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It got me thinking when I started seeing a few homes on HGTV when I seen them remodeling original homes that still had unique charm.
I was searching homes in my dads old hometown area and seen this 1971 luxury home that appears to be mostly original that I find interesting. I love the new designs of the new luxury homes, but find these all original homes from 40 years ago very interesting. My aunt/uncle have a home that was built in 1967 that is 99% original. I love it, but they hate it and either going to remodel or sell it.
This one even appears to even still have some of the original light fixtures. lol. Most people would probably just call this house dated, but I love it. lol. Maybe I can talk my parents into purchasing it.
This one was listed back in the winter... I bet now that it is spring, the land is beautiful.
A friend of mine grew up in a 1956 ranch that had stunning floor to ceiling windows flanking the stone fireplace. When her parents died, she sold the house, and the new owners walled in the windows, replacing them with tiny palladium windows. Makes me want to cry every time I walk past it.
My parents have owned a 1955 ranch since 1964, and they've redone the bathroom several times, the last time in the 90s, and the kitchen only once in the late 70s. The kitchen used to have carpeting -- thank God they saw the light on that and ripped it out. They also added a huge family room in the 70s, built by my dad and a family friend, as well that isn't aging all that well, unfortunately. But the woodwork is untouched, the windows are original and in great shape, and in the living room there's a nifty little built-in record cabinet that was designed with a cloth insert in one door, so that your record player could be out of sight, and has slots to store albums on the other side (I had too many albums to store in there when I lived at home! ).
There are a few that come on the market each month in my neighborhood as estate sales, usually 1 owner homes. Ours was one of these time capsules. Very little had been updated or replaced in the last 60 years.
Here's one that just sold in 5 days at a really low price per square foot:
The house is beautiful, but looks like something the characters on Mad Men would live in. OP's aunt and uncle should rent their house to a historic movie set LOL. If I bought that I would have to do a TON of work!
I guarantee you'll find a few around my area of NJ. I saw one similar to mine which appeared to be original for sale a couple of years ago. Can't see why people are nostalgiac for them. Vinyl asbestos tile floors, dark wood cabinets with a soffit in the kitchen, double wall oven with white or harvest gold appliances, single-pane wood windows, vinyl vertical blinds on the dark aluminum sliding doors. Really, some things are better off updated.
Looks like somebody did some decorating in the 1980s (wallpaper!). And I don't think there were many houses with separate whirlpool tubs in the 1970s, so maybe there was some remodeling done, too.
A while back my sister sold real estate and occasionally she would ask if I wanted to go through some homes. Most were foreclosures but there was an estate sale that came into her office. She had to go over and put a lock box on and asked if I wanted to go. I drooled over the house.
It was built in the 40-50ish range. The owners had built the home and didn't change a thing but add some carpeting to the bedrooms. The house was a brick cape cod with tons of charm. What really blew me away was the kitchen. It had mint green and white checkered tile, white steel cabinets, a large farmhouse style sink, formica counters with the steel trim on the edge. Everything was in perfect condition. It even had the vintage stove and fridge. Everything was adorable even down to the handmade pink poka dot curtains. It was like stepping into the past. I could envision a woman cooking dinner for her family dressed in heels and wearing pearls, lol. If I hadnt been planning on moving out of state I would have bought that house. It was solid and well cared for.
We just bought a "vintage" '72 two years ago. All original everything. It's a "Hicks Home" which if you've ever lived in Hawaii, you'll know exactly what they look like. To begin with, it's "single wall" construction. No studs in the walls, just vertical boards where the inside of the board (actual dimension 1" x 8" T & G clear redwood) is the inside of the house and the outside of the board is the outside of the house. The walls were never painted so it's all unfinished clear redwood inside the house except for the two bathrooms which did get painted. The ceiling is "canec" which is made of sugar cane bagass formed into big 4' x 8' sheets and infused with arsenic to keep the bugs from eating it. It was very popular in Hawaii construction in the middle of the last century. Original vinyl floor tiles in the kitchen and bath. White with speckles, of course. Otherwise all oak floors, although in Hawaii construction, the oak floor is the floor, no sub-floors here. Drill a hole in the 1" thick flooring and you can see under the house. Formica kitchen counters, again the white with the speckles. The kitchen cabinets are stained press board which has somehow survived forty years. The stove top had to be replaced since it had rusted through and one burner was entirely missing. The O'Keefe & Merrit wall stove is still fine, though.
About the only changes we are planning on making are to replace the hall closet doors (more pressboard doors) with some wood louver doors. Add a back deck and when that happens one window will become a French door. The vinyl tiles in the kitchen floor may be replaced with different color of vinyl tile. Same with the Formica counter top, replace with different color of Formica. May replace the pressboard cupboard doors with solid wood or cover the pressboard with Formica. Dunno yet. Might put a ceramic tile backsplash around the stovetop. There is Formica there now, but that's been scorched over time. Then and again, the house is comfortable the way it is and it's more fun to go to the beach than to renovate the house.
We just bought a "vintage" '72 two years ago. All original everything. It's a "Hicks Home" which if you've ever lived in Hawaii, you'll know exactly what they look like. To begin with, it's "single wall" construction. No studs in the walls, just vertical boards where the inside of the board (actual dimension 1" x 8" T & G clear redwood) is the inside of the house and the outside of the board is the outside of the house. The walls were never painted so it's all unfinished clear redwood inside the house except for the two bathrooms which did get painted. The ceiling is "canec" which is made of sugar cane bagass formed into big 4' x 8' sheets and infused with arsenic to keep the bugs from eating it. It was very popular in Hawaii construction in the middle of the last century. Original vinyl floor tiles in the kitchen and bath. White with speckles, of course. Otherwise all oak floors, although in Hawaii construction, the oak floor is the floor, no sub-floors here. Drill a hole in the 1" thick flooring and you can see under the house. Formica kitchen counters, again the white with the speckles. The kitchen cabinets are stained press board which has somehow survived forty years. The stove top had to be replaced since it had rusted through and one burner was entirely missing. The O'Keefe & Merrit wall stove is still fine, though.
About the only changes we are planning on making are to replace the hall closet doors (more pressboard doors) with some wood louver doors. Add a back deck and when that happens one window will become a French door. The vinyl tiles in the kitchen floor may be replaced with different color of vinyl tile. Same with the Formica counter top, replace with different color of Formica. May replace the pressboard cupboard doors with solid wood or cover the pressboard with Formica. Dunno yet. Might put a ceramic tile backsplash around the stovetop. There is Formica there now, but that's been scorched over time. Then and again, the house is comfortable the way it is and it's more fun to go to the beach than to renovate the house.
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They also added a huge family room in the 70s, built by my dad and a family friend, as well that isn't aging all that well, unfortunately. But the woodwork is untouched, the windows are original and in great shape, and in the living room there's a nifty little built-in record cabinet that was designed with a cloth insert in one door, so that your record player could be out of sight, and has slots to store albums on the other side (I had too many albums to store in there when I lived at home! 
).
