First in a series of posts spotlighting mid-century house museums“The 1950 House” is a complete, original mid century home moved onto grounds of the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont, and now open to the public. Frank and Helen LaFlume, the original owners, included the latest technology when building their new, 1000 sq. ft. home in 1949. Like millions of other couples after World War II, they were final able to purchase a home — and buying this prefabricated model was easier than bringing construction materials to their 200 acre farm and building from scratch. They chose a ranch style house, with an attached garage for their 1939 Chevrolet — which is also part of the exhibit.
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The LaFlume’s home featured central heating and air conditioning, modern bathroom and kitchen appliances, and many clever built ins. Check out their amazing yellow kitchen. Those countertops with the full 18″ yellow laminate backsplash are definitely an eyeful. I’m really loving the diagonal shelves — the angle of the camera gives it a very Alice in Wonderland feel. The bunk beds (above) look very clean and crisp. Notice the little lamp for the child in the the top bunk… and the chalkboard is also great. The LaFlume’s house has white siding — iconic 50’s style. The 1950 House opened at the Shelburne Museum as special millennium exhibit in 2000..
The Shelburne Museum has an amazing 39 buildings (not counting the boat), and two historic houses from the 18th and 19th century. You could easily spend a day, heck a whole week, at this place. Special thanks to Julie at the museum who gave us access to their images.
The Louis Armstrong House Museum: Historic Mid Century Homes To Visit 
Gropius House: Historic mid century homes to visit 
The Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio: Historic mid century homes to visit 
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Too cool. My Aunt Mary had the red linen formica in her kitchen. My mom had the pink boomerang formica.
I have been toying with the idea of purchasing a vintage fridge for my kitchen but they don’t have much freezer space and you have to manually defrost them. The scale would be so great for my little galley kitchen. New refrigerators function better but take up lots of floor space. 28″ wide x 30″ deep max is all the space will hold.
Amy, don’t give up on your idea of a vintage fridge, just see if you can appreciate the early 60s models. They had automatic defrost, much more interior space, and would still fit in your space. I just lost out on this pink one on ebay, and the dimensions given by the seller were 64″ tall x 30″ wide x 26″ deep.
You can see it here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190428559273&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
Thanks for the post, it’s great to see these being saved, much like the many early American museums, like Old Sturbridge Village.
There is a great 1950′s all-electric house in the Kansas City suburb of Prairie Village that is part of the Johnson County Museum. My mother grew up there and it was quintessential 1950′s neighborhood, at the height of MCM design. It was built by the electric company in 1954 as a model home.
http://www.jocomuseum.org/visit.shtml
Don’t forget the 1950′s All Electric House at the Johnson County Museum in Kansas: http://www.jocomuseum.org/visit.shtml
How did you know I already had it on the list?! We can’t wait for the museum of suburbia.
Well, I live in Prairie Village/old Overland Park.
The 1950 House is a real treasure and my favorite part of the Shelburne Museum. I live nearby and have been to the musuem many, many times. I always save the 1950 House for last. There is so much more there than is shown in these pictures. A lot of the house is interactive. You can snoop in the cupboards and refrigerator and play with the toys in the kids’ rooms. There are even clothes in the closets and dressers. I also love how people coming into the house get nostalgic about things they recognize from their childhoods. The whole museum is a wonderful place to visit. It’s worth the trip.
Love the angle-exposion cabinents….had some, in metal, in a garage long ago. Wonder if they were re-purposed from a gutted kitchen.
Like seeing the dark wood trim. This is common in some 40s-50s houses. Mine is darker and sometimes I imagine painting it….but I don’t. I will invoke this museum house and do my part!
Hi – One that I know of in the Chicago area is the Rolling Meadow historical museum: http://www.ci.rolling-meadows.il.us/HTML/historical_museum.htm. Rolling Meadows has gobs of extremely tiny, no-basement ranch houses, and this was built to showcase one of them (notice that it was purpose-built and not a recreation).
I’ve been meaning to get here so if you’re interested I’d be happy to take a look and provide photos and commentary!
Hi, Isabelle – I’d love it if you’d go visit and take pics and send in a full report! Many thanks, Pam
Will do!