Our Super Coolio Modern House

As anyone reading this probably already knows, my husband, David and I recently purchased a house. We really weren't planning on starting to look for a house until the summer, but we stumbled upon the perfect place and had to act fast. We are both into modern architecture and design, and as you can imagine finding a modernist house in the DC area is very, very difficult, especially in the area we wanted to buy in - McLean, Virginia. If we were really into center-hall colonials or McMansions, we'd be set.

I thought I'd use this space to post some more information about the house, the architect, as well as the former residents. In the future, I'm sure I'll be blogging about the renovation process.

The house was designed by the architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen and built in 1970. Jacobsen is a pretty famous architect now, although I think in 1970 he was more "up and coming." I've actually spoken on the phone with him a couple of times (we're getting the original documents and drawings associated with the house from him) and he seems like a really cool guy. Definitely a character. The man has to be in his mid- to late-70s and he's still actively working on projects and in the office everyday. I asked him if he'd like to see the house when we're done with renovations, and his reply was "certainly, and especially if you offer me a drink" !

The picture is from the March 1972 issue of "House Beautiful" magazine, in which the home was featured. I've posted scans of the magazine article pages on my fokti account. There's some really cool furniture in the photos, especially a pair of chairs in the living room. I did some research and found out they are called Astrea chairs and designed by Joe Colombo in the early 60s. Joe Colombo designed a number of great pieces in the 1960s, including lots of stuff made in plastic. I especially love the trolley which is still in production today. Unfortunately, the Astrea chair is not. We even inquired as to whether the previous owners still had the chairs and would be willing to sell them to us. Guess what? House beautiful (like many design magazines) brought in their own furniture for the shoot, including the Astrea chairs. Doh!

Speaking of the original owners, W. Proctor and Irma Harvey were 89 and 90 years old when they moved out and put the house on the market in August. Unfortunately, Mr. Harvey died in September. An obituary David found of him paints him as a real interesting guy. He was a professor of cardiology of Georgetown for over 50 years and an expert in diagnosing heart conditions simply by listening to people's hearts. Crazy stuff.

The house sits on almost 4 acres, which is a very large lot for McLean. It's all wooded with a creek running through the back. Our yellow lab, Jenny, will love getting into that!

That's enough for now about the house. More to come about the renovation process, especially after our big meeting with our designers tomorrow. W00t!