Greetings all,
I'm an editor penning captions for a book on mid-century architecture and seek to identify this console in a home, the Van Sicklen house, from 1952. Critically, the architect was known for designing built-in furniture and cabinetry that meshed seamlessly with the room and did not call attention to itself. Therefore, although to my knowledge, many console units from this era were encased in cabinets like this, I believe—and need to confirm—if this unit has been modified to exist within custom cabinetry. I must learn:
1. The specific make and model (I believe I see "PHILCO" on the tone arm when zoomed way in)
2. Is all of the original cabinet not visible and this is entirely a custom built-in; or, has surrounding word work been made to match and blend with the unit, but it's the unit's wood work/cabinet that we see on the outside?
3. Year
4. I believe this is on the cusp of the Hi-Fi era, so can the unit be referred to as a "Hi-Fi console"?
5. Stereo yet? Separate woofer and tweeter yet?
Welcome to the Phorum, Davino! Not much to go on from the above pictures. Would it be possible to take a photo or two of the inner workings? Include any labels you might see. Take care and BE HEALTHY! Gary
"Don't pity the dead, pity the living, above all, those living without love."
Professor Albus Dumbledore
Gary - Westland Michigan
Thanks for the welcome, Gary. There exists only one photo of the unit in the Richard Neutra-designed home. The photo (the close-ups are screenshots, zoomed in) is from the Julius Shulman archive at the Getty. Shulman is arguably history's most renown architectural photographer of the period. We have no way of gaining further info on the console outside the one historical photograph, unfortunately.
Do you see the PHILCO logo on the tonearm? Does the metal faceplate to the console look familiar to you or anyone? Would this be accurately described as a "Hi-Fi," albeit early, or is it too early for that?
With the cabinet being custom it makes it harder to be certain about the radio and phono model numbers but it sure looks to me to be a 1940 vintage radio/phono. The radio dial bezel and as much of the phonograph that is visible seem to match up to a 1940 model 40-508P. See the gallery photos we have on it in the following link: https://philcoradio.com/gallery2/1940a/#Model_40-508P That bezel style was used in some 1939 and 1940 models but the 1939 models had a white dial face and 1940 a dark face similar to what your photo looks like.
Assuming it the 40-508P it would not be stereo as it only has one speaker and while it was probably a very good, high end radio for the time I'm not sure it would hi-fi but then this might be somewhat of a subjective classification, others might disagree.
It also looks to me as though the radio and phonograph chassis have been taken completely out of the original cabinet and put into the custom cabinet.
Tremendous info Bob, thank you for the response. Knowing that the architect and, not surprisingly, most of his clients were obsessed with modernism and always after the most up-to-date designs and accoutrements, I do find it surprising that this 1952 home was a decade-plus out of date with this unit/system install, but they did achieve their aesthetic goals in the new, custom housing/cabinetry, which is so sleek and clean, and unornamented.
The tone arm says "PHILCO" in all caps—I can't tell from the 1940 specifications sheet and diagram (and it is so cool that the "phorum" has all of this), but I can say that the specific font used for the logo, from what I can see of it on the tone arm, does not immediately call out early 1940s to my eye, even if so much else could. The grill cloth is clearly a replacement, and not a match, but this would have been redone in the new cabinetry, and I do agree that this must have been a complete rebuild. As the caption will be so short on space, I'd hoped to use the shorthand "Hi-Fi" or "Hi-Fi console" but if this is a 1940 unit and mono, it's seems to me definitively not a hifi unit, but as you say, definitions will vary among those versed in these things.
So if you have further thoughts, or anyone else does, please don't hesitate. But I'm delighted the phorum took a look at this info and inquiry, and returned so much already. As a side note, as a former audio guy, the vibe to the sound to these units, hifi or not, is something all it's own and connects us to another time and place in a visceral sense. My family resided on base at joint base Hickam Field/Peral Harbor and was nearly lost in the attack on December 7, 1941, of which today is the anniversary. Radios of this time filled everyone in shortly after, warm glowing tubes and all. Here's grandpa, a surgeon and commanding officer of the hospital adjacent Pearl Harbor on that day, recounting details as they triaged casualties, and other related stories.
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