Style: Atomic Ranch · Year Built: 1959 · 3Br / 2bA

A Place for Mid Mod Enthusiasts to Call Home

Newlyweds Jason and Molly Nunn hadn't taken more than a few steps inside their Springfield, Mo. atomic ranch home before they knew it was what they had been dreaming of.

"It sounds a little more superstitious than I really am, but I kept waiting for this special feeling in my gut that would tell me when we'd found the right house," said Molly. "When we set foot in this one, I took one look around, and I was just so full of that feeling.”

“We made an offer on the front lawn about five minutes later,” she laughed.

The Nunn family is already attached to a lot of the home's features, but they especially love that its circular layout supports a Frank Lloyd Wright ideology that entertaining spaces should be large, roomy, and easily accessible while private spaces should stay, well—private. The house's three bedrooms and two bathrooms lie behind a "core" wall made of brick while a spacious living area, kitchen, and dining area take up the front. One need only walk in a circle around the core to access any room in the house.

The "core" plays several roles of its own. It contains two working fireplaces—one facing the dining area and one facing the living area—as well as a large laundry and storage room, which also conveniently hides the heating, cooling, and water equipment.

Thanks to the house's shape, light flows in at angles that keeps the house cool and softly lit at all hours. The only source of direct sunlight for much of the time is a large skylight that floods the living area with brightness from dawn until dusk. Though the skylight is original and close to wearing out, the Nunns plan to replace it with a new, environmentally sound version within a few years.

For Jason and Molly, moving in to their favorite neighborhood was a dream come true after the better part of a year spent searching for the perfect time capsule house. "Everything about this era of design and architecture has always clicked with us, so we wanted something mostly left unaltered from the 50s or 60s," said Jason. "We kept looking at homes that had had most or all their original features removed and replaced with styles that didn't fit or make sense, which was kind of disillusioning. We weren't sure if we were going to find what we were looking for."

At long last, the Nunns found it.

The hexagonal (seven-sided) home still has most of its original features—like teak bathroom cabinets, a mosaic slate patio, and a starburst-knobbed front door—despite changing the hands of ten homeowners since 1959. To the Nunns’ disappointment, the original kitchen’s design has been lost to time and remodeling.

"We think the kitchen underwent a mystery renovation sometime in the 70s or 80s, so we don't know what it originally looked like," said Molly. "But we hope we can do a full remodel on it in the future that really calls back to what it might have looked like in 1957.”

Finding New Purposes for a Mysterious Nook

There's one other feature added by a previous owner that the Nunns weren't quite sure what to do with when they moved in. The middle bedroom contains a triangular-shaped addition that a previous owner added as a "secret" room, according to a well-informed neighbor. Lacking better ideas, the Nunns now use the odd hideaway as a home office.

"The doorway to the secret room was hidden by a haunted house-style pull-out bookcase," said Molly, laughing. "I don’t think we’re going to restore that part.”

Despite the secret room and kitchen, just about all of the rest of the house has been well maintained for 58 years. Each room offers hints of the architect's sensitivity to light, space, and uniquely designed details, like the stunningly pink marble shelves flanking the fireplace mantle.

Although there's extra work required to maintain and appropriately modernize a 1959 atomic ranch, the Nunns are more than up to the task and hope to let their love of mid century modern design lead the choices they make for the house the future.

"We feel genuinely kind of honored to own this house because we've never seen anything else like it," said Jason. "We're lucky to call it home.”