While some people spend their weekends gardening or lounging by the pool, I spend mine scouring thrift stores for long-forgotten mid-century gems! Sometimes I’m lucky, and sometimes I’m not. Yesterday was a lucky day!

A few weeks ago, I scored a two-tiered Heywood-Wakefield side table from their Ashcraft collection at a local thrift store for $38. Those who know the value of Hey Wake know $38 is a STEAL! Aside from a few minor scratches, which is to be expected on a 60-year-old piece of furniture, the table is in fantastic shape.

Yesterday, I headed back to my lucky thrift store and lo and behold, they had this fabulous Heywood-Wakefield chair from the same collection! And it was only $37! It’s a little roughed up, but with some love and attention it will soon be a stellar piece.

I plan to reupholster it in a vintage-inspired Hawaiian print like this one.

For those unfamiliar with the Heywood-Wakefield name, the company was established by the five Heywood brothers in Massachusetts in 1826. They had a humble beginning — producing chairs in the family barn — but soon business took off. In the late 1800s, the Heywoods acquired the Wakefield Rattan Company and thus the Heywood-Wakefield Co. was born.

In the mid-1930s, the company began producing more modern designs and continued to do so until 1966. Today, the company’s Danish modern-inspired lines such as Sculptura, Kohinoor and Encore are highly sought after by mid-century collectors.

The Ashcraft line is different from the company’s better-known modern lines. It was created during World War II in a time when furniture making was put on hold so the wood could be used for producing rifles for the servicemen. In an effort to keep business going, Heywood-Wakefield began constructing furniture out of rattan.

Unfortunately, during the war Japan bombed the port city where the company acquired its rattan supply, so it became time to get creative. The company began utilizing New England Ash wood (hence the Ashcraft name), which looks and bends much like rattan. They used pieces of varnished wrapped paper to bind the joints.

Despite the substitution, the Ashcraft collection is just as sturdy and beautiful as every other Heywood-Wakefield line. It just has a better story!

To view more of the Ashcraft collection, check out Springdale’s Web site.

In June of 1965, an unidentified flying object crashed into a field in rural Southwest Virginia. J. Edgar Hoover and the boys at the Federal Bureau of Investigations raced down from Washington to secure the scene. In an effort to keep the whole thing under wraps, the UFO was transported under the cover of darkness to a location off Broad Street in Richmond, where it became known as the Markel Building.

Unfortunately, this Orson-Wellian story isn’t true (at least that’s what the government told me to say), but one glance at the cylindrical structure might make you wonder. The tin foil masterpiece located at 5310 Markel Road is not the handiwork of extra-terrestrials, but that of Richmond mid-century architect Haig Jamgochian.

Jamgochian was commissioned by the Markel Corporation in 1962 to construct the company’s Richmond headquarters. After gaining his architectural inspiration from a baked potato wrapped in tin foil on his dinner plate, construction of the soon-to-be-deemed “Jiffy Pop Building” was underway.

Utilizing other well-known Richmond resources, Jamgochian turned to Reynolds Metals to secure enough aluminum for his project and he began making history. Each floor of the three-level structure is sided with an individual piece of aluminum measuring 555 feet — the longest unbroken piece of aluminum siding in the world.

The third floor of the building was personally hand crinkled by Jamgochian and his trusty sledgehammer in just four hours. A contractor later finished the job on the other two floors in 1965.

Crinkle detail

The only surviving example of Jamgochian’s architectural brilliance (his Moon House was demolished in 2005), the Markel Building stands today as a mid-century beacon of silver on a street littered with strip malls and drive-thrus. Time has taken its toll on “The Jetsons”-esque structure, which has been patched with duct tape in many spots throughout the years, but it still serves as a reminder of a great Richmond architect whose work was clearly out of this world.

This fantastic chair was just listed on the Richmond Craigslist for $550.

Here’s what the seller has to say:

I am selling my eames era lounge chair. It is in incredible condition especially with how old it is. I have not once seen this chair in this color. I have been looking over a year for one similar but all I have found is the typical black leather (over $2,000) white cloth ones, so this chair is pretty rare. It was handed down to me from family and I have no room for the chair anymore. This chair is very rare and when I showed it to the owners at metro modern off Carry street (metromodern.biz) they said I should easily get $750 for it on ebay. I dont want to have to deal with shipping this huge chair so I figured I would knock off $200 and sell it around here. It has 5 legs like the eames (herman miller) style lounge chairs and not 4 like most knock off brands from that era. I cannot assure you the company who made it because the label on the bottom of the chair was removed before I recieved it. If you have any questions fee free to email me. I have several more pictures so if you would like to see them let me know. Thanks

Indeed, this is in an interesting piece. Unlike the Eames for Herman Miller chair the seller mentioned above, the one up for grabs has a solid rosewood back. The Eames chair is divided into three separate pieces held together with metal bars. I’ve never seen anything like the one being sold. Definitely a unique piece!

If anyone knows the maker of this chair, please share. I would love to know more.

You can view the Craigslist listing here.

There’s something about mid-century modern design that excites me and puts a smile on my face. The bright colors, the sleek curves, the atomic patterns, the sharp-angled lines, I just can’t get enough.

The name mid-century is a bit of a misnomer since modern design began to flourish in the earlier part of the century around 1935. Following the end of World War II, the country was hit with a surge of commercial and residential building. This unbridled expansion pushed mid-century architecture to the forefront once more, which is where it remained until about 1965. Today, countless examples of mid-century design exist across the country as well as in the River City.

From a Charles and Ray Eames chair to a Russel Wright bowl to a Joseph Eichler home, mid-century modern design was organic and cutting edge. It was made with a quality of craftsmanship that’s unrivaled today. Many aspects of everyday life adopted this new modernism trend. Buildings and homes adopted open floor-plans with exposed beams and a plethora of windows. Rooftops morphed from their traditional pitch into butterfly wing shapes and zig-zag patterns. Cars came equip with tail fins.

It was also during this time that Scandinavian designers made their way onto the scene, making furniture makers Eero Saarinen, Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen household names.

My goal for this blog is to honor the beauty of mid-century design, architecture, style and life in Richmond. By showcasing buildings, rooftops, awnings, signs as well as homes and thrift-store furniture finds, I hope to once again bring the wonderment of mid-century modernism to the forefront in Richmond.

I want this blog to be a community effort. Part of the fun in learning the history of a place or an item is to hear the accompanying stories. If you have a great piece of mid-century furniture or live in a mid-century home, send me a picture. Tell me your story. I would love to feature your piece on this site.

Also, if you know any great architecture or designs you think should be discussed on this site, please let me know. I want this to be a place where everyone can tell their story and share their love for mid-century modern design.

Contact me at olivia@retrorichmond.com