When Pam published the story of the Siena Center’s estate sale of the year last Thursday, I could tell she wished that she could drop in and check it out. Unfortunately for Pam, the drive was a bit too far. For me, it was right down the street. When I arrived at the sale, I was expecting to see a lot of great retro stuff — but that’s not all I found…
I arrived at the Siena Center exactly five minutes before the doors opened — stumbling toward the waiting crowd as I gawked at the midcentury architecture of the center itself. Before the doors opened, I chatted briefly with Josh, one of the kind employees of ATR Estate Sales, and he told me that that the crowd of 60 people anxiously awaiting entrance into the treasure trove of goodies was rather small for a sale of this magnitude. Josh speculated that the small crowd size was due to the sale opening on a Friday instead of a Saturday. What is the usual crowd for a sale of this size according to Josh? About 500 — Yikes!
As I stood waiting my turn to enter, I continued to notice the interesting details of the center itself. Even the railings on the front steps matched the geometric shapes on the building — in fact — this shape was repeated nearly everywhere throughout the center. The railings, the windows, the pass-through niches in the wall and likely through the rest of the building.
Above: Entryway and stairwell to lower auditorium, Siena Center, Racine, WI.
Then it was time to enter the sale itself. By the time I got into the auditorium (person number 58 of 60), many of the advertised midcentury pieces were sold already!
Above: Siena Center auditorium packed with stuff during hundreds-of-years-of-treasures estate sale.
Above: I didn’t even get to see what they were asking for these turquoise Thonet chairs, they were already sold and being carried off as I entered the auditorium.
Above: Retro salon chair – sold, retro green foot stool – sold.
Above: Thonet Chairs for miles!
Above: This particular style of Thonet chair had Pam and me both drooling just a little bit. By the time I made it over to look at these chairs, one guy had claimed all of the ones with green cushions. I thought about bringing one home with me, but they were $80-$140 each depending on condition, and I really didn’t have a spot to put one, so I passed.
Above: I found it quite interesting that there were light and dark wood versions of the same chair.
As I walked the aisles of furniture, I noticed that most of the items that had sold right away when the doors opened were midcentury furniture pieces — many of the Thonet chairs, the salon chair, retro footstools — it seems that retro pieces were a big draw for this particular crowd. As time passed though, I noticed people filling up their arms with all sorts of treasures. The majority of the items at this sale were furniture pieces, though there were quite a few retro smalls hanging around.
Above: Retro binoculars. I love the packaging!
Above: A retro pink deep fryer…every girl’s dream?
Above: There were plenty of cool midcentury glasses and small dishes to be had.
Above: I’m not sure what these are exactly, but they sure do look neat. Anyone have any ideas?
I made my way to the back of the auditorium, where these St. Charles aqua cabinets were hiding. I counted 15 upper cabinets, 10 lower door cabinets and 6 drawers overall. They were priced at $1,500, but were taking bids. When I left the sale, they hadn’t yet sold. They were a lovely shade of aqua and in pretty good condition overall.
Unfortunately, the countertop on the second half of the lower cabinets had a bumped out piece, which might make it harder to use the original laminate counters — which were a lovely matching aqua with little gold flecks.
Above: Laminate countertops on St. Charles kitchen cabinets.
Above: The end of the laminate countertops on this section of cabinets came to a sharp angle.
Above: My favorite part of the kitchen set were the handles on the sink.
Above: Retro Kohler sink handle.
Above: These aqua plastic chairs matched the St. Charles kitchen cabinets perfectly!
Above: Siena Center Ladies room waiting area.
On my way out, I stopped into the ladies room briefly to investigate. Surely I should see if it was as retro as the rest of the building — and sure enough, a kidney shaped table, huge retro lamp and tons of blue tiles awaited me.
Surprisingly, I left the sale only with the photos on my camera — but of course I was tempted more than a few times to bring something home.
On the way out I asked a few of the Siena Center Security guards (which I suspect were the sisters themselves) if they knew what year the center was built. After some deliberation, they agreed that it was likely built in 1962 — same year as my retro ranch house! No wonder I liked the building so much!
My favorite detail of all was the sign at the very end of the long drive that leads to the Siena Center. It can be viewed from several angles and reads as both a sculpture and a sign. Too bad they didn’t have a spare one to sell me. I would have loved to use it as garden art!
I think the aluminum things with the spikes are candle holders. Back in the olden days they made big fat candles that people impaled on the spikes to keep them steady.
That entrance sign is the best!
I agree they are candle sticks. Remember them well.
I think they are candlesticks
)
I would put round candles on them to match the round in the middle.
<3 the kitchen sink – my favorite
Yep, candle holders!
Starting to realize more and more just how good I’ve got it down here in Louisiana. The number of people at an estate sale, and those prices! Yikes! The average price of things over here is 10-20 bucks (ya know, depending on what it is). People here are mostly looking for older antiques, arts n crafts period or Victorian or civil war era and everyone decorates their house with ‘French country’ crap that all the midmod stuff is overlooked and left for me! I’ve gotten a heywood wakfeild vanity for 50, tulip chairs for 10, bertoia chairs on the side of the road free, lots of cool whipstitch lamps free on the side of the road…. Hey why am I typing here? I should be out cruising the streets! Lol
As if La. wasn’t already where I dream of living some day, now you’ve gone and made me want to shop there! It’s true, some parts of the country don’t know what treasures they’re throwing out in the garbage. Hope you find a bunch!
In high school my mom and I made fat candles galore all winter. It was fun. You’ll never guess what folks got for Christmas that year.
Oh, to see all of that in person- you were so lucky to be able to go! The chairs alone (my personal weakness in mid-century collecting) are amazing! The building is just lovely, too. Thanks for sharing your experience…
Wow! Simply amazing, so what did you buy Kate? I saw several things I would have loved to have.
I got there around 11am on Saturday. The fryer and a few aqua and salmon chairs were still there, but just about everything else had sold or was still too expensive for me. Lots of people waiting around to bid on items.
I drove up from Chicago on Saturday morning to check it out. I arrived about 9 am and as you can imagine, most everything was gone. None of the glasses or dishes remained, but the Fry Daddy was still there, along with those two big spindle-y things. I wish the Fry Daddy had been something more useful, because I would love to have a pretty pink appliance on my counter top. I’m already afraid of deep frying, though, and definitely afraid of doing it in something fifty years old!
None of the chairs with arms were there, but I bought two of the Thonet chairs with coral colored backs, and two other no-name mid century wooden chairs. I also picked up an old suitcase. The buyer of those turquoise beauties still hadn’t picked them up, so I did get to admire them.
The St. Charles kitchen sold while I was there. I didn’t catch how much it went for.
The best part was getting a tour of the basement tunnels from a sister as we brought my cart of chairs to the elevator to bring them upstairs. Believe it or not, the tunnels were full of even more dusty mid century treasures that didn’t make it to the sale for some reason. I wanted to take them all home with me!
I wish I could have made it up there on Friday for the first day of the sale.
Thank you for the update and the pictures.
OMG! What gorgeousness! *sigh*
Did I miss what is happening to the building? It’s unbelievable!
Every bathroom sink, shower, and bathtub and in my house has those Kohler handles…I love them. We spent a small fortune having them re-packed a few years ago. If anyone has some NOS…I would dearly love to know. I dread having to replace them eventually. They are EVER-so-easy to adjust with one’ s toes. (Important in a tub fixture!)
I’m so glad someone got to go and take pictures! And yep, those are candle holders
Did you buy anything?
What a treasure! Did you mention why they were selling everything? Closing the center, refurbishing? The more I read this blog, the more I love the mid-century asthetic.
One of the sisters told me that as the population of nuns ages and dwindles they are renovating many convents, including the Siena Center, into assisted living centers and nursing homes.
My god what a lovely sale AND building!!! I’m just in absolute awe! I actually drooled over those counters! Even the smalls are gorg beyond belief! Love those glasses! And that FRYER!!! Wow!! Why, oh, why do we never have sales like this anywhere near where I live??? Instead, I’m stuck here with nothing but good ole boy farm tools and primitives being sold by the offspring of Elmer Fudd and Mel Tillis. Not fair!
Don’t give up hope, Ada. The very first wild 70′s thing I bought was in a place three miles north of Nowhere at a dairy farm….it came along with some chenille spreads I’d bid on. Catalogue shopping did get things to unexpected places.
Wow, what a cool event! Love those turquoise chairs. You’ve already got an answer, but the things with the spikes are indeed candle holders. The spikes were to hold the candles in place. Something that pillar holders have lost through the years, no doubt due to injury.
WOW!!! my heart about stopped at the sight of that stairwell! thanks for the eye candy Kate!!!
Thanks for sharing pics of the goodies and building.
Sounds like the good ol days for ridiculously cheap sale prices are gone.
But that building was swell-definitely has that Racine look.
I love that you captured the shape echoed everywhere. The outdoor sign was the best, though.
Hmmm. It’s true that on the west coast many of these church owned properties are getting converted to some kind of elder care facilities. Can’t be too many of those, I suspect.
I have experience with one that was built as a convent rest home in the 1960′s. If they ever cleared that place out, there would be a fiesta of wild stuff. I’m thinking in particular of their little hair salon room. Very pink and turquoise.
WoW! What a Breathtaking building….Yummy! Speaking of which…I think those aluminum things with the spikes would be better put to use as a cheese-ball holder and the Ritz crackers could go on the bottom part.
Just an idea for folks who run across those “bump outs” in old counter tops as was seen with the kitchen cabinets. Generally the idea is to keep them in place but make them into a base or pedestal I have run across lots of these, and what I’ve always thought of doing with them is utilize that as a base for a small, custom made spice cabinet that could cover that square hole and go up to the bottom of the upper cabinets if you want. they could be made from painted wood or perhaps even sheet metal if you know of someone who can work with it. That metal counter edge would just dress it up under the little cabinet. Another idea would be to fill the hole with a painted wood insert (perhaps painted to match the counter design or better yet re-using a section of matching counter top if you had some left over). You could put something decorative on it like a small flower vase or statue. In addition to that idea I can also see a series of glass shelves, cut to just slightly smaller than the size of the filled hole and have those going up over the area to create a small display area. That way you could sit something on your new “base” and things above it on the glass shelves. This idea might work really well for those that have the bump-outs in the corner where a duct or some wall space was cut into the counter area.
Thanks for the terrific tour/inventory. The building itself is so cool I might have forgotten to rush right to the chattels for sale had I been there!
Everything looked so pristine– I mean, come on… an estate sale by nuns? Does it get any better than that?!
It would’ve been a 6 hr drive for me and the soonest I would have been there was Saturday, so I’m actually glad that most/all of the mid century stuff was gone by then – that way I don’t have to feel guilty about not getting there.
Also – as an intern architect with a particular love for mid century buildings, THANK YOU so much for taking and posting so many building photos. That entry sign is fantastic. And the details, like that stair railing, is what changes a forgettable building into great!
My cousin Melanie and I attended this sale thanks to the announcement on Retro Renovation. We, too, were in awe of the building and how the railings, windows, doors and stairwell all shared the same retro design. We are in the picture of the crowd, sitting on a raised flower bed to the right. We each walked away with a harvest gold Thonet chair. Melanie also snagged one of the pink “Thonet chairs for miles!” chairs. I left with 4 of the aqua colored chairs that matched the kitchen cabinetry.
We were #’s 45 and 46 and much of the stuff was already designated as sold when we got in, a mere 5 or so minutes after the first group of people were let in.
Kate,
Thanks for stopping in, it’s nice to see folks appreciate the items.
Part way through the day, the sisters decided to let go of a few more items, and we ended up wheeling in another half dozen of the turquoise chairs, as well as two matching Thonet couches! (They didn’t last long) I wish someone had gotten some photos of them.
what a great sale! The pieces look like they were in really good shape. And the building too–how inspiring
I have those Kohler handles on the sink in our half bath. I love them too! We have a 1958 ranch. Thank you for taking photo’s of your visit. I would have loved to have been there!