While not midcentury modern in style, the sprawling home foreshadows Eames?s future work Charles Eames is best known for the molded plywood chairs that became a mainstay of midcentury modern design. But one of his earliest projects was this six-bedroom, six-bath home in Huntleigh, Missouri. Called the Meyer House after its original owners, the sprawling 7,270-square-foot structure was designed by Eames in 1937 in partnership with Robert T. Walsh, and it?s now on the market for the first time in over 55 years.

The brick building features an array of large windows that provide views on to the five-acre property. Art deco details abound, including a sundial on the front of the house, door medallions, and a dramatic staircase in the foyer. Eames and Walsh made custom furnishings for the home, and there is also abundant decorative glass, murals, and site-specific artworks. The home?s imposing brick hides interesting curving rooms, like the circular library that opens off a landing in the main stairwell and the formal dining room?s regal curving walls. But while much of the home doesn?t look like the style for which Eames would later become famous, features do foreshadow his later work.
According to the Eames Office, the rounded custom-made aluminum railings point to his later furniture, ceiling sconces lined with Japanese rice paper show how Eames was playing with light, and narrative bricks built into the house point to the designer?s whimsy.
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