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Talking time capsule houses with the Wall Street Journal

Pam Kueber - Updated: August 22, 2020

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

The Wall Street Journal contacted me a few weeks ago for a big story about time capsule houses and the people who look for them and love them. I also pointed reporter Leigh Kamping-Carder — who did a great job! — to some of our favorite retro-realtors including Alyssa Starelli and Ed Murchison, who both also were interviewed and quoted. And check out the spectacular basement in the house that Alyssa sold — that carpet!! Folks without a subscription so far have been able to read the story via the link on our Facebook page — or click here if you have an online subscription. There’s a fun video, too. Hooray for the Retro!

What’s your favorite quote from the story?

Oh, and want to look at more time capsule houses? See our 100+ time capsule house archive here.

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35 comments

Comments

  1. Lisa Compo says

    I wish a subscriber could do a copy and paste for us just this once. This article sounds so tempting to read. Wah..disappointed.

  2. Jackie says

    Stainless appliances are nothing new. My 1958 kitchen has the original 1958 GE stainless steel appliances plus the original SS counter top.

    • Jay says

      Yes, I go off the wall when people say stainless is not mid century. My modest 57 ranch kitchen still had the stainless Westinghouse appliances.

      • Pam Kueber says

        Ginormous stainless — aka mammoth refrigerators — are not midcentury though. Keep the new stainless relatively small [if you can, good luck!] and you’re good in terms of channeling authenticity

  3. David in Marietta says

    I think I read the whole article by googling different ways to get it but could not access the video. Either the ad would not go away or the video would never load.

  4. MrsC says

    Unfortunately, the WSJ is very closed about allowing non-subscribers to view their articles.
    Sometimes when they’re really old (like a year or more) you can google the title and the link will take you directly to the page without the “subscribe to read the whole story”

    But Congrats on the article Pam!

  6. Re says

    I found the article on the WSJ’s Facebook page. You don’t have to subscribe to read it there. You do have to scroll through several posts to find it though, but persistence paid off.

  7. Carolyn says

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/living-inside-a-time-capsule-1493302369?mod=e2tw
    I entered “wsj time capsule houses” to search and found this twitter address. I don’t tweet so a white cloud covered some of the article but I could still read it. Viewing the pics, not so much.
    “They also may lack newer comforts like stainless steel appliances” – yeah…I don’t think so! Because I LIVE to wipe smudges…
    “They may be chockablock with knickknacks” – and your point is what again?
    I would want to get into a time capsule house – the decorating is done, the furniture is to scale, it’s DIFFERENT. Funny how that folk song “Little Houses” (about Levittown) is so apropos today in the ‘burbs.

    • MrsC says

      That’s so funny: “They also may lack newer comforts like stainless steel appliances”

      I would think that would be a plus!

  8. LuAnn says

    I just tried on my home pc and it’s the same…in Facebook a pop-up comes up when I click on the article, but I’m able to close it and continue. When I use the link from here, I can only see the first few lines and the video, but then the rest is hidden. When I try to close the WSJ link, it takes me to a subscription page. ???

  9. LuAnn says

    The link isn’t working for me, Pam. I was able to see the video in this link, but to see the whole article I went back to the Facebook story from yesterday. Such a great article. Congratulations! ❤