Spreckels Mansion – aka The Sugar Palace – was a completely over-the-top late Victorian home, was the luxurious residence of one of San Francisco’s wealthiest men at the time. Take a look back at the original version of this house!
architecture
Check out some of the ways home builders incorporated decorative concrete block designs into the walled terraces and indoor design features of mid-century modern homes.
See what was cookin’ in home design decades ago by checking out these kitchen islands from the 60s! They combined form, function, and fun, too.
From the richly ornamental to the whimsical, old-fashioned wood porch bracket designs have enriched the faces of American houses for over a century.
What was a classic Craftsman house like – and what made it unique? Find out more here about this vintage architectural style and its founder, Gustav Stickley – plus see more than 70 old examples of this iconic design.
If you love the mid-century style, or want to re-create that beautiful vintage backyard feel, get 47 of the best old-fashioned patio, deck & porch ideas here for a little retro inspo.
Stained glass windows are back in style! Take a look at lots of gorgeous design examples, for churches, homes and businesses – plus get some historical perspective on stained and leaded glass art!
This wood-paneled 1940s house was held up as a fine example of the maturing character of American Modern architecture. It used no line or material that was not necessary.
The White House in the early 1900s showed off President Teddy Roosevelt’s renovations, updating it for the 20th century. Here’s a look back at the mansion, inside and out, in high-resolution photos, plus detailed descriptions of the rooms.
Why take the stairs while you can ride up in comfort inside one of these metalwork ‘cage’ style antique elevators, made with beautiful ornamental iron? Just tell the bellhop what floor you want.
Flash back to 1960 with the Scholz Mark 60, a prefab mid-century modern home! From the blue bathroom to the wooden wall paneling, every inch of this house screams retro
We discovered these 22 amazing old pictures of some of the most gorgeous historical hotel lobbies from across the US. Have a scroll and step back in time with us to a more elegant era!
If you’re buying a 1950s house, already live in one, or want to see how new suburban homes were designed back in the ‘Leave it to Beaver’ era, see some fantastic ’50s house plans here!
These gorgeous vintage in-ground swimming pools go beyond the basic – with unusual shapes, specialty finishes, and other refreshingly retro ideas.
This vintage mid-century modern model home – the House & Garden magazine Hallmark House for 1963 – offered nearly 5000 square feet of beautiful 60s style.
This mid-century modern home design was created for a busy family of five, and in addition to the spacious floorplan, it glows with light, from huge windows and stunning clerestories.
After WWII, millions of new small starter homes were built all across America. Here, see a collection of these practical, affordable little suburban houses – each one under 1000 square feet.
Samuel Colt’s Connecticut mansion also known as Armsmear, was built on a huge plot of land owned by the inventor of the famous gun. See what this grand and spacious Victorian home was like in its heyday!
One of the most beautiful – and most imaginative – passenger centers in the world was unveiled when Trans World Airlines opened its iconic sixties modernist masterpiece – the TWA Terminal at JFK airport in New York. See it being built here, and how it looked in the early days.
Books in a home once signaled that the residents were intelligent, worldly, and could afford to collect their favorite volumes. Look back at some vintage bookshelves from the past!
When post-WWII prefab housing was becoming passe, in the ’50s, a new version of the prefab home emerged – the kind of upper-middle-class home with many mid-century modern design ideas that would become popular over the next decade.
Through this rare collection of photographs and other ephemera, see what New York’s classically elegant old Ritz-Carlton Hotel was like once upon a time, starting when it opened in 1911.
See how old El Paso, Texas — the city that sits right along the border of Mexico and the state of New Mexico – looked more than 100 years ago, when the population was about a tenth of what it is now.
Look back at these great examples of more than fifty 1980s bathroom decor ideas – plus retro color schemes – that cover the gamut from elegant to eccentric to extra-dated.
These charming vintage cottage home plans from 1910 show some small house styles that were popular in America just after the turn of the century.
Although tile was available in a range of hues, when it came to creating the vintage 1950s bathroom tile design ideas homeowners wanted, the most popular colors were the ones shown here.
See a Scholz Mark 58, a marvelous mid-century modern home built in 1958. From the blue bathroom to the wooden wall paneling, every inch of this reinterpreted California Ranch house screams retro… and we love it.
If you were planning to get a new kitchen for your home in the 1950s, here are nine of the most popular mid-century kitchen remodels and floorplans you might have checked out!
With this book, you can color in 44 classic Victorian houses from the 1880s and 1890s, when many elaborately-decorated homes were built in America. See what’s inside!
San Francisco’s great old Sutro Baths was a huge structure with several enormous swimming pools, viewing galleries, museums and more, right next to the Golden Gate. See inside the Victorian marvel here!
Keyed for color, comfort and convenience, the retro bathroom decor for two homes in the city and two in the country have been remodeled for maximum relaxation.
New York City’s luxurious original Waldorf-Astoria was among America’s first big hotels. When it was built during the Victorian era, it was considered the finest hotel in the world – and soon became the most famous, too.
Early in the 20th century, people started moving from the city out to the suburban districts and small towns. See some classic All-American suburban houses from that era here!
Monsanto’s Home of the Future at Disneyland – set in the futuristic year 1986 – was built almost entirely of plastic, either alone or in combination with traditional building materials.
As you can see here, there was no single architectural style of these Southern mansions & plantation homes – but what they all had in common is that they were intended to be beautiful and showy.
Here’s a look at actor, dancer & singer Gene Kelly’s house in Southern California, as it looked back in 1950, when he lived there with his wife and daughter.
Here is how the builders of this ’50s small-home design made the most of the space they had available! Take a look at the vintage decor and floorplan here.
Take a look back at a few views of the pretty and peaceful backyard and the Kennedy family pool house behind the Virginia home known as Hickory Hill.
See what it took to get the Golden Gate Bridge built, plus see dozens of pictures of the construction, and the celebration when it finally opened in 1937.
If you’re remodeling a 1950s home exterior, advice from that decade says to follow a simple, straightforward style. Your house will look better and cost less.
What is a mansard roof home – or a Second Empire-style house? Find out here, and take a look at more than 20 beautiful examples!
The Rosedown mansion in Louisiana was built in 1835, and after eventually falling into disrepair, was renovated in the ’60s. Here’s a look inside!
Take a look back at 20+ elegant antique bathrooms and decor from the turn of the century, many of which were intended for luxury homes.
See floor plans and exterior views of 7 antique homes from the Civil War era, designed by prominent architects and built during the early 1860s.
In 1906, a short film called ‘A Trip Down Market Street’ ended up being a valuable record of old San Francisco just before the huge earthquake and fire destroyed much of the city.
Inside the rambling 160-room Winchester Mystery House, doors lead into blank walls, staircases end in midair, trap doors spring to the floors below, and elevators rise through the roof.
Inside this book, you can take a look back to the 1870s — a time when many of the most ornate and elegant homes were built in America! Not only was the architecture remarkable, so,were their bold colors.
This unusual home in the hills of Oakland, California is tree house – with a modernist design – belonging to Dave Brubeck, known as ‘Mr. Jazz’ to his fans.
What did the future look like from the ’60s? See some modernist-style retro futuristic home concepts that captured the midcentury era’s sleek style and space-age optimism.
Whether you’re looking back to yesteryear to remember your childhood, or are thinking about recreating one of these looks today, we have a few dozen ideas for you!
This cute build-it-yourself vacation cabin from the ’50s was designed to be affordable and easy to build, and it could be expanded, too.
Biltmore is a huge private estate and tourist destination in Asheville, North Carolina with 250 rooms spread over four acres of floor area, and it has 43 bathrooms and 35 bedrooms. See it here!
