Need Help Identifying Appliances/Electronics: Late 1950s

[frigilux]

My dad built this little house (it was a house when we lived there, LOL) and the family moved into it in 1952 when my sister was in kindergarten. It's located in Watertown, SD on Hwy. 81, just off the downtown business area. I was born in '59 and we lived there until about April of 1965. It had a yard, flowers and a white picket fence to keep me from wandering onto the highway.

Sometime between 1957-1960 (depending on whose memory you trust the most) dad finished the basement and moved the kitchen and dining area down there.

Any help with identifying the make and year of these appliances and electronics will be greatly appreciated.

Photo 1: The house my dad built. All the other houses on the block were torn down and replaced with businesses. For whatever reason, our house remained and was converted to a business.

Photo 2: Wall oven--is it a Westinghouse? Any idea of the year? My sister, shown with me here, thinks the kitchen wasn't moved downstairs 'til 1960. I think it was moved before I was born in January of '59--maybe '57 or '58. Refrigerator: Brand? Year?

Photo 3: The Westinghouse roll-out built-in dishwasher is behind my dad in this photo. Can anyone ID the electric cooktop and range hood? If the oven in Photo 2 is a Westinghouse, then I would imagine the cooktop is also a Westy.

Photo 4: This is the living room. Can anyone ID the television? (Photo is my paternal grandfather, me, and our dog Tippy, who guarded me like a soldier on duty. I was her human, no two ways about it.)

Photo 5: This is our Magnavox stereo. Haven't found a photo of the inside, but my sister thinks we got it around 1957-58. I was obsessed with playing records and loved watching the unique record-changing system.

Photo 6: The clock on the wall. Any ideas? This is the dining area downstairs. We are all facing the kitchen. It was a big open space with a countertop separating the kitchen from the dining area, which is seen in Photo 2. I'm in the high chair, my sister Maria right behind me. Dad and Mom are standing behind my paternal grandfather. The woman on the right and her daughter on the left were close family friends. I think her husband is taking the photo.

Photo 7: Just found this photo; shows a better view of the apparently built-in refrigerator.

So far no photos of the basement utility room with a mid-50s Kenmore wringer washer and, of course, the 1960 Kenmore Model 80 pair I grew up with.

Thanks for any help you can provide with identification![this post was last edited: 10/10/2019-18:07]

 

[ea56]

First of all, these are great family photos Eugene, thanks for sharing them. It’s clear that you were a happy and well loved little boy. The wall oven sure looks like a Westinghouse to me, probably 57’ or 58’ models. Sorry, but there aren’t enough identifying factors visible for me to tell what brands the refrigerator and TV, but making a guess I would say the fridge is also a Westinghouse probably a 59’, simply because the lettering on the freezer door has so many letters and my guess for the TV is an RCA. Logic would follow that if the wall oven is a Westinghouse the cooktop is also probably a Westy too. Both my Aunt Imogene and my Mom had Westy wall ovens and cooktop, and they were excellent.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 10/10/2019-17:59]

 

[maytagbear]

I agree

with Eddie about the TV, but am more certain. My maternal Grandparents had a very similar TV, but in the blonde wood popular in the 1950s.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[combo52]

Cool Pictures Eugene

The ref is differently a WH as the wall oven, it is the 24" wall oven, not quite sure what the TV is, Justin in Arizona would know.

 

John L.

 

[norgeway]

The wall oven is

Defunately a 24 inch Westinghouse I think 58 to 60 In 61 they started using square clocks.

 

[ea56]

The reason I’m pretty sure the TV is an RCA is because in the mid 50’s they put the controls on the right side of the cabinets, while most other brands put the controls on the front of the sets. Also, the way the glass is covering the picture tube and the frame around the PT is just like the 56’ RCA console that we had.

Eddie

 

[wayupnorth]

We had a similar b&w tv as a kid that was an RCA with all the controls on the right side until the picture tube finally went dark. We got a Zenith Color tv and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven to see the NBC peacock in color.

 

[sarahperdue]

Great pictures!

I don't have anything to add to the possible manufacturers and dates, but your pictures are gorgeous! I want the family room curtains, please!

Your pictures are a wonderful time capsule. Thank you very much for sharing.

Sarah

 

[paulg]

TV brand / interesting twist

I actually think that TV is a HOTPOINT.
And as we all know Hotpoint marketed TVs for a short time in the late fifties. They did make console models.
Look at the badge at the bottom of the TV screen and compare to the badge of my range. You decide.

 

[blackstone]

TV

I agree with Paul about the Hotpoint TV. The logo was the first thing that I zoomed into. I will have to check some of my old advertising that I saved from our store. I must have something that would add to the mystery.

 

[appliguy]

You can be SURE that TV is an RCA VICTOR!!!!

Hotpoint TV's were merely GE TV's with the Hotpoint name on them and GE Consoles had their Controls on the front as the ad in the link will prove. PATRICK COFFEY

https://www.etsy.com/listing/555050984/1957-hotpoint-television-sets-vintage-ad?show_sold_out_detail=1&frs=1

 

[paulg]

Nope

Do a little more research. Hotpoint TVs were marketed with side / top controls as well.
Also, virtually EVERY manufacturer in the 1950s copied the knobless-front styling. It was not an RCA-Victor exclusive.
I did peruse Hotpoint TV ads and did find a TV remarkably similar to the one shown. It is true though that Hotpoint TVs were manufactured by General Electric.

 

[paulg]

Nope

Do a little more research. Hotpoint TVs were marketed with side / top controls as well.
Also, virtually EVERY manufacturer in the 1950s copied the knobless-front styling. It was not an RCA-Victor exclusive.
I did peruse Hotpoint TV ads and did find a TV remarkably similar to the one shown. It is true though that Hotpoint TVs were manufactured by General Electric.

 

[frigilux]

Thanks for your comments, input and help with identification, everyone! The photos definitely weren’t taken to focus on the appliances and electronics which made identification challenging. I’m still looking through envelopes of random old photos to see if I can find one showing the dishwasher and better shots of the cooktop/exhaust hood.

The holy grail will be a photo of the utility room (which doubled as my play room) with shots of the 1960 Kenmore pair and the Kenmore wringer washer.

The stand mixer is covered, but as I recall it may have been branded Montgomery Ward. Saw a photo of a Dormeyer in one of Louis’s threads of appliance ads and it looked just like our mixer. I think the coffeemaker—again, barely visible—was a GE.

My dad, who changed jobs frequently, worked for Montgomery Ward for awhile. There’s a smallish plastic cabinet TV on a cart in the dining area, which I think was MW-branded.

Note: I didn’t realize there were TVs branded Hotpoint!

Sarah: The living room drapes are wild, aren’t they? Very heavy, thick fabric. My mom eventually made some throws for the couch out of them.

Aside: You wouldn’t believe how many photos the dog (Tippy) is in—especially if I’m in it. Just noticed she’s peeking out from under the dining table near me in Photo #6. That dog followed me everywhere in the house and outside as well. If I hopped on my trike to cruise around the block, she’d trot along right beside me. She’d get uncomfortable if anyone but my mom, dad or sister was holding me. You can see it in Photo 4 where my grandfather is holding me. She was my personal body guard.[this post was last edited: 10/12/2019-23:33]

 

[frigilux]

Three cheers for YouTubers! Here's the exact Collaro record changer found in the Magnavox in Photo #5 above. It's a 1958! Spent countless hours playing records on ours when I was a tyke. I found the changer fascinating. The way it sensed the size of the record was amazingly accurate and it had the most trouble-free adaptor for 45s that I've ever used. I played 45-rpm singles a lot because my sister's boyfriend worked at a radio station in Watertown, SD. KSDR, I believe it was. She or Wayne brought a big stack of singles to me every week. It was awesome! They went to college when I went into 1st grade, so the gravy train of vinyl ended at that point.

Photo #1: A better shot of the cooktop and exhaust hood. You can see the controls for the cooktop on the left side of it. There's a bit of what I'm assuming is the dishwasher right under my mom's elbow. Doesn't look like a Westy pullout, though, does it? Maybe I've been wrong about the DW this whole time. I do know that they had problems with me starting it up all the time. No child-lock controls back then.

Photo #2: I'm pretty sure this is a Montgomery Ward Airline TV on a cart, but maybe you TV enthusiasts can make a positive ID. I do recall the set met its demise when I was trying to push the cart to another room. The TV fell off and that was the end of that.
post was last edited: 10/13/2019-00:50]

 

[gansky1]

Great pics, what a beautiful home.  That was a time of great change in the way people lived, a large and open kitchen with lots of storage and workspaces would have seemed like living in a dreamworld.

 

Love the doggo in the high chair, the cleaning duty any dog would love. 

 

[oliger]

As already stated, the television is an RCA. Most likely a 1956 or 1957 model. No later than 1959.

 

[oliger]

Here is a link to a television of the same era with the RCA logo.
http://www.tvhistory.tv/1958-RCA-21D8525.JPG

As you can see, your television is of the same brand, but not the same model.

 

[frigilux]

I do remember an RCA dealership in Watertown, because one day my dad and I went shopping and brought home one of these nifty RCA 45-only record changers for me--to save wear and tear on the Magnavox.

The little RCA was semi-automatic. It would change a stack of records, but it didn't know when to shut off. It would simply play the last record on the stack over and over until you turned it off manually.