1952 time capsule house with luscious, original terracotta floors and attached greenhouse

When we feature time capsule houses here on Retro Renovation, we are fundamentally looking to examine original details that give us clues to how we could remodel and decorate our own vintage homes. With that goal in mind, let’s take a look inside this lovely 1952 time capsule home in Evanston, Illinois — listed for sale by Broker Jeri Schmidt.  In particular, we were intrigued by (1) the stunning glazed terracotta floors and (2) the attached greenhouse. Yes, the house is not a “true” time capsule — the kitchen and bathrooms appear to have updates; but, they did them very nicely! Thanks to the tip from Reader Brty and photos courtesy of VHT Photography, let’s take a tour of this lovely house.

From the listing:

Price: $600,000 Year built: 1952 Square footage: 3,000 Bedrooms: 4 Bathrooms: 2 Full, 1 Partial Mid century modern stunning 3000 sq.ft. home in great neighborhood. Heated stone floors, space pac air conditioning, fireplace, updated gourmet kitchen & breakfast room with high end appliances, spacious & bright family room, 3 first floor bedrooms, gallery & attached greenhouse. 2nd floor offers a spacious master bedroom suite with walk in closet & master bath with onyx floors, double sinks, granite countertops, soaking tub & separate shower. Large LG steam front loading washer & dryer. High tech heating system & tankless water heater. Nicely landscaped yard & patio for outside enjoyment. Attached 2+ car garage.

The home’s original stone floors are gorgeous — and are unlike any flooring we’ve seen so far in our time capsule coverage. I asked Jeri, the listing agent, if these floors are truly stone, or if they are ceramic, brick or some other material. Her reply:

The stone flooring in the hall, living room, back bedroom & kitchen. According to the owner it should just be called stone. It does not appear to be ceramic because there are absolutely no chips and I don’t think it is brick.

But you know what: Pam says a reader on Facebook says that the floors are glazed terracotta. She says this makes more sense to her. So we’re sayin’: Glazed terracotta — at least for some of them.

And yes — you don’t see them featured very often here on Retro Renovation — but, granite counter tops. They were very well selected — harmonizing beautifully with the original stone/ceramic floors. The den has an interesting array of vintage lighting — large, rectangular recessed lights, a huge vintage fixture in the center of the room, and what look to be eyeball recessed lights and a track for additional lights. Another favorite feature in the room are the cheery yellow wall panels and exposed brick. This spacious bathroom blends new updates with the charming yellow (harvest gold?) mid century fixtures and tile. Though the onyx floor tiles in this bathroom are not original, Jeri says they are also not new, but are in great shape. One thing is for sure — we like them. One of the most intriguing features of the home is the attached greenhouse and porch combination that boasts what appears to be a rather large, stone water feature. How I’d love to have something like this at my house. Mega thanks to Broker Jeri Schmidt for allowing us to feature this wonderful home, and to VHT Photography for taking such great photos for us to share with you. For more information about this property, contact Jeri Schmidt at jeri.schmidt@cbexchange.com or (847) 866-8200. 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:?