Interior of German Houses Around 1900 Through Amazing Photos

Born 1840 i, Eugène Trutat was a French naturalist, mountaineer, pyreneist, geologist and photographer, who was curator of the Museum of Toulouse.

Trutat began taking photographs in 1859, and produced almost 15,000 over the course of the next fifty years, covering a wide range of topics. These are some amazing photos from Bibliothèque de Toulouse that he took the interior of German houses around 1900.

Trutat died in 1910 at the age of 69.

Germany. Dining room and living room interior

Germany. Interior of a bourgeois living room

Germany. Interior of a bourgeois living room

Germany. Interior of a bourgeois living room

Germany. Interior of a bourgeois living room

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A Collection of Mid-Century Bathrooms From the 1940s for Design Inspiration

Color is the key word for bathrooms built or remodeled between the World Wars. Ivory and pastel toilets and sinks came first, joined during the 1930s by fixtures in orchid and mauve, Ming green and peach. The colors kept coming: baby blue, candy pink, butter yellow, lavender, and black. In the 1940s, red, burgundy, and navy blue were introduced.

Although plenty of black and white or grey and white baths were built in the first decades of the 20th century, originals from the period tend to be more fanciful than “revival” baths are today.

By the mid-1940s, wartime shortages and the ascendance of International Style dictated a return to the spare white bath. But most 1940s homeowners were not ready to forgo all color. They enjoyed a cheerful pop of green or blue first thing in the morning. Also, they had absorbed a decorating tip broadcast by design magazines during the early 20th century: You can give a tiny room the illusion of more space by running a horizontal band around the middle of it.

1940 Armstrong Bathroom – Few images are as iconic of the midcentury as swans and the color pink. This bathroom offers peachy pink walls and pink fixtures. Black painted wainscot with scallops and an black linoleum floor grounds the space.

1941 American Standard Bathroom – Eggplant and gray walls along with an incised pattern in the linoleum floor form the basis of this color scheme. Fixtures are a creamy yellow complement to the rich burgundy hue. This ad appeared in American Home magazine.

1942 Orange & Green Bathroom – This image was from an article in American Home magazine. The dark brown floor complements the related orange of the towels and shower curtain and contrasts with the green tile wainscot. Light wallpaper with a starburst pattern adds extra visual interest. The existing white fixtures look updated without a large cash outlay.

1942 Blue Armstrong Bathroom – This Armstrong ad was published in American Home magazine among others. The blue monochromatic scheme is relieved only by the baby pink accessories. The floor is designed with an incised floral motif that is repeated in the bathmat and shower curtain. To add extra storage, a shallow shelf system is attached to the door.

1945 Briggs Bathroom – This peachy yellow, rust, and steel blue scheme with gray fixtures is very modern. It would be very handsome in any retro renovation today. The sliding glass door on the tub, folding according track door on the toilet compartment, dual sinks, lots of mirrors, and canister lighting are a few of the features that would be fun to reproduce.

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Vintage Photos of Victorian People Posing Next to the Windows

The most common Victorian house style is Folk Victorian. The classic Victorian styles (Gothic Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Stick Style, Romanesque Revival, and Shingle Style) were created by professional architects, and were built mostly by the well-to-do.

The lower reaches of the middle class certainly shared the same Victorian urge to live in a fashionable house, and if they couldn’t afford a professional architect. They could design the house themselves, or have a local carpenter do it.

In either case, the design was likely to be an unprofessional but possibly still charming pastiche, including elements of styles that were still currently fashionable among the upper crust, and elements of styles that definitely were not. Also, the house would naturally tend to be smaller and plainer than the what the wealthy could afford.

Here below is a set of vintage photos that shows what the windows looked like from the 19th century.

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30 Beautiful American Kitchens From the 1940s

Home design in the 1940s, especially in the kitchen, represented a rapid shift. Older styles and materials were quickly replaced. New ideas took hold, and the kitchen was transformed.

Probably more than any other era in the 1940s we have a big divide between the illustrated ideal kitchens and what people really had. For the first five years of the decade the Second World War meant that not only were new kitchens unlikely – there wasn’t even much of an opportunity to fantasize. However, once the war ended there was plenty of good advice out there for anyone planning a new home – or just hoping they might get one.

The rush to build decent homes lead to lots of experimentation in pre-fabricated materials for building houses – which extended into the prefabrication of kitchen units as part of the build of the house – particularly seen in the classic post-war prefab. For the majority of people the 1940s kitchen would have been identical to what they had in the 1930s – at best. As with so much at this time design ideals were moving on, but people would have to wait until the 1950s to start seeing the new styles and designs in their homes.

1940 Armstrong Polka Dot Kitchen – Glass block appeared during the 1930s and combined with the clean streamlined design of the late Deco period, this kitchen achieves a bit of modernity. The polka dots, ruffles, and ubiquitous geraniums keep it casual and appealing without becoming too designery.

1940 Armstrong Kitchen in Brown and Blue – Most kitchen designs were lighter and brighter than this dark chocolate brown kitchen. Blue accents and white appliances provide some relief in this “gardener’s kitchen” as it was referred to in the ad which ran in American Home.

1940 Nairn Linoleum Ad - Very Pink Kitchen – This Nairn ad ran in the American Home magazine and it’s really pink. The combination of pink and navy blue isn’t uncommon but the amount of pink is. Even the ceiling is a lighter shade. It really makes those white appliances and red accessories pop.

1941 Nairn Linoleum Kitchen – Shown in an American Home magazine, this classic red, light tan, and green scheme has lots of clean modern elements. As an ad for Nairn, one of the oldest flooring companies in the US, the linoleum was the featured element, but the tan walls and red linoleum counters make a nice counter point to the green-topped Aalto stools. Also seen regularly were the window walls under the cabinets. We should be so lucky to have more of those today!

1942 Armstrong Family Kitchen – Armstrong ran full color ads throughout the Depression and WWII advertising their various flooring, wall, and insulation products. Unlike many companies they had a dedicated staff responsible for coming up with new room ideas constantly. Though “high designers” like Raymond Lowey and Russell Wright influenced the direction of interior design, it was companies like Armstrong that appealed most directly to the primary decision maker ... the American housewife.

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35 Candid Snapshots of Women in the Kitchen in the 1960s and 1970s

In the 1960s and 1970s, the wife would be seen as the stay at home keeping the house in order, bear children and make sure everything was fit for her husband to come home to. The impression was the man was the one who did the proper work, the wife didn’t, just spend all her time making everything right.

Many of them did not have automatic dishwashers, microwaves, etc. None of them had online bill paying, ATM cards, and many of the conveniences of today. Having a cleaning service was unheard of. Most had more children then many women today. But yet they managed to cook actual homecooked meals, tend to children, do laundry, wash floors, garden, clean the house, etc.

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Cool Photos Show What Bedrooms of Teenagers Looked Like in the 1980s

Desire, adoration, safety, identity and escape are all there on the teenager’s bedroom walls. In the 1980s, these teenagers were photographed in their bedrooms – the place where they go to dream.

So what did bedrooms of teenagers look like in the 1980s? Just check out these cool photos to see.

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Amazing Photos of an Art Deco House in Trieste From the 1930s

Trieste is a city and a seaport in northeastern Italy. It is towards the end of a narrow strip of Italian territory lying between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia, approximately 10–15 km (6.2–9.3 mi) south and east of the city, Croatia is some 30 km (19 mi) to the south.

Trieste is at the head of the Gulf of Trieste and has a very long coastline, free sea access in Barcola and is surrounded by grassland, forest and karst areas. Being spared cold waves in winter by the maritime influence, the city has a subtropical climate rare for its relatively high latitude.

There are also other national and international names for the city such as “Città della Barcolana”, “Trieste città della bora”, “città del vento”, “Trieste città mitteleuropea”, “Trieste città della scienza – City of Science”, “City of the three winds”, “Vienna by the sea” or “City of coffee”.

A set of amazing photos from Adelmonaco that shows interior of an art deco house in Trieste from the 1930s. Art deco is the predominant decorative art style of the 1920s and 1930s, characterized by precise and boldly delineated geometric shapes and strong colors and used most notably in household objects and in architecture.

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30 Vintage Photos Capture Albury Houses in the 1940s

Albury is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city’s name – the City of Albury.

Albury is separated from its twin city in Victoria, Wodonga, by the Murray River. It is 554 kilometres (344 mi) from the state capital Sydney and 326 kilometres (203 mi) from the Victorian capital Melbourne.

Said to be named after a village in England, Albury developed as a major transport link between New South Wales and Victoria and was proclaimed a city in 1946.

Here below is a set of vintage photos from Foto Supplies that shows houses in Albury in the 1940s.

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Amazing Then-and-Now Photos of a House in Ohio From the 1940s

A set of amazing photos from Thomas Barnard that shows the then-and-now exterior and interior of his childhood house at 19419 Scottsdale Blvd., Shaker Heights, Ohio. These several vintage photos of this set were taken around 1946.

Interior of a house at 19419 Scottsdale Blvd., Shaker Heights, Ohio around 1946

Front Door

Front Door (now)

Living Room Fireplace

Living Room Fireplace (now)

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30 Vintage Photos Capture People in Their Kitchens in the 1940s

Home design in the 1940s, especially in the kitchen, represented a rapid shift. Older styles and materials were quickly replaced. New ideas took hold, and the kitchen was transformed.

Because of World War II restrictions, it would not be until the late 1940s and into the 1950s that many of these new materials found their way into home design. Chiefly, the rationing of metal adversely affected the production of steel kitchen cabinets. 

Home design styles in the 1940s straddled the 20th century. On the one hand, kitchens were still fairly small. Linoleum was still widely used as a floor covering. Colors often hovered in the range of pastels. Iconographic shapes like scallops, sweeps, and curves were common. Unfinished pine was a favored inexpensive wood often used for kitchen cabinets.

Take a look at these vintage photos to see what kitchens looked like from the 1940s.

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