A hot tip from reader Abigail lead us to this 5,153 sq. ft., impeccably maintained — and impeccably detailed — 1959 split level time capsule home, listed for sale in Kettering, Ohio. The home has an impressive collection of original bathrooms — three full and two half — filled with stunning mosaic tile walls, walk-in sunken showers, double vintage laminate vanities with colorful sinks and some amazing wallpaper. Throughout the house, stunning stone and brick walls seem to await around every corner, along with many other fantastic midcentury details, preserved and loved by the large family that called this house their home since the day they moved in — 55 years ago, in 1959. Wow.
From the listing:
- Price: $325,000
- Year Built: 1959
- Square footage: 5,153
- Bedrooms: 5
- Bathrooms: 3 full, 2 half
Gorgeous neighborhood in West Kettering by Kettering Medical Center, first offering on a popular quiet street, all tucked away, loved by the same family since day 1 in 1959! Sellers are sad to leave but ready to pass on their passion for this home after raising a large family, retro & fun, all the amazing 3 full baths are original but have huge walk in tiled floor to ceiling showers, you won’t believe this contemporary home created way before its time, multi levels throughout, walls of windows, great potential for a young family, retro lighting, kitchen was updated in the years past, 1st floor study with built-ins & unique distressed wood built ins, double sinks & more fun, 5 bedrooms, all good sized, inviting family room with doors to patios & perennial gardens, lots of privacy with beautiful mature trees, huge stone wall, 3 HVAC systems, separate workshop in the 2 car garage, invisible fence, security system….
Yowza — this house is a textural treat for the eyes — with high contrast black stacked stone walls, stacked roman brick, streaky VCT flooring, gorgeous pecky cypress paneling, and many additional, gorgeous materials throughout the house.
Then there are the home’s amazing bathrooms. This minty green bathroom is spacious and user friendly with double sinks, plenty of storage in the vanity and built-in under mirror medicine cabinets.
I am in love with the one inch mosaic tiles that span all of the walls, and that sink — so pretty. You can tell the bathrooms in this house were set up to serve many people at once, as evidenced by the separate space for the (likely mint green) toilet.
And that vintage wallpaper — so neat. It appears to have a horse racing theme to the design. Pam is going crazy for the vintage novelty wallpaper in this house, of course.
Each of the full bathrooms have a huge, sunken, walk in shower that feels luxurious even by today’s standards.
Yes — they have a pink bathroom too — with the same set up of double laminate vanities with pretty pink sinks, mosaic tile on all the walls and under mirror medicine cabinet storage. So cute.
The layout of this pretty pink bathroom also seems to mimic the minty green bath– enormous!
Dig that retro striped detail in the pink and red vinyl tile flooring.
The wallpaper looks like mid mod mad Paul Revere to us. Adds new meaning to “coolonial”.
The home’s third full bathroom must be the master. It has a different type of shower, along side the same awesome fixtures and mosaic tiles as in the other bathrooms, this time in aqua blue.
The curved corner section of the vanity must have held a vanity chair where mom could sit and relax while getting ready. And look at all the storage built into the wall just above the backsplash. This is a very handy idea, if you have the space — and the patience and craftsmanship to build niches like this.
You can tell by looking at these bathrooms that a real effort was made to coordinate all of them.
The materials used throughout this house: We estimate they would cost oodles and oodles of money to replicate today. Oodles. As with all of the other time capsule houses we show — we sure hope this one finds appreciative new owners who recognize all the value in this gem of a house.
Link love:
- Listing for this 1959 Kettering, Ohio house.
- Mega thanks to Coldwell Banker Heritage Realtor Cindy Buckreus for giving us permission to feature this fantastic listing.
- Photos courtesy of Todd Kivimaki, Wow Video Tours
Skott Michael says
This is in my town and right around the corner from my work! Had half a notion to check it out on my lunch break. So luck we have a fairly good collection of MCM in our suburb. I may have to give the listing agent a call 🙂
Joan Cavanaugh says
so cool, hope someone who loves it for what it is buys it and keeps it intact, it is truly a time capsule, wish it were me!
Deanna Smith says
So gorgeous!
I was catalog hunting today and turned these up from ’53 and ’49. Lots of lovely stuff! (But I couldn’t find any surviving Flotels, sad!) Thought they may be of interest or use. 🙂
https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteMotelContractSupplyCorp.Catalog456
https://archive.org/details/KohlerOfKohlerK48Catalog
Joe Felice says
More WOW! This house pretty much covers all the bases. A living room on each level. It is most interesting to see the juxtaposition of the various textures–wood, rock, brick and flooring. The only thing missing is knotty pine. The kitchen is nice, but could have been kept more to MCM with different cabinets and counter tops. I love the bathrooms. And carpet in the master? I suppose back then, the plushness underfoot would have been considered luxurious. ( I had a ’52 ranch with plush carpet in the bathroom, and, while most impractical, it did feel wonderful.) Those showers are the bomb, even with their ’70s Water-Massage shower heads. This house is a “steal” by Denver’s pricing standards!
Tikitacky says
This is AMAZING. It will be tragic if the new owners damage any part of the original beauty. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the buyers appreciate this astounding and gorgeous home in its original state. Those bathrooms. I died.
Victoria Souder says
So many things to love about this house. Amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Justin says
Wow.
According to the listing the “Small” bedrooms are 16×14. The Master is 20×16. Those are some large bedrooms.
The only thing I would change is carpet and the kitchen. I can picture a nice set of either St. Charles or Youngstown Kitchen Cabinets in there in Turquoise.
Justin Miller says
I’m thinking of moving to Ohio from Arizona, just to buy this house.
Only if I could.
Sheila S says
Wow, what an amazing house to have grown up in – I bet there are a lot of great stories there!
I agree that the variety of finishes may not make a minimalist jump for joy and while I lean in that direction, I’m not sure I’d really want 5,000+ sq ft of minimalism either.,
The wallpaper in the bathrooms reminds me of a house we lived in when I was a kid. The bathrooms had matching wallpaper, shower curtains and window curtains to coordinate with the tile and fixtures. Clearly, this house had no need for the shower curtains but these rooms bring me back all the same. Thanks for sharing this one.
Mary Elizabeth says
Steven, I think you are the boy who stood in the crowd watching the royal procession and said, “But the Emperor is naked!” 🙂
Just because we all love MCM, it doesn’t mean that we all love every aspect of every house. The design with all the different kinds of stone is something I wouldn’t choose myself if someone were building this house for me. But I still love the overall feel of the space, the lightness and movement.