design + interiors
photo: tod connell from charles eames to tsunami modern: the eclectic interiors of hollin hills
by stephen brookes
The architecture of Hollin Hills attracts freethinking, imaginative people, and the interiors of the homes here run the gamut from softly cozy to diehard modernist. There are no rules — prepare to be surprised.
Is there such a thing as “Hollin Hills style”? Maybe – but it’s pretty hard to put a finger on it. The interiors of our houses are as individual as their owners, and you never know what to expect when you walk through a Hollin Hills door. There are temples to Danish teak, cozy “Coastal Grandma” homes, terrifying exercises in minimalism, and pretty much everything in between. You’ll find Scandifornian kitchens and Mad Men living rooms, hygge bedrooms and Palm Springs patios, and while some homes are designed down to the millimeter, more than a few (if we’re being honest) look like a particularly enthusiastic tsunami just rolled through. With such a range of personality, Hollin Hills “style” could really be … just about anything.
But most Hollin Hillers, it’s fair to say, were drawn here by the modernist architecture of the place, and in virtually every home there’s at least a nod to midcentury style. George Nelson bubble lamps float over many a dining table, “tulip” tables blossom from floors — and is a Hollin Hills house really a Hollin Hills home without at least one well-loved Eames chair?
That may be because the sleek, sculptural new furniture made in America and Scandinavia in the ‘50s and ‘60s feels completely natural in Hollin Hills homes. With their modest scale, organic lines and clean, futuristic feel, midcentury furnishings feel almost like they sprouted effortlessly out of the architecture itself.
“Hollin Hills homes are accepting of anyone’s personal taste,” says Rick Ward, sitting (in perfect midcentury style) on an original 1960s George Nelson “marshmallow” couch in his art-filled Marthas Road home. “But what looks best are pieces in sympathy with the architecture. In these houses, things have to flow together — there has to be a sense of cohesiveness.” And the “sculptural” quality that defines so much midcentury furniture works well here, he adds, “since the houses themselves are sculptural.”
hans and florence knoll
the young american designers
Any search for “Hollin Hills style” begins, of course, in the decade after World War II, when Charles Goodman was re-inventing housing in what he called the “architectural laboratory” of Hollin Hills. Across the country, young designers were doing the same thing with furnishings: Hans and Florence Knoll, George Nelson, Harry Bertoia, and Charles and Ray Eames (to name just a few) were coming up with innovative designs that aimed at transforming post-war American life. Like Goodman, they used light, unusual materials and novel construction techniques, and designed their furnishings to be affordable to young families – such as the new homeowners in Hollin Hills.
Developer Robert Davenport took note. Much of this bold new furniture was being produced by Knoll Associates, and in 1953, Davenport invited Knoll to furnish a special “Exhibition House” on Marthas Road (which would be featured on the very first House and Garden Tour). He also began selling modernist furniture and fabrics through the Hollin Hills sales office, encouraging the young homeowners to adopt the new styles.
photo: robert lautman
alcoa house
And bit by bit, they did. Photos of the first Hollin Hills interiors show an awkward mix of modern and traditional furnishings, with grandmotherly teapots and copies of House Beautiful spread across ultra-modern coffee tables. But over the next few years, a more coherent look began to take over. Slat tables by George Nelson became ubiquitous, as did streamlined chairs by Jens Risom and Eero Saarinen. Abstract art adorned the walls, and the radical new designs from Charles and Ray Eames proliferated. The first “Butterfly” sling chairs, Isamu Noguchi paper lamps, Alexander Girard curtains, von Nessen lamps and Dansk tableware turned up nearly everywhere; striking new designs that came to define the then-new Midcentury Modern look.
But it was more than just keeping up with fashion. Goodman and Davenport believed that everything should be deeply integrated in this new community, from the houses to the trees to the curving lines of the roads. As the architecture critic Michael Sorkin put it, encouraging the new homeowners to buy modern furniture reflected “a way of thinking about design with consistency, realizing a continuity between nature, architecture, and furnishings.”
A Hollin Hills house in the 1950s: Slat bench by George Nelson for Herman Miller; Akari 10A standing lamp by Isamu Noguchi; armchair Model 51 by Arne Vodder; Jens Risom Credenza Model R11, Alexander Girard curtains. Photo by Robert C. Lautman
The American designers may have had the most initial influence in Hollin Hills, but Sorkin (who grew up here in the 1950s) recalled the “prevailing vogue for ‘Scandinavian modern’ furnishings” at the time, with “forests of well-crafted teak” spreading through his neighbors’ homes.
And Danish teak still remains a perennial across Hollin Hills. Less “space age” than the American designs, which used plastic, metal and other materials in colorful and jazzy new ways, the Scandinavian designs focused on natural wood, subdued tones, and organic, graceful lines. Sharing Goodman’s “design-for-everyone” philosophy, Nordic designers such as Hans Wegner, Borge Mogensen, Arne Vodder and others made their furniture not just beautiful, but also affordable and down-to-earth – with a spare, Scandinavian elegance that has lost none of its charm.
“This furniture is perfect for Hollin Hills,” says Gino Madrid, who has furnished his Stafford Road home with a museum-quality collection of vintage Scandinavian teak – from a 1955 Nanna Ditzel desk to the ne plus ultra of Danish modern design, a Finn Juhl “Chieftain” chair – that he’s collected over the past two decades. The furniture is set off by a striking collection of sculpture and modernist ceramics, and despite the wide range of different designers, every piece in the house seems to connect easily with the next – tied together not just by style and aesthetics, but by a sense of being designed for everyday living.
“Danish Modern has a warm feeling,” says Gino. “And it’s made for modest, cozy homes like ours. The details, the curves, the size — these pieces have a sculptural quality, but they’re practical and comfortable, too. They’re made to be used!”
here come the scandinavians
Above: a “Japan” sofa (1957) and Chieftain Chair (1949) by Finn Juhl; a playful “giraffe” lamp by Uno and Östen Kristiansson (1950s); a 1959 “triennale” night stand by Arne Vodder; and other Scandinavian treasures. Below: a Finn Juhl bowl and Hans Wegner chairs. Photos by Tod Connell
mad men (and women)
Scandinavian Modern may be classic – but nothing in recent years has defined “mid-century” style as much as the tv series “Mad Men.” Set in cutting-edge homes and offices in the 1960s, everything from the clothes to the barware (and there was a lot of barware) evoked the period at its most stylish and sophisticated. So maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that the show’s production designer, Dan Bishop, actually grew up in Hollin Hills — absorbing style from the moment he opened his eyes.
“Mad Men” became so synonymous with midcentury style, in fact, that The Washington Post even ran a “Mad Men Look” contest in 2012 in a search for the perfect midcentury house – and unanimously awarded first prize to David Rivera and Jaelith Hall-Rivera for their home on Kimbro Street.
photo: robert lautman
The Hall-Rivera home on Kimbro Street won The Washington Post's “Mad Men” contest in 2012
One look around the Hall-Rivera home shows you why they were the hands-down winners. It’s stylish down to its molecules, with a freewheeling mix of everything from Scandinavian teak to vintage radios and glassware. The house evokes the glamour and cool of the 1960s, from the vintage faux-leather bar, to the swooping Verner Panton dining chairs, to the Eero Saarinen “tulip” side table and the “atomic” shower curtain in one of the baths. It’s beautiful, but also playful and relaxed, with a sense of fun: a 1962 movie poster featuring Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin hangs over the bar, and one wall is home to an impressive collection of Elvis records.
“We’re not absolutists about Midcentury Modern!” says Jaelith, sitting in the couple’s airy, uncluttered living room, which seems to float in the branches of the outside trees. “We’re a bit more bold, more in the ‘atomic’ style,” adds David. “We like the palette of Fifties modern.”
Like most Hollin Hillers, David and Jaelith didn’t use a professional decorator; it’s more interesting to explore your own personal style, than to buy a formulaic “professional” look. For David, the key is designing and renovating parts of the house himself; for Jaelith, it’s hunting for MCM rarities in vintage shops. “You find cool stuff, but there’s only so much space,” she says, echoing the frustration of every collector in the neighborhood. “And you don’t want to overcrowd a Hollin Hills house.”
So … between Florence Knoll and Danish Modern and the Stylish Sixties, what is “Hollin Hills” style? The answer seems to be: anything you want. Hollin Hillers tend to follow their own minds rather than the latest fashion; we appreciate style, but we aren’t slaves to it. The most striking interiors respect the architecture without being straitjacketed by it, and come alive with the unique personalities of the people who live in them.
And in the end, is anything more stylish than a bold and creative mind? As David Rivera says, “these houses are blank canvases.” Bringing them to life, of course, is entirely up to us.
— Stephen Brookes
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