and $12.50 a week, including laundry and good quality board.

 

[2jakes]

Tenement 1905:

 

[2jakes]

Candlelight in Yonkers

 

[vitanola]

Tenement 1905:
View attachment 117584

The term "Tenament" referred to any building with three or more rental apartments. The building which was photographed by the Detroit Publishing Company, while technically a "Tenament", was actually a respectable apartment house, renting for about $12.50/room/month This is very different from the sort of hovel which we today call "Tenaments". Why, the building has steam heat, and a range which would have cost over $35.00.

Remember that The Dakota, The Apthorp, and The Hoffman Arms were all classed as tenaments, and that the watermark, which clearly reads "Detroit Publishing Company" shows that the photo post-dates 1905. Photographs taken before 1907 were generally marked "Detroit Photographic Company", though the firm changed its name in late 1905. The watermark with the artist's palate appears to have beennintrodiced in late 1908 or early 1909.

Shorpy is a wonderful site, but their captions are not entirely reliable. The same is true, to an extent, of even the great Library of Congress, where some.of these massive collections are concerned.

 

[2jakes]

The term "Tenament" referred to any building with three or more rental apartments. The building which was photographed by the Detroit Publishing Company, while technically a "Tenament", was actually a respectable apartment house, renting for about $12.50/room/month This is very different from the sort of hovel which we today call "Tenaments". Why, the building has steam heat, and a range which would have cost over $35.00.

Remember that The Dakota, The Apthorp, and The Hoffman Arms were all classed as tenaments, and that the watermark, which clearly reads "Detroit Publishing Company" shows that the photo post-dates 1905. Photographs taken before 1907 were generally marked "Detroit Photographic Company", though the firm changed its name in late 1905. The watermark with the artist's palate appears to have beennintrodiced in late 1908 or early 1909.

Shorpy is a wonderful site, but their captions are not entirely reliable. The same is true, to an extent, of even the great Library of Congress, where some.of these massive collections are concerned.

I agree Shorpy is a wonderful site as well.
That the captions are not entirely reliable
is another matter.
Unless I know for a fact information about a specific photo, I have no reason to doubt that the information supplied
by the members of Shorpy were made
with the intent to inform.
That you know better regarding the information is something to
be commended.

 

[vitanola]

Candlelight in Yonkers
View attachment 117585

Is that the dining room of the Candlelight in Yonkers? I have very dim memories of the place, mostly of the gardens. A batchlor granduncle lived way up there on Warburton Avenue, and he'd take us out to dine there when we visited.

 

[HadleyH1]

The mid 60s pink bathroom.

And sometimes ....in some houses, the architec was told to use pink.. pink marble.

 

[2jakes]

Is that the dining room of the Candlelight in Yonkers? I have very dim memories of the place, mostly of the gardens. A batchlor granduncle lived way up there on Warburton Avenue, and he'd take us out to dine there when we visited.

From Shorpy site....
You decide if it's right or wrong.

"October 29, 1954. "Big dining room, Patricia Murphy's Candlelight Restaurant, Central Avenue, Yonkers, Westchester County, N.Y." Said to be the largest restaurant in the East. 4x5 negative by Gottscho-Schleisner.”

Btw: you misspelled batchlor, it should be bachelor.

 

[vitanola]

View attachment 117471
Ice cream parlor 1900s

1900's?

Well, I suppose that 1974, when that picture was taken, qualifies. Note the 1930s stools, the 1950s Hobart mixer, the air conditioning ducts, and the fluorescent lights.

The shop, Zaharako Brothers, still exists in Columbus, IN. It now serves excellent food as well as sodas, malts and sundaes. I eat there from time to time when driving to Louisville. The modern elements which (only slightly) marred that 1974 photo have been removed and replaced with period touches. The place is just wonderful!