Blast from the Past

Linas Alsenas -- Interior Design, 8/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

The result of a two-year effort, Three Centuries of American Interiors at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont comprises six structures that allow visitors to move chronologically from Vermont's frontier days into the 21st century. Three of the structures are new, and three are "re-interpreted" 19th-century historical buildings. Highlights include a two-room log house, a reproduced 19th-century tavern area and bar, and a 1950s house complete with Spam cans in the cupboards. The exhibit culminates at The Collector's House: Response to the New Century, a new metal-and-glass industrial structure with interiors designed by Albert Hadley. As the imagined home of a 21st-century folk art collector, The Collector's House (shown above) creates an intriguing juxtaposition of contemporary design and 19th-century folk art. Three Centuries, through Oct. 14; The Collector's House, through Oct. 2003. Shelburne Museum, US Route 7; (802) 985-3346