Modern in Greenpoint

I wish my parents followed the lead of the author's parents and snapped up Arne Jacobsen Swan and Egg chairs when they went to Denmark in the 1960s. Mike Albo writes in the Times about his parents' foresight and some hip stores for modern snobs in my native land of Brooklyn.

Saarinen's Miller House to be Preserved, Open to the Public

J. Irwin Miller House - More IndyStar Galleries

View this gallery at IndyStar: J. Irwin Miller House

Eero Saarinen's 1957 Miller House in the modernist mecca of Columbus, Indiana, is being donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) and will eventually be open to the public. With the interior by Alexander Girard and landscape design by Daniel Urban Kiley, the Miller House and Garden was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000. The house will undergo an 18-month renovation, which will include careful restoration of many of the original period details. Once the renovation is completed, the IMA will work with the Columbus Area Visitors Center to offer public access to the house and gardens. Can't wait.

Pre-Fab in the City

While MoMA recently hosted an exhibition on pre-fabs, which included constructing five modern structures in a lot in the middle of the city, this Bronx couple built one for real. Regina and Bill Marengo replaced their 900-square-foot bungalow with an 1,800 square-foot home designed by Resolution: 4 Architecture, the designers of the original Dwell home.

The Designs of Ray Kappe

Here's a house to drool over. It can be yours for a mere $5 million. Designed in the late 1960s by Ray Kappe, a highly regarded mid-century modern architect whose is still busy at 80. His own seven-level home built into a Pacific Palisades hillside was recently featured in Dwell. You can see a slideshow here. Some have considered the home the best designed dwelling in southern California.

After graduating from Berkely in 1951, Kappe's first job was as a draftsman on Eichler Homes for the firm Anshen + Allen. He also founded and directed the Southern California Institute of Architecture and designed more than 100 single-family homes.

If you can't afford the Canna Road home in Brentwood, take a look at Kappe's pre-fab designs. Very cool and definitely cheaper.