Bar Pocket Doors

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”

Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.

Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.

It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.

The name “dry bar” can be a bit of a misnomer. After all, the last thing you would want a bar to do is run dry. In this case, the “dry” descriptor in your antique or vintage dry bar doesn’t refer to a lack of drinks. Instead, it serves to differentiate dry-bar furniture from wet-bar installations. The latter is typically a permanent fixture in a home, requiring plumbing to support a built-in sink.

In short, a dry bar is a piece of furniture or tabletop area that you’ve built into your space for mixing cocktails and storing everything needed —bottles, barware and other accessories — for the intoxicating in-home bar you’ve designed.

Some dry bars were built with minimalism in mind. Those crafted by designers associated with mid-century modernism or Scandinvanian modern, for example, likely looked to these as practical furnishings to serve as a cabinet or case piece. But there have been decorative and even outwardly sculptural interpretations by Art Deco furniture makers and those working in the Hollywood Regency style over the years.

No matter what kind of antique, new or vintage dry bar fits your space, these versatile furnishings can definitely elevate your home bar area as well as your hosting. We’ll toast to that!

Find your dry bar as well as all the barware you need on 1stDibs.