Modern is in the air!

Spring is right around the corner which means it’s time for the annual 20^th Century Cincinnati show! This weekend 50 vintage dealers will gather at the Sharonville Convention Center showcasing their wares from funky furniture to retro art, jewelry, home décor and more. According to the show’s website, it is “the Queen City's annual retrospective of the forward looking design trends introduced between the First World War and the Computer Age.” That’s a lot of design packed into one, small convention space and I can’t wait to explore!

This will mark my third year in a row to head up to Cincy for the event. My husband and I plan on making a day of it starting with a big breakfast on the road and a stop by IKEA on the way home (IKEA Westchester is just a few exits north of Sharonville). I guess you could say it’s a new tradition of ours.

Even if you’re not a collector or are on a shoestring budget, browsing through the booths at 20^th Century Cincinnati is a fun trip down nostalgia lane. Item after item reminds me of something that could be found in my grandmother’s old basement. It’s a true education in modern design and Midcentury aesthetics.

So, if you are in driving distance of Cincinnati and looking for something fun to do this weekend, I highly recommend the modern show. Admission is only $7 and is good for both Saturday and Sunday.

Find out everything you need to know about the 20^th Century Cincinnati modern show here: http://www.20thcenturycincinnati.com/index.html.

Why not start a new pre-spring tradition?

Bizarre in Berea

This past weekend something happened that hasn't happened in some time here in Lexington. The sun came out! The snow melted! It was finally time to awake from my winter slumber so my husband and I decided to take a drive down to Berea for an afternoon hike. Berea is known as Kentucky's "Folk Arts and Craft Capital" and I wasn't expecting to see any modern architecture there. So, you can imagine I was pleasantly surprised to see this bizarre building in the distance when we drove into town from I-75.

The closer we got I realized this modern collection of silver spheres was a school. In fact, it reminded me of my own high school in Lumberton, Miss. which had a similar curved aluminum roof, and another school, Huffman High,  in my hometown of Birmingham, Ala.

But neither of these schools had what this Berea school has. The feature that makes this building so cool is its sci-fi steeple rising from the middle dome. This school looks like it was dropped from another planet...something you might expect to find in Roswell, New Mexico, but surely not on your way to the woods in the middle of Kentucky.

The mother ship has landed in Berea, Ky.



We did make it to the trail that day. Take the trailhead at the  Indian Fort Theater to see this view.

Photos by Amy W. Richardson



Southland Scenes



Lexington, Ky.  is known best for its world-renowned horse racing industry and college basketball. When it comes to residential architecture, Colonial and Federal style abounds--think columns and pediments. One of my favorite magazines Domino (which sadly folded in early 2009) described the city as “preppy, conservative,” and I’ll have to agree. Traditional is always “in” here. But what Lexington lacks in mid-century and modern residential architecture, it makes up for in its commercial buildings. Have you noticed?

Southland Drive, a corridor in South Lexington that connects busy Nicholasville Rd. to Clays Mill, provides me with new eye candy every time I drive it. The two-mile long shopping district is home to a quintessential piece of mid-century culture--a vintage bowling alley with its original bowling ball sign high above the parking lot, adorned with the simple command, “Bowl." (See photos below) Last year my heart sank when I noticed the ball had been taken down. Much to my delight, it was returned to its perch a few weeks later with a fresh coat of paint. Even though it’s now white (I’ve never seen a white bowling ball), at least they didn’t tear it down!

Southland Drive has many more examples of interesting relics of post-war commercial design that have somehow escaped tragic alteration over the last 50 years. This is good and bad. Good, because I love to see this type of design survive. Bad because many of the buildings are in need of repair and proper restoration after half a century. Not only that, but quite a few of Southland’s retail and office buildings are without tenants and have been empty for some time. I can’t help but think a new owner might prefer a 21^st century rmakeover, or even a wrecking ball, to the current retro façade.

There are signs of hope though. An up tick of new local businesses have opened their doors over the last few years--Morris Book Shop, the Soup Kitchen, a tattoo parlor. Both Good Foods co-op and Habitat for Humanity Re-Store have both expanded. But other national chains like Save-a-Lot and Dollar General have moved in and cheapened the landscape in my opinion. 

So, while we still have them, I decided to take a few photos of the eye candy. It’s my hope that more Lexington business owners will find Southland’s quirky, retro buildings appealing enough to keep around for another 50 years.  

Bowl sign at Southland Lanes (Collins Bowling Centers) with some snow on top.

  Block screen wall at Southland Lanes

I love this nifty roofline.

Nice arches on the Southland Dollar Store

More arches on Don Wilson Music Co.

 Tile design on what appears to be a mostly vacant office buidling.

 I love this curved metal roof and the zigzag storefronts. Unfortunately this building is vacant right now.

This is current home of Hi-Tech Artificial Limbs. I love the flat roof and windows.


All photos taken by Amy W. Richardson.