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423 houses, 97 architects,
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Triangle Modernist Houses An Educational Resource and Archive for Modernist Residential Design
Modernist Mini-Tour May
17
Join us Saturday, May 17, and walk through three of Durham's really cool houses, including classics by Brian Shawcroft and Robert "Judge" Carr and the brand new "Three Pavilions" by Bill Waddell. Advance tickets available until 6pm Friday May 16. Day of event tickets $11.
We expect the Mini-Tour to sell out in advance. Proceeds benefit TMH's continuing archival and cataloguing work, now one of the largest residential modernist online collections in America.
Just added: George
Matsumoto's Poland House - FREE Admission!
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The Houses and The Architects Enjoy browsing! Please note that all these homes are private property and closed to the public -- so don't go tromping around uninvited. Here's a Google Map to most of the houses listed below. Classic Triangle Modernists: Current Triangle Modernists:
Outside the Triangle:
Modernist design has its fans. And then there are
others who are not.
Here is one local description of modernism: "...the post-World War II socialist Bauhaus school of
design imported to the US by German Marxists and rapturously
embraced by architects and design schools in the 1950s and 60s." --
Bernie Reeves, son of an architect (Ralph Reeves) Editor of Raleigh's
Metro Magazine, 2003.
Other Modernist House
websites:
Mile High Modern
(Denver) TMH is a member of the:
The Recent Past
Preservation Network |
Welcome! TMH is dedicated to cataloguing and preserving the memory of Triangle modernist homes to prevent or delay a few from the wrecking ball. Use the Search TMH box above to find your favorite street, architect, or location -- or browse the lists to the left. Does the Triangle have a lot of modernist houses? Relatively speaking, yes. We have more than just about anywhere in the country with the exception of LA, New Canaan CT, and Chicago. Since the early 1950’s, largely because of prolific architects at the then-new NCSU School of Design, the Triangle has been a modernist hotbed. Modernist design is characterized by features such as combining traditionally separate common areas, large and numerous windows, long exposed beams, extensive use of natural light, and aesthetic geometric forms. This style is rare in comparison to the rest of the housing market. How many are there? My entirely unscientific estimate is about 1/4 of 1%. Even that may be high. Are modernist houses endangered? Yes, especially those built in the 1950's. For example, see the sad fate of the Catalano house. These wonderful structures are being torn down in record numbers as more “McMansions” are constructed on the valuable land. It is a tremendous artistic tragedy. The good news is there are also a sizable number of modernist fans who could be buying these houses. Previously to TMH, they didn't know where there houses were. Who lives in them? Modernist homes are generally more works of art than construction, and the general public has little taste for living inside art. However, artists, academics, architects, and children of architects typically love to live inside art. This last group, like me, perhaps gets it genetically. Why aren't modernist houses more popular? Modernist houses truly rock, if you are into this kind of thing ... which I have learned, sadly, that most people aren't. The staggering failure of modernist design to catch on with homebuyers is disappointing for its few but loyal admirers. The general public tends to think modernist homes are cool but consistently buys more traditional designs. Except in rare cases, like Arapahoe Acres or Glenbrook Valley, unconventional houses are considered slightly treasonous anomalies to the conservative homeowners association mindset. What is "brilliant" to an architecturally inclined person is often unsettling to the neighbors. Maintenance can be a problem, too. The bolder the design, the more likely a house will have water or structural damage over time. The good news is that materials science has finally caught up with design, so most new modernist homes don't have these problems. And, like other works of art, they tend to be expensive. What can you do to help?
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Get
Factoid: There are
approximately 115,000 licensed architects in the US. Of these there
are 2160 in NC and 77% are members of AIANC. Source:
AIANC.
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