Knoll Kids Collection

A scaled-down version of Saarinen's iconic Womb char.

Photo courtesy of Knoll/Vastu

As any good modern snob, I've been teaching by 6-year old daughter about classic mid-century modern design from the time she could talk. She now can authoritatively point out the work of George Nelson, the Eameses, Saarinen and Breuer. Maybe she deserves her very own Womb chair (see above) or Barcelona chair made by Knoll especially for kids. For those in D.C., you can find out more about these tike-friendly versions at Vastu on 14th Street.

Mid-Century Mod Wallpaper

Bradbury & Bradbury Atomic Doodle in Turquoise

This piece in the Washington Post's Express says wallpaper is hip again. The article quotes Heather Cole of wallpaper company Bradbury & Bradbury saying: "It's very contemporary to paper one wall. It's like an art installation." I have bad flashbacks to the 1970s wallpaper hanging in my house in New Jersey growing up, but after seeing these 1950s Atomic Age patterns and these from the 1960s, I may be willing to cover up some of my white walls.

Fallingplastic? LEGO Does Frank Lloyd Wright Designs

Now you can get your kids hooked on modern architecture at an early age with new sets by LEGO based on Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum and Fallingwater. Read/listen to the NPR story here.

Two MCM Sites on 2009 National Trust Most Endagered List

The Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and Miami Marine Stadium were included in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 2009 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, which was announced today in LA by National Trust President Richard Moe and actress Diane Keaton, who has been working to save the Century Plaza.

From the National Trust:

Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, Calif.— Opened in 1966, the 19-story curved hotel, designed by renowned architect Minoru Yamasaki, who would later design New York’s World Trade Center twin towers, has been a prominent Los Angeles landmark for more than four decades. Despite a $36 million facelift just over a year ago, the hotel’s new owners now intend to raze the building and replace it with two 600-foot, “environmentally sensitive” towers.

Miami Marine Stadium, Virginia Key, Fla.— Completed in 1963, Miami Marine Stadium is both a South Florida landmark and an icon of modern design [Hilario Candela was the principal architect]. Built entirely of poured concrete and featuring a dramatically cantilevered folded-plate roof, the stadium is a sentimental favorite of many Miami residents. After sustaining damage during Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the stadium, a prime target for developers, closed and has since suffered from years of deterioration, vandalism and neglect.

Good piece from the LA Times on the history of Century City and the hotel. Learn more about Miami Marine Stadium and see good historical photos here.

Palm Springs Looks to Make First Historic Designation

It's cold, so how about something about Palm Springs? "A mid-century modern structure by architect Rudolf Schindler, a 1930s ranch house built for ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the city’s first apartment building, now a restaurant, are among the buildings on a short list to become Palm Desert’s first officially designated historic site," The Desert Sun reports here.

Hot Fjord

The designs of Jens Quistgaard, the Danish industrial designer who died nearly a year ago at the age of 88, are hot. Dansk, which introduced Quistgaard to the United States has reissued the very flatware that launched in the company in 1954. According to the New York Times obituary, "Dansk was founded in 1954 by Ted Nierenberg, an American entrepreneur and engineer. ... Mr. Nierenberg was visiting Copenhagen, where he caught sight of hand-forged flatware by Mr. Quistgaard in a museum. It was made of stainless steel with teak handles, an unusual marriage of materials at the time. He sought out Mr. Quistgaard, persuaded him that his singular creations could be properly mass-produced, and Dansk was born."

You can buy the reissued Classic Fjord Flatware for $59.95 for a five-piece set at the Dansk website. Dansk also has reissued Quistgaard's 1955 Kongo flatware set of black enamel and stainless steel. Modernism also reports that Dansk will soon be selling Quistgaard's No. 810/811 teak ice bucket. The reissue will be made from acacia, a fast-growing wood.

Check out Teak Pepper, a blog focused on collecting Quistgaard and Dansk by Mark Perlson, the author of Danish Pepper, a book on Quistgaard's teak pepper mills.

Case Study House #9 by Eames and Saarinen For Sale

Can you imagine owning Case Study House #9 by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen and its merely your guest house? The home, built for Arts & Architecture Publisher and Editor John Entenza who created the Case Study House program, now serves as a guest house (I can't believe it either) to a massive contemporary by Barry Berkus. Both houses can be yours for $14 million. As a number of people here on Curbed LA commented, this situation calls for an ironic twist: tear down the new house and keep the old one. CSH #9, by the way, sits next to another famous home in Pacific Palisades designed by Eames and Saarinen, Case Study House #8, better known as the Eames House.

Happy Holidays

I just wanted to say Happy Holidays to all of Modern Snob's readers. I wish everyone a very healthy, prosperous and modern New Year. Thanks for reading.

My SOM Obsession

SOM's Lever House (Photo by David Shankbone)

I’ve become a little obsessed with the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill website. The firm, which was founded in the 1930s, and is still one of the leading forces in the world of architecture is responsible for some of the most iconic mid-century modern corporate buildings. Think Lever House, One Chase Manhattan Plaza, the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Manufacturers Hanover Trust building here on 5th Ave. among others. You can read about each of these and other projects here ( I search by year) and view galleries with vintage images.

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.

Original Dwell Home For Sale - $795K

The original Dwell pre-fab home by Resolution: 4 Architecture is on the market for $795K. It's located here in Pittsboro, N.C., on 14 acres. Here's the 2004 Dwell piece "Prefab, Proven" on the how the Dwell pre-fab competition came to be.

Vitra Design Museum Celebrates George Nelson

If you are not planning on flying over to Germany to visit the Vitra Design Museum's retrospective on George Nelson, here's a good video taking you inside the exhibit that opened last month to mark 100 years since the influential modern architect, designer, writer and teacher was born in Hartford, Conn. Hope the exhibit will make its way to the United States, but until then...

Building an MCM Birdhouse

Want an MCM birdhouse to match your own home? Or are you like Chris in this video from Curbly? He says he wants to build an MCM birdhouse because he will never live in a modern home. Anyway, I hope the birds appreciate the design.

Modern Tools for Your Modern Home

Design Within Reach is bringing you all the modernist tools you need for your hip modern home. Its new store, DWR: Tools for Living, will open in SoHo on Sept. 19 at 142 Wooster Street (Houston Street). DWR also plans to open another store in October in Santa Monica that will carry the company's home accessory line introduced last year. The stores will be "cash and carry" unlike DWR's furniture stores, which sparked some back and forth here at Apartment Therapy about actually having the cash to purchase some of the items.

Revisiting John Lautner

An interesting New York Times review on the retrospective of architect John Lautner's work now at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. The Times piece includes a nice slideshow featuring some of Lautner's work, including the 1960 Chemosphere House pictured above. If you're in LA on September 14 and you're a big contributor to the museum, you can visit four of Lautner's homes for a cool $145.

Kitchen Redo in Frank Gehry's First House

See the kitchen redo in this 1955 Sherman Oaks, California, home, which is said to be the first work of Frank Gehry. Wonder what he thinks about their IKEA cabinets and flea market glass tiles?

Good Lesson in the Age of the McMansion

Eric Striffler for The New York Times

Architect Carlos Brillembourg said something quite profound in a July 24 New York Times story about the modern home he designed for his family in the Hamptons. While the house is 4,000 sq. ft. and cost $1 million to build, it appears smaller than the two cottages on the adjacent properties. "The spectacle shouldn't be the house," Brillembourg said. "It should be the life that takes place in the house." Does anyone really need a 12,000 sq. ft. home? Will it make them happier? Maybe, but I doubt it.