The house on Irving Street was bought in 1961, the year Mastering the Art of French Cooking was published. Paul Child designed the kitchen around his wife's height — counters at 38 inches, several inches above standard.
He covered the walls in pegboard and drew the silhouette of every pot and pan in marker so anything borrowed had an obvious home. Three television series were later filmed in that room.
In 2001 the entire kitchen — cabinets, pegboard, appliances, 1,200 objects — was crated and reassembled in the Smithsonian. The house itself remains a private home in a quiet Cambridge block.
Memories attached to this place
“The counters were built tall for her. Everyone who cooked in there afterward complained.”
“She'd come out to the sidewalk in an apron with something on a fork for the neighbors.”
“Paul drew every outline himself. It was a love letter written in Sharpie.”
Timeline
- 1961The Childs buy the Irving Street house.
- 1963The French Chef begins; the home kitchen becomes a set.
- 1990sTwo further series filmed in the same room.
- 2001Kitchen removed intact to the Smithsonian.
The best kitchen in America was custom-built for one body, and it shows.
