Pyrex and Pink Daisies
Midcentury cookware is fab again, for the nostalgia and the profits
If you want to freshen up your kitchen, look no further than Grandma’s old casserole dishes.
Vintage kitchenware is back in style — pieces from the mid-20th century painted with flowers, bright colors and specific functions, such as bracketed chip and dip bowls or fourpiece refrigerator storage sets.
“I’ve always been an old soul and loved anything old,” said Megan Telfer, a collector of vintage dishes, salt and pepper shakers, cookie jars and “a little bit of everything.” The 26-yearold parole officer from the Dallas area said her hobby started with family.
Her grandmother gave her mother a green and white Pyrex “Spring Blossom” mixing bowl. “That’s when my interest was piqued,” Telfer said.
Three years later, she has more than 300 pieces of vintage Pyrex, displayed on three large bookcases. Her 5-year-old daughter has some vintage Pyrex, too.
“We don’t use 90% of it,” Telfer said. “I display it.”
Some collectors buy vintage dishware to try to resell it at a profit, while others are in it for nostalgia.
“It reminds them of their mothers, aunts, grandmothers,” said Hope Chudy, owner of Downstairs at Felton Antiques in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Ayear of pandemic lockdowns has led to a surge in home cooking and time spent hanging out in the kitchen. Vintage cookware fits right into that homey, old-fashioned vibe.
There are lustrous chili bowls with handles, and casserole dishes set on top of brass candle warmers. These are durable dishes, often smaller than modern serving pieces, that can go from freezer to oven to table. But collectors usually acquire them for enjoyment, not utility.
“It really sets your kitchen apart from others,” said Victoria Aude, an interior designer in Canton, Massachusetts. “It’s not an item you can just buy off the shelf at Bloomingdale’s.”
The old dishes are also nice accents when decorating a room, said Atlantabased interior designer Beth Halpern Brown. “They can add that quick pop of color,” she said. “You can decorate a wall with them, or put one on display and change the space.”
Corning first released a Pyrex dish in 1915. By the 1930s, Anchor Hocking Glass Corp. released its competitor brand FireKing. But it’s the kitchenware made between 1950 and 1980 that seem to be most popular right now.
Jo Adinolfi, a 62-yearold nurse from Shelton, Connecticut, collects Pyrex mixing bowls and stackable refrigerator sets, what collectors affectionately call “fridgies.” She started collecting and selling about 10 years ago and owns more than 2,000 pieces.
The mid-20th century glass bowls and casserole dishes from brands like Fire-King and Pyrex haven’t changed, but their prices have.
“The more people that collect, the higher the demand is, the more people are trying to source the right goods to be able to feed that request,” said Stan Savellis, 42, of Sydney, Australia, who has collected vintage kitchenware since his teenage years and runs the online store That Retro Piece.
Television and social media have also generated interest. Series like “WandaVision,” “Firefly Lane,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “MadMen“all highlight midcentury kitchens and kitchenware.
And then there’s social media, too, said Vicki Matranga, the design programs coordinator for the International Housewares Association and author of the book “America at Home: ACelebration of Twentieth-Century Housewares.”
“With everyone at home now, you can look at collections on Facebook or Instagram,” she said.
In pre-pandemic days, vintage collectors would meet up at swaps. Now, people are buying and selling on eBay, Etsy, Facebook and other websites.
The rarest pieces have sold for thousands of dollars, such as the 1959
“Lucky in Love” covered casserole dish that Goodwill sold for $5,994 in 2017.
Still, some enthusiasts simply like the vintage look and sentimentality.
“It goes with my house,” said Ashley Linder, 37, of Lake Jackson, Texas.
Linder’s vintage collection includes can openers from the 1950s, and they still work. “Fortunately, I have the space to display most of it, though some are seasonal use,” she said.
One of her most treasured finds was a Pyrex “Pink Daisy 045” casserole dish on eBay. It was in great condition, still in the box.
“You don’t come across a lot of pink pieces in the box,” she said.
She paid $300 for it and messaged the seller in hopes of finding out how it was so well preserved. “The lady had bought an old farmhouse in Nebraska, and it was left there,” she said. “It’s an investment.”
Asked for his initial impressions of what was then a rundown house on a large wooded lot in Weston, a Fairfield County town an hour from Manhattan, architect John Fry said, “This was a unique rusty gem, sitting in the forest. There was value here…and a story.”
The house was certainly unique, for its setting, design, craftsmanship, and history.
And it remains unique, thanks to a complete restoration, including significant upgrades and additions, overseen by Fry’s architectural firm, Nexus Creative Design of Tarrytown, New York.
Yet “unique” fails to convey the charm and character of this dramatically rebuilt and expanded home. Nor, does it reflect the effort that was required to make it what it is today.
“The house was stripped to the studs,” said Rosa Careccia, the real estate agent handling the sale, “and then completely rebuilt and expanded.” An adjacent cottage, included
The initial impression when entering during the day is of space and light. The entry hall, accessed by a new front entrance, is open to a formal dining room to the left and a comfortable living room to the right. The focal point of the living room, which features a vaulted ceiling and built-in bookcases, is an original stone fireplace with a simple quartersawn log for a mantle.
Large windows throughout this area offer views of the woods, deck, an in-ground swimming pool, and a koi pond. Vaulted ceilings and exposed beams in several of the rooms add to the visual appeal.
To the rear is new living space that abuts a stone wall, chimney, and windows that were part of the original home. “In this new grand room, we exposed a piece of the old cottage,”
Fry said. It is a charming, eye-catching, and unique testimonial to what was, while opening up a new, large space ideally suited for daily life and entertaining.
This new area holds a large chef’s kitchen that is open to the living room, with yet another of the five fireplaces in the home and cottage. The kitchen area is large, with ample counters and an island that ensures multiple cooks can work in harmony. This area will undoubtedly be the center of activity when entertaining. During the day, it is drenched in light thanks to more large windows that afford views of the woods.
Adding this kitchen and great room required removal of a “tiny linkage that had been cobbled together over 50 years,” Fry said. In its place, Fry added a “large element,” which also upgraded the structure leading to an existing bedroom at the rear while creating space for additional bedrooms, including a new master suite. This connection now holds a large pantry, a laundry room, and stairs to the garage below and the master suite above. There is even space for an elevator, if the owner wishes to add this convenience.
The master suite is spacious and comes with large windows, beautiful views, and a large walk-in closet. Its bath has a soaking tub, large shower, a heated floor, and a dual sink vanity. The additional bedrooms are also spacious and airy.
The lower level features additional living and storage areas, access to the pool, as well as the home’s mechanical equipment. Among these items is a fire suppression system with a separate water supply. At the rear, is a three-car garage.
The 1,100 square-foot cottage is another feature that makes this property unique. “Even before the pandemic, we started with the idea that we needed to create an intergenerational house that would support extended families, boomerang children, and in-law scenarios. The house itself supports this, but certainly the cottage adds to this capability,” Fry said.
The cottage could be lived in or make an exceptional office. There is a kitchenette, a second first-floor room, half bath, and stairs to what could be a second floor bedroom and full bath. “There are no other single family residences that we’re aware of in Weston that have a legal separate dwelling cottage,” Fry said
As for the story surrounding this property mentioned by Fry, it centers on the home’s first owner, Morton Schindel, an educator who specialized in children’s books and animated movies during the last half of the 20th century. His work was featured in network television children’s programing and one production, Doctor DeSoto, was nominated for an Academy Award. His goal,
“to create audiovisual adaptations that are faithful reflections of the books themselves,” prompted him to found Weston Woods Studios on this property and work with many writers of children’s literature, including Maurice Sendak.
“Apparently Sendak was here a lot, and they produced animated versions of his books in a studio in the original house,“Fry said. He then noted that the adjacent cottage at one time housed up to six people working on Schindel’s projects.