The Last Original Standing Alside Home by Emil Tessin with Interiors by Knoll | House Tour

Michigan city is a unique town is a very industrial town but this area that we're kind of pocketed in here they're all modernist homes and really unique beautiful homes this home obviously the frost house was very much part of the modernist movement obviously we're very forward thinking for the time the cross House was built in 1964 as part of a concept of being a mass manufactured home a modular home system they came was from alls side homes which was architecturally designed by Emil Tesson this home here that we're in today the frost house was one of the models for the homes I think it might have been in the neighborhood of like 10 to 15 or something of that nature the original owners of the home was Dr Robert Frost and aelia frost Dr Robert Frost was a forensic pathologist in the area and they raised their two children here it's really unique in the sense that all of it is metal so what looks like walls is actually an aluminum sheet and then on the other side of it is a foam and then again an aluminum sheet on the outside of that supported by Steel beams between those the wood obviously is wood paneling but it's over the aluminum sheets it's quite unique in that sense that you don't really see homes that are constructed in this way the interior of the home was designed by Paul maob and Florence SN it's a really unique collaboration how they came together because Paul maob was considered the Godfather of mid-century modern design but known for a lot of wood design stuff uh so that's all the built-ins that you see are all Paul mob and then null and the null design unit is kind of what was responsible for the the interior design as it relates to the furniture and the layouts and it was all sold as a package with the homes when you bought them for uh at that time you know an incredibly affordable price I think collectors today is like you know would be considered amazing but I think Florence null is the real like star of the show in this one because her upbringing is so unique and how she was connected with so many famous designers of the time it it seems not only just unprecedented for that time but let alone how notable it is for a woman to be you know leading that at that time too as a working professional I think it's such a great story to see how she pioneered that [Music] movement null was started by Florence n's husband they met and married and then she took over kind of the Helm of the at least the Creative Vision of the company before that it kind of made very more industrial type furniture and so the The Breakfast Table that was original home kind of resembles a bit more of that it's it definitely has a point of view but it's doesn't have the mid-century lines that I think the world has come to Love Today of like what you see in American mid-century modern furniture she essentially like pioneered the idea of collaboration if you think about it because prior to her furniture companies were not releasing furniture with the designer's name attached to it so it was normally like they would name it something and it wasn't about the designer as much but she really kind of brought that to the main stream and having the likes of Mis vandero or oos saronin or it's an insane collection of furniture that I think she was able to kind of wrangle [Music] together when we came in the home for the first time the like Harmony between the furniture and the layout the outside even for that matter and I think that's really the work of the previous stewards Bob and Karen that was what we were like immediately taken by we made an offer in 15 minutes of of being in the home like we didn't leave without writing the offer while we were in here and we had no idea when we came to look at it we were just like let's just go let's just go take a peek it was a casual like oh we'll just you know what I mean like it was not something we were considering that seriously but the jazz music was playing when we came for the showing and we look at the yard and we're like oh we could see you know our dogs running around here it was beautiful yeah the patio furniture for instance we were not familiar with the Richard schz collection at that time we had seen it it was familiar to you but you didn't really know it by name but we're out there and looking at the furniture and we're like this has to stay here with the home like it just made sense and we didn't know exactly why but that's been the fun of learning all about each of the individual designers in the story and essentially how Florence really kind of needed them to make different collections over the time at null to make a full collection of what she really wanted to see the things that we've seen that have been the most notable pieces that Emil Tesson has been a part of has has been the headquarters for alls side which is a really cool modernist like office building really beautiful design and then this project but you know it's kind of interesting because this project wasn't really considered a success because they intended it to be the concept was to build hundreds of thousands of homes some large large number that probably you know maybe was too ambitious I can't say there's a ton out there but I don't know if you know the story of ail Tess and Florence null which is kind of the where the magic of it all started was Florence null was taken in by a Tess's family at a young age uh I think uh there's not really a whole lot of clarity of like what happened or what what was the situation there um but she lived with ail Tess's family I think starting around like middle school and they sent her to cran Brook Academy where she was taught by the Leo serin ero serin's father so it was kind of like the beginning of this like great trajectory of Florence but is how the two of them uh were originally connected to Emil Tess and Florence null um at a young age so I almost consider them like brother and sister of Swords which that I think is really where the root of this whole story kind of starts they weren't necessarily fans of modernist homes we weren't not fans but definitely wasn't something we were seeking out I'd say the feeling we got just being in here Drew us to it we've been here since 2021 the previous owners were here for four to 5 years it's like the harmony of it all just drew Us in we had appreciation for it obviously how could you not you know I think anyone growing up in the US like you see this stuff it was in your grandparents' homes or you know in buildings you walked into and so it it's like it's kind of like a cra craft macaroni and cheese or something like that you might not love it but you you have an appreciation for it whether in that case whether it's good for you or not our favorite time here is surprisingly the winter time because I feel like we spend way more time inside the house not out at the pool and like when we host friends here too we'll find ourselves playing games over here we'll have dinner in the kitchen area we really kind of use the whole home and I just makes us appreciate the architecture of everything it just brings you in the home sitting in the chair you're sitting in right now listening to jazz music with a cup of coffee is like it's just everything and I think when it's summertime you kind of tend to spend more time out at the pool and the yard which is really great too cuz you're enjoying the outside lines of the home at times but the the winter time kind of like brings you into the like appreciate where I think like the real collaboration of it all is is in the you know the Paul maob the Florence null the me tessin the layout and flow of the home and just enjoying the space of it all I think is like where its true beauty is actually and I think it kind of gets skipped over a lot because again in the midwest we're just anxious to get outside once it's nice out all the all-side homes in the that we've seen in existence like from Ohio they're all over the kind of Midwest and East a little bit they've all been painted to like from at least what we've seen for the most part and that was kind of the magic of I think what Bob and Karen saw when they first came in it was the original colors of what Amil Tesson imagined it to be so all the models were these colorful modernist homes and yeah as we've seen over the decades after those homes were built a lot of them were you know kind of made to appeal of a time as times evolved and you lost the the attributes of kind of what what made them but yeah it loses its cool you know what I mean I would honestly say I don't love the black steel lines of the home from the outside the home actually might be cooler if it was painted all white by my standards at least but that's why I think it's important in preservation it's not about me or Jennifer or Bob or Karen it's about preserving the intent of the architectural story that was intended to be created and continuing that we all have our little personal nuances that we kind of want to create and we can create that in other projects but like letting this be what it is I think connects this to a time that is gone it's interesting living in a home like this you it's a lot of fun but it's also a lot of work to upkeep and the work is well worth it but at the same time I think it kind of allows you to uh enjoy it for a period of time but you know like a May any collection of piece of art you might hold on to it for a period of time and then decide it's time to relinquish it to a new loving [Music] owner

Channel: OPEN SPACE

Views: 248,705

Keywords: KNOLL, FLORENCE KNOLL, MODERNISM, INTERIOR DESIGN, MIES VAN DER ROHE, RICHARD NEUTRA, DESIGN, ARCHITECTURE, EMIL TESSIN, MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA, BARCELONA CHAIR, WOMB CHAIR, PAUL MCCOBB, RICHARD SCHULTZ, MCM, MID CENTURY MODERN, HERMAN MILLER, VITRA, MILLERKNOLL, JOHN LAUTNER, PROUVE, JEAN PROUVE, MARCEL BREUER, HARRY BERTOIA, MODERNICA, EAMES, ARTEK, ALVAR AALTO

Id: 37XmadWXQKg

Length: 10min 32sec (632 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 11 2023