Frigidaire Control Tower Question:

[danemodsandy]

I'm doing a magazine story on Frigidaire's Sheer Look appliances, and I just got curious about something.

Has anyone ever seen a 1957 Control Tower machine- either washer or dryer- in Charcoal Gray? In person, in an ad, in good shape, in an appliance graveyard, I don't care, so long as someone has actually seen one. Obviously, a photo would be nice to see, but I'll take someone's word that they've seen it, LOL.

It's just curiosity, nothing more, but it does seem to me that a Control Tower machine in that colour would have been the most elegant-looking laundry appliance ever.

 

[laundromat]

I owned a 1958 Custom Imperial 3 Ring Agitator washer and Imperial bottom mount freezer refrigerator that I got from my friends in Baltimore back in 1976.I have never seen the "Control Tower" in charcoal gray.The folks who gave me those pieces had the washer,dryer and refrigerator.They had a KitchenAid Superba dishwasher and a gas Suburban?cooktop and wall oven.They replaced he washer with a Maytag and the refrigerator was replaced with an Amana 25.

 

[swestoyz]

IIRC - the parts books list charcoal replacement panels starting for the 1956 Frigidaire Imperial washers - as well as the 57 Control Tower Imperial washer and dryers.

I would take a stab that it wasn't too popular - but would be very cool to find either a 56 or a 57 in charcoal.

Ben

 

[danemodsandy]

Ben:

Hey, that's a real help- if replacement panels were catalogued, then that could point to some actual production. Something most people don't realise is that while a company might be set up to offer an option, there are some that don't ever get ordered. Charcoal Gray was a very sophisticated colour for 1957, much too much so for most people's taste at the time. Pastels like Turquoise and Yellow were more most people's speed.

I could see Charcoal Gray being specified for a very high-end, architect-designed Modernist house, like those of Pierre Koenig or maybe Cliff May. But it would probably have taken an architect's vision to convince most people in that era that Charcoal Gray was the way to go. I can't see anyone in small-town America at that time running down to Humdinger Appliances, going nuts over the colour, and placing an order.

The more I delve into the development and design behind the Sheer Look, the more admiration I gain for Frigidaire's team. The Sheer Look was largely a repackaging of existing technology, keeping tried-and-true innards while making the outside of appliances look much more up-to-date. Looking at a 1957 Sheer Look refrigerator, you almost forget that it's not frost-free, and that it still does not have a separate freezer compartment door. It's that spiffy.

The only Sheer Look feature I don't care for is the pink liner on reefers. Liners always yellow to some extent (depends on the housekeeping), and pink really looks nasty when it yellows. A well-kept one could still look okay, I suppose.

 

[danemodsandy]

Hey, Wait a Minute!

Ben:

You're saying Charcoal Gray was offered in 1956???

That's a new one on me! I thought it was a 1957 intro.

 

[pulsator]

Perhaps this is what you're looking for?

 

[danemodsandy]

Holy Grits!

Jamie:

That is exactly the kind of confirmation I had hoped to find. God love ya!

It's a little strange to see such minimalist elegance in the middle of that busy set Formica built around them, I must say. At least they used a lot of grey. This means that there was some actual production, not just a listing in product ads and brochures. So, the machines- like the truth- are Out There. Maybe sitting in a basement, maybe in an appliance graveyard, but hopefully they haven't all vanished from the face of the Earth.

By the way, how does it feel to be eighteen? I remember that birthday myself; it was a real milestone, almost as important as turning twenty-one. It was a few years ago, you understand! ;-) I'd give a lot to be looking at life from your vantage point again. Enjoy it.

 

[laundromat]

The Kaceys(folks up the street from us who gave me the "58 washer and frig in charcoal gray)had originaly built a home in the valley ("Dulaney Valley"just outside of Towson,MD.in Baltimore County)in 1956 and had the entire set of 1957 FRIGIDAIRE appliances in that home's kitchen in charcoal gray.They said that hey ordered them from Smith's Appliances in "The Valley" and sold that house to a fellow teacher of Mr.Kacey's.They got their house up he street from ours customised and added a garage and enclosed back porch wher their washer and dryer were located.Mrs.Kacey's sisters all had KitchenAid dishwashers and Dorothy(Mrs.Kacey)was not too thrilled about the FRIGIDAIRE Custom Imperial model she had in "The Valley"So,when they had the new home built,The dishwasher became a KitchenAid in Stainless steel along with a Suburban gas wall oven and matching cooktop.So,at their new house,insead of all FRIGIDAIRECusom Imperial appliances in charcoal gray,the only ones there in that color were the frig,washer and dryer.Everyhing else was stainless steel.The kitchen had chrome wall squares and a black linolium tile floor with speckels in it.I would love to have gotten that house afer they past on!

 

[ptcruiser51]

My sister turned 50 last year; I gave her a Life magazine published around the date of her birth (found it in a junk store). I know it had a 2-page spread featuring the entire Frigidaire line "introducing new Charcoal finish", with several models voguing the "sheer look". She turned the house upside down, can't find it. I know I saw it, anyway!

 

[danemodsandy]

ptcruiser51:

If that spread ever turns up, I'd love to see it. Do you know what issue it was in (month, week, year?). I could always search for a copy of my own; Life issues are not usually that HTF.

Thanks for the heads-up!

 

[jetcone]

Well

I think Greg had the 1958 Stove in Charcoal gray , I cooked a chicken in it --WHICH everyone loved BTW!-- not the stove the chicken !!!!

It really looked like charcoal briquets!

Looking at those ADs

WHAT HAS HAPPEND WITH AMERICAN DESIGN??

Everything today has slid from the oh so friendly "ergonomics" of the 80's into machines that look like they were all squeezed out of a tube like big globs of butter!
GIVE ME A SHARP EDGE ANY DAY !!! S Q U A R E !

 

[danemodsandy]

I Have to Say...

...I wouldn't mind a set of major appliances that were 1957 Sheer Look units in Charcoal Gray, including a 40" range and a TOL laundry pair.

Oy Gott. Another set of dream appliances.

There's the 1960s set in Turquoise (G.E. bottom-freezer reefer, 40" G.E. P*7 range, KitchenAid KDS-15 dishwasher, and Maytag 906s for laundry).

There's the late-'40s-early 1950s set (1949 G.E. 40-inch range, same year top-freezer reefer, KitchenAid KD-10 dishwasher, and a Kenmore laundry pair like Northwesty's).

And now I'm getting the hots for Frigidaire. You folks are a very bad influence on me, LOL.

 

[gansky1]

More bad influence:

Come get your KDS-15, it's waiting for you here! You'll have to paint it turquoise, but I have the paint for your too ;-)

 

[danemodsandy]

Greg:

That actually could become doable, so be careful, LOL!

You see, I'm planning to move to the Midwest at some point in the near future, and the Shenandoah, IA area looks good to me. It's much too small-town/rural and quiet for most folks, but those are exactly the qualities I'm looking for.

No final decision yet, but that general area is probably where I'm headed. It's hardly right around the corner from you, but way closer than Georgia!

 

[goblue]

hey are those black towers. thats nice. always wanted to get black set either by natural or strip and paint one. hmmm wonder what a 57 black lady kenmore set would look like in my basement

 

[swestoyz]

I do apologize Sandy - as I couldn't not find my Tech Talk books from late 56 through 58 anywhere - but was able to find this nugget in the July 1956 Tech Talk in regards to the 1956 machines. This should hopefully satisfy your craving - as the same colors were available in '57 as well:

Ben

 

[danemodsandy]

Hey, Thanks!

Ben:

That's about as much confirmation as there could possibly be, combined with Pulsator's photo. I really appreciate it. I have to say that I'm having a hard time picturing the '56 models in Charcoal Gray; it just doesn't seem like an appropriate colour for that Loewy-generation styling.

 

[ptcruiser51]

The Life magazine was from September, 1957. It may have been LOOK, but I'm pretty sure it was Life. I know it was a weekly.
We moved into our new house in suburbia in 1959, all the kitchens were equipped with Frigidaire electric cooktops and wall ovens. Choices were pink, turquoise, or yellow, but I know at least one family in the development had the charcoal.