mcmansionhell
patreon
Good House of the Yearbook 1980
🕑 Added 2021-09-15 17:17:39 +0000 UTC
Rounding out at $800,000, this 4 bed, 5 bath house in Ocean Township New Jersey (very close actually to where my grandmother lives) may not be everyone's cup of tea. But it is two things: architecturally interesting and of its time, which to me is enough to land it here.
The house itself is modernist in style, however it's a late modernism, part a style we in the business sometimes call "New Formalism". New Formalism combined modernist shapes with extremely paired down traditionalist forms like columns, colonnades, etc (as we can see here with the arched entry and colonnaded windows on the left).
The style, a harbinger of a then-nascent postmodernism, was commonly used for American civic and academic buildings in the 60s and 70s and was popularized by architects such as Minoru Yamasaki, Edward Durell Stone, and Philip Johnson. However traces of it did occasionally end up in residential architecture, and this is one of the rare examples of it tricking down into the vernacular. An architect is not mentioned, but the house was more likely than not designed by one.
The house remains an understated example of modern architecture of the late 70s, featuring skylights, terra cotta floors, and large planters. Most of it has been left relatively intact, which is wonderful, including a carpeted conversation pit:
The furniture is spectacularly of its time, featuring the kinds of pieces that aren't as hyped up as their predecessors from the 60s, but remain playful, inventive, and cool. None of these are particularly famous or even valuable past general vintage stock - they're simply normal upscale furnishings from the period.
At the same time, there are some very cool time capsule interiors that are wholly unique, such as this space-age bedroom:
(This was truly the era of built-ins.)
At the same time, luxury elements that would become very much part of McMansions in the 80s such as the explicitly coded home office (made possible by new frontiers of telecommunications, of course) begin to appear.
And like all transitional houses, there are some interiors that are very much a part of the after period too. You can't get more eighties than this:
Anyway, the house is nicely sited in a well-maintained bit of green space with privacy to spare. I just hope someone doesn't come along with a sledgehammer. I'd be curious to hear what you all have to say in the comments!
Link to Listing: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/18-Framingham-Rd_Ocean_NJ_07712_M52565-30375
Comments
Leaf
Real question: what's with realtors using the HDR setting on all their photos?
Insufficiently Caffeinated
I notice a lot of upscale houses don’t have a fan above the burners in the kitchen (especially if it’s installed on an island or peninsula) and man does that drive me crazy. If you’re going to cook — and I thought that was the whole point of turning the kitchen into a gathering place, with chairs at the island — why make it so much less functional? Do people enjoy huffing fumes from their gas range? It was interesting to see this same flaw in such an 80s version of the upscale kitchen.
