Classics

Built with a steel frame, the Frost House features panels of styrofoam between aluminum sheets for the exterior walls and styrofoam between plywood for the roof and floors. Bold, primary colors accentuate its geometric form. Shortly after Karen Valentine and Bob Coscarelli purchased the home in 2016, they began to unearth nuggets of information about its pedigree. Their realtor had provided a brochure that identified the prefab as designed by architect Emil Tessin for the now-defunct Alside Homes Corporation based out of Akron, Ohio, which had held a patent for the structure’s aluminum paneling. Their new neighbors provided a stack of Alside Homes sales materials, floor plans of various models, and even a script that had been written for salespeople during home tours. They determined that the Frost House had been a sales model for the company, and that Tessin had been the son of Emil Albert Tessin, the legal guardian of Florence Knoll.

Located on New York’s Fire Island, the 1,425-square-foot Lambert House features an open floor plan that embraces ocean views.

The courtyard divides the "bi-nuclear" house into adult areas and children's areas, including a playroom.

Designed by American architect and Frank Lloyd Wright protégé John Lautner, the Elrod House was built in 1968 for interior designer Arthur Elrod. The house is set on a craggy ridge in Palm Springs that affords it panoramic views of the San Jacinto Mountains. In fact, the ridge is actually incorporated into the home, with giant boulders kept in their original place and acting as walls and room dividers within the house, bringing nature inside.

At age 34, Phillip M. Isaacson commissioned architect F.Frederick Bruck to design a home for him and his wife. That was 1959. Five decades later, he still lives in his ideal home--and very little has changed.