So, you just LOVE the 1960s, huh? Are you looking for a house that’s got all that ‘60s charm? Like any other era, specific styles will vary, depending on the location. There are, however, a few features that were commonly found in homes of this era. Here’s what to expect:

Exterior Features in a 1960s-Built Home

• Emphasis on landscaping and working within the landscape/environment
• Post-Modern era styles in luxury homes
• Ranch houses
• Cape Cod style homes
• Split-level Mediterranean style homes
• Screened porches
• Patios
• Attached garages (for one or more cars)
• Single-pane windows
• Slab-on-grade foundations
• Roofs of low-slope and flat (gravel) construction, as well as gable and hip roofs
• Brick, wood and asbestos shingle siding

Interior Features in a 1960s Era Home

• Lathe and plaster walls
• Galvanized steel pipes for incoming water supply and cast iron drain pipe
• Circuit breakers (usually 100 amp) and grounded plugs
• At least two bedrooms (often three or four)
• Formica countertops in kitchens
• Forced air heating
• Lead paint/asbestos (tiles, pipe insulation, ceiling tiles)
• Cabinets made of Formica, walnut, oak, cherry
• Under-cabinet and hidden soft lighting
• Kitchen cabinet hardware using magnetic catches, nylon drawer rollers, and ball-bearing drawer glides
• Living rooms/family rooms outfitted with comfortable seating and used daily
• Bedrooms had closets
• Many homes had a dressing room and/or wardrobe space
• Bathrooms equipped with both a shower and a bathtub

Decorative Trends

• Nylon carpeting, and later shag rugs, were often found in living areas and bedrooms
• Vinyl-coated wallpaper was introduced
• Mod-pile fuzzy covers for the toilet tank, toilet seat, and bathroom scale, plus rugs beside the tub and in front of the toilet, and to cover a tissue box
• Pole lamps; adjustable pole shelving
• Pendant lamps/Lava Lamps
• Starburst clocks
• Danish modern furniture styles
• Papered walls
• Popular appliance and bathroom colors: white, Coppertone, turquoise, pink, and yellow – with Harvest Gold and Avocado coming on in the later years
• Bean bags and space pod seating
• Flowers/stripes/woven cane prints/busy patterns/bold black-and-white patterns/paisley prints

Design Features and Influences (Interiors)

• Colonial
• Venetian
• Provincial
• Riviera
• Mediterranean

1960s Appliances

• Modern kitchens:
  
  • Stove (four burners, often with a second oven overhead, and a broiler rack below the bottom oven)
  • Refrigerator (often side-by-side styles)
  • Dishwasher (portable and built-in models)
• Washer/dryer combos (matching sets)
• Black-and-white television in most living rooms, replaced by color at the end of the decade, plus “entertainment” center consoles, which included a phonograph player for 45-RPMs and LP vinyl records, and a television
• Stereos went hi-fi, and portable phonographs and television sets (black-and-white only) were introduced
• Electric skillet
• Upright vacuum cleaners

1960s homes were usually insulated, but not to current standards, and typically have single-pane windows. These homes had electrical plugs (but not enough for modern use) and phone jacks in most rooms.

Concerns for the modern buyer of a 1960s-built house include the electric service (if it hasn’t been upgraded), incoming steel water pipes/steel drain pipes (if they haven’t been replaced), and the use of lead-based paints and asbestos products.