Best of Boston

2009 Best Furniture, Specialty

Machine Age

In the urban tundra between the Seaport District and South Boston sits an inconspicuous-looking 9,000-square-foot warehouse. Within it you’ll find a candyland for modern-design addicts, a place where George Nelson, Hans Wegner, and Florence Knoll repose in sculptural armchairs and austere chaises. A favorite stop for interior decorators and movie stylists, Machine Age takes midcentury furnishings from around the world—dining sets, sofas, storage systems, lamps—and restores them to perfection, and also frequently updates pieces with new but always appropriate upholstery. Like so much of what it purveys, this place is a genuinely rare find.

645 Summer St., Boston, 617-464-0099, machine-age.com