1950s House facts for kids
The 1950s House was a special building at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. It was an exhibit where visitors could step back in time and see what everyday life was like in Vermont during the 1950s.
This house opened at the museum in 2000. It helped people understand how America changed a lot after World War II. During this time, people started buying many new things, creating a lively "consumer culture." The house was built in the 1940s but was decorated to look like the late 1940s and early 1950s. It showed off the new furniture, books, toys, food, and magazines that were popular back then. It was like a window into the style and culture of the mid-20th century.
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A Look Back: The House's Story
Frank and Helen LaFlam, who lived in Shelburne, built the 1950s House. They bought the land in 1948 from a large farm that was divided up. In 1950, Vermont had lots of land and natural resources. The town of Shelburne encouraged new homes. The town didn't even have zoning rules, which control how land can be used, until 1957.
Building a Modern Home
When the LaFlams designed their house, they included the newest features. These included central heating, public water, and modern kitchen and bathroom appliances. They even had a refrigerator and built-in cabinets.
Factories were making many new things in the late 1940s. This allowed the LaFlams to buy a "ready-cut house." This was like a kit home, based on building plans. It was cheap and easy to ship to the building site. You can learn more about these at prefabricated home.
House Style and Features
The house had a simple, one-story design with a garage attached. It had plain, overhanging eaves and simple white clapboard siding. These were common features of houses built in the middle of the 20th century.
The LaFlams used wide, stained wood trim around the windows and doors. This kind of simple detail was easy to find in Vermont, which has a lot of lumber. The house was not a traditional Cape or a typical ranch. It looked like it had some "do-it-yourself" parts. It had a fun mix of new and old, typical and unique details.
The House as an Exhibit
In the summer of 2000, the house opened to the public. It was a temporary exhibit called "The Fabulous 50's: Welcome Home to Postwar Vermont." This exhibit was so popular that it stayed open longer, from 2002 through 2005.
However, on May 4, 2012, the 1950s House was taken down. This was done to make space for a new building at the museum, called the Pizagalli Center for Art and Education.
