For this 1961 time capsule house, by architect John Polivka just outside Minneapolis, I’m pulling out all my favorite adjectives, this house is: Stunning, spectacular, amazing, jaw-dropping, drop-dead gorgeous. Thanks to selling agent Jacob Smith of Sotheby’s International Realty for giving us permission to feature this house, and to reader Dan, who sent us this tip! Pictures tell this story, so move along, we worked overtime this Friday night to load up a slide show 66 beautiful photos — taken by Mike McCaw of Spacecrafting — who clearly had immense fun capturing the gorgeous linearity of this house on camera.
According to the listing, this house was built in 1961. Covering just over 4,100 s.f., it has four bedrooms and fours baths. It sits on fully recreational Sweeney Lake and is just five minutes from Minneapolis. It is for sale for $1.25 million. A hefty sum, yes, but just keep lookin’ and you will understand.
Alas, we have rushed these photos to the blog so fast that we do not have information on the architect. The house seems to be a study in linearity. It also appears to have been impeccably maintained.
Update: Thanks to Retro Love Affair, who told us that the architect was John Polivka – you can read his biography here (link now gone, alas).
Take a look at a quick selection of shots, then head to the gallery below:
Note the restrained palette — a rich warm brown brown, light colored brick, black slate tile and beams:
And pay attention — the two kitchen photo aboves — that is LIGHTING underneath all those beamed panels on the ceiling. This lighting design is repeated in bathrooms and throughout the house — that is, minimal use of “ceiling fixtures”, upstairs especially. The vintage refrigerators are Revco, I’d guess — see this story.
And, oh my my, take a look at the staircase: Again, linearity is the rule of the day:
In the bathrooms, note the use of small square mosaic tiles — this is EASILY REPLICATED today!
The house is situated to enjoy the vista across Sweeney Lake:
Yes, we like to show lots of mid century modest houses here on the blog — because they are wonderful, too, and we do not want them to get lost in the shuffle of the seemingly ever-onward aspirations in our society today. That said, we ADORE a gorgeous, architect mid-century modern masterpiece as much as the next person. Golly heck, we adore this house!
Repeat of link love:
- Listing – 1961 time capsule house [link now expired]
- Thanks to agent Jacob Smith of Sotheby’s International Realty for permission
- Super thanks to Mike McCaw of Spacecrafting for the photos — he sent us all these high-resolution photos to feature!
- And thanks, Dan, for your tip. Readers, we love you! Keep those tips coming!
Tips to view slide show: Click on first image… it will enlarge and you can also read my captions… move forward or back via arrows below the photo… you can start or stop at any image:
T Allen says
This is a stunning specimen of midcentury modern. What makes this such a standout is that the owner’s totally embraced the ambiance and refused to ruin it with “updates”. Any updating was carefully considered to blend with the original architecture. Bravo!
Ana says
If I win the lottery, everyone is invited over for a party. It’s such a cool house — I looked at all the pictures with my jaw dropped.
Jane Kathryn Kolles says
This house takes my breath away! It was designed by local architect John Polivka from Polivka Logan Design. He designed other homes in the Twin Cities, including a very similar house in Edina that has many of the same features as the Sweeney Lake house (angular lighting, open staircase, grass cloth on bathroom walls, color palette, liberal use of wood throughout). I’ve not done a drive-by and have no business seeing it through a realtor (I’m a few million short) but this house is my inspiration for living.
Cynthia says
This is absolutely beautiful in every way. The owners obviously adored their home and took such great care of it. Thanks for sharing!
Christa says
Fantastic house on a beautiful site. I could move right in. Here’s another MCM house that’s in pristine, original condition. Much smaller than the one in Minnesota but still a beauty.
http://eastbaymodern.com/idx/single-family/40639131/details.html
June Cahill says
Thanks Crista – this is a stunningly beautiful home too!
Lauryn says
Wow, Christa, thank you for sharing that gorgeous home! I may even prefer it to the Minneapolis one, simply because the scale seems more to my liking (plus the apparent privacy of the lot is wonderful). Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!
Lynne says
Incredible. Absolutely incredible. Makes me want to undo everything I have done in this house and start over! Just completely start over. I do know it will be the inspiration of any decorating going forward.
I noticed the rather “open feeling” of the master bath.
I also thought the grass cloth was an iffy choice in a bathroom. Maybe this one was used so little they thought they could get away with it.
Yes, by far the best time capsule to date.
Robert John Anderson says
Incredible house…did anyone see or learn of the Architect ?
hannah says
Yeah, I could retire there. The colors flow together amazingly, clean style but very warm also. I’m in love with the slate (?) floor!
The one feature that perplexes me is the sunken area by the fire place. A coffee table there makes no sense. I see it filled with pillows (in the hippie days some people had ‘pillow rooms’).
Nate says
I wondered the exact same! I also thought maybe it was made for a floor seating around the fireplace (or a very tiny sectional)…
hannah says
You know, I wonder Nate….how many cocktail party guests slipped off the edge and fell into that pit? 😀
I’ve seen sunken seating areas in vintage pics from the time, and they’re much bigger than that. Here’s one, maybe not huge, but a lot more functional that the one pictured above:
http://www.house-crazy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1970s-decor1.jpg
Mary Elizabeth says
Hannah and Nate, yesterday I left a probably overlong comment about this and one other safety issue (the deck railing), which didn’t pass muster for some reason. I think the pillows went around the edge of the pit and the table went in the middle. If I bought the house–pipe dream, I know–I would fill the pit with giant pillows that would make it obvious where the drop-off point is. Either that or give up wine. Definitely, let’s go with the pillows!
John says
The home seems to be staged for selling so I’m sure the coffee table in the pit by the fireplace was not there when people lived here. Some other furniture seems to be oddly placed as well.
I agree with the giant pillows for lounging in pit in front of a roaring fire idea or perhaps bean bag chairs would work too.
AtomicHipster
Paulette Anderson says
Who was the architect?
AtomicHipster says
Beautiful home in an exceptional location, someone must have had a wonderful life here. Did anyone else notice the back hallway, very curious design. The kitchen backs up to this hallway, is the hallway access to bedrooms? I’d love to see a floor plan of this home as all bedrooms where not shown.