Midland boasts mid-century appeal

The saying goes “home is where the heart is.”

Home is where meals are taken, where company is kept and treasured, where children sleep and lessons are learned.  A home is so much more than a house.

And for some very fortunate people in the Midland area, their homes were designed by Jackson B. Hallett.  According to midcenturymidland.org, in 1958, Hallett formed his own architectural firm with the philosophy of providing “high quality design consulting through direct and continuing contact between the firm’s principals and our clients.”

Midland home designed by Jackson B. Hallett. Photo by Ben Tierney.

Linden Rogers is one beneficiary of that ethos.  Her home, built in 1962 and purchased in February of 2016, was designed from the ground up by Jackson B. Hallett.  Sporting 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, this 1700-square foot home with a partial basement embodies a lot of the charm and one-of-a-kind feel that homeowners who are passionate about architecture fall in love with in the mid-century style in general, and with Jackson Hallett’s take on the style specifically.

Linden says that she was looking for a mid-century design when she came to this house and fell in love.  Outside of the house, the lot it sits on was a big sell for her and her husband, with a very private backyard. The couple also appreciated that the house sat in the middle of a very pleasant Midland neighborhood.  

Inside, the house features trademark one-of-a-kind Jackson Hallet flourishes, which feature the inventive use of recessed space for, in this case, concealing playing card tables.  Linden enjoys talking about the “right use of space, in the right spot” when talking about features like the recessed card tables, but also how that sort of unique feature is very typical of other Jackson Hallett houses that she had been inside as well. 

The Rogers home. Photo by Ben Tierney.

All of the furniture in the Rogers’ home is of the mid-century style, every furnishing is also in the same style, and is original when they can manage it.  As a nod to modern necessity and convenience, their refrigerator is modern but fits the space.  The curtains are new, but in keeping with the philosophy that this house is ideal as-is, the original tracks were used.  

The Rogers’ added a mid-century style deck, in what is easily the largest reshaping of the space in the original construction.  They indicated that one of the most charming parts of the house is the use of light and what Linden called “bringing the outside indoors” with what, for the time, is a fairly open floor plan from the kitchen through the living room and then onto the aforementioned deck, which was constructed using used pine boards in order to preserve the mid-century look and feel of the space.

When asked about how important the original, mid-century look and feel of the home was, Rogers replies “Contemporary architecture is great, but for us, it is these deliberate, caring details that matter the most.”

Nellie and Chris Mundhenk echo the Rogers’ sentiments on the mid-century design in general and the appeal of Hallett’s eye for architecture specifically.  Their home, also built in 1962, was purchased in April of 2014.  “It feels like a piece of art, looking at how well the lighting and the windows work and come together,” the Mundhenks said.