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Special Edition Vol. 2 of 爱豆app鈥檚 2025 Annual Theme on 鈥淧laces of Worship鈥� focuses on the adaptive reuse of Modernist sacred places. As the issue鈥檚 guest editor, Partners for Sacred Places approaches the topic of adaptive reuse from a 鈥渂oth-and鈥� perspective.

At its height, the Norwegian Seamen鈥檚 Church consisted of 31 churches across the globe, serving as a home away from home for over 900,000 seafaring and expatriate Norwegians. Today, as Spyre Center, the building has found new life through adaptive reuse for a contemporary audience seeking a holistic health community rather than organized religion.听

Two Mid-Century Modernist chapels in New Orleans, the Episcopal Chapel of the Holy Spirit and the Methodist NOLA Wesley Center, built within three blocks and ten years of each other, demonstrate what it looks like for a religious building to stay and adapt.

Crosses of Chicago is a series of photographs by Kim E. Lovely that documents 30听storefront churches that were located throughout the South and West sides of Chicago between 2005 and 2007. The series captures the bold graphic aesthetic of storefront churches, including hand-painted Latin crosses, signage, and graphic facades.

A case study for other postwar synagogue designers, Park Synagogue is now becoming an important precedent in the preservation and adaptive reuse of Modernist sacred places.

North Christian Church and its site are in transition from a house of worship to a secular purpose, as part of a public library system. This presents an intriguing opportunity and challenge for creative solutions highlighting the unique design by Eero Saarinen and his colleagues, while devising appropriate designs for the new use. 听

The 爱豆app Annual Theme 鈥淧laces of Worship鈥澨齪rofiles and explores the rich array of postwar Modern religious buildings that can be found in almost every community across the nation. It鈥檚 worth noting from the start that these buildings house worship, yes, but often much more.

Architect Walter Netsch was only 34 when handed the monumental task of designing the Cadet Chapel听鈥� a centerpiece in the bold new vision for the United States Air Force Academy. The commission was unprecedented in scale: a Cold War-era project involving cadet quarters for 8,000, a hospital, an airfield, academic and administrative complexes, a court of honor, and more. Over 340 firms competed for the honor, but it was Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) that won the contract on July 23, 1954.

In 2023, the Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), the Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee launched a project to survey Milwaukee鈥檚 20th-century houses of worship. The survey had one unexpected outcome, however 鈥� the discovery of a relatively unknown architect whose work extended beyond the geographic boundaries of Milwaukee: Henry R. Slaby, AIA. Slaby (1906-1995) was born in Milwaukee and apprenticed in the local architectural office of Herbst & Kuenzli.听

On Halloween night in 1939, the Community Christian Church 鈥� at the time known as the Linwood Boulevard Christian Church 鈥� suffered a fire that destroyed the church鈥檚 second building, and forced them to relocate for a fourth time since the congregation鈥檚 inception in 1888.

From an adapted barn in Locust Valley, Richard Lippold spun wire into gossamer threads to create other worldly compositions. He eschewed organized religion but was deeply connected to the natural world and communed with the metals that composed his sculptures.

Tucked into the quiet hills of Montecito, California, the Vedanta Temple emerges like a secret sanctuary for both visitors and spiritual seekers. Designed by Lutah Maria Riggs in 1956, it is a rare example of sacred architecture that blends philosophical depth, environmental sensitivity, and architectural restraint.

Tucked away on a quiet side street in the low-rise Queens neighborhood of Maspeth sits a little known modernist masterpiece of Lithuanian architecture, the Church of the Transfiguration.

Wallace Harrison, the architect best known for such projects as the United Nations Headquarters, Lincoln Center, and Albany鈥檚 Empire State Plaza, designed only one church, First Presbyterian Church in Stamford, CT, 1952鈥�1958.

Welcome to the second installment of the 2024 Special Edition! We are excited to share the following articles and photo essay, which highlight Eero Saarinen鈥檚 outsize influence on corporate modern architecture; the impact of Formica on Cincinnati and other businesses; and how American corporate campuses influenced similar developments in Canada.

I spent an entire day wandering the atrium and manicured outdoor walkways feeling, thinking, and seeing what I imagined Eero Saarinen wanted (or didn鈥檛 want!) the inhabitants of this building to see and feel and think, my camera searching for compositions and forms that I hoped would reveal a version of the building that wasn鈥檛 the current and familiar depiction of the place. Saarinen鈥檚 design impresses as much as it provokes; the otherworldly reflections off the facade; the blissfully smooth curves of the sunken granite lobby and stairways; the linear walkways that seem to float along the perimeter of the atrium like walkways on a ship鈥檚 deck. You can鈥檛 help but feel transported听鈥� time moves differently within the space听鈥� and I wanted to try and capture this essence.

In 1949, General Motors officially announced its intention to construct a centralized product development campus, called the 鈥淕eneral Motors Technical Center;鈥� the site would finally co-locate all the disparate research, engineering, design and manufacturing activities that had outgrown its previous homes into one cohesive site. The press release read: 鈥淎rchitecturally, the buildings will be of unique design, both modern and functional in concept,鈥� 鈥� now an enormous understatement given the legacy of the Eero Saarinen-designed campus and its influence on industrial architecture.

Whether it鈥檚 big box chain stores or anonymous manufacturing facilities, wide, flat-faced buildings are a common sight on the route into Rochester, Minnesota, from the north. About five miles from downtown, the IBM Manufacturing & Training Facility has a similar boxy massing to other buildings on the street but has a distinctive blue facade pattern. From the air, the vast scale of this building can start to be understood 鈥� in fact, when viewed from above, it resembles a computer chip. IBM Rochester is still the largest IBM facility under one roof, enclosing 3.6 million square-feet on 400 acres. In this city, IBM鈥檚 frequent moniker 鈥淏ig Blue鈥� applies to both the company and the building. Commissioned in 1956 and designed by Eero Saarinen & Associates, the opening of the building in 1958 marks a key moment in IBM鈥檚 design legacy and Minnesota鈥檚 computing industry.听听

Founded in 1913, the Formica Company boasts a rich history intricately linked with the development of Cincinnati. As the company expanded, its manufacturing campus gradually moved northward from the Ohio River, mirroring the city鈥檚 own growth. The Formica庐 brand has made a significant impact on corporate campuses not only through its own unique architectural expansion but also by manufacturing laminate products that have furnished corporate buildings since the 1930s.

The Golden Mile can be found fifteen kilometers to the northeast of downtown Toronto, Canada and was one of the nation鈥檚 first industrial complexes that transition to commercial in the post-war area. The Golden Mile was once a place where iconic corporate campuses and companies like IBM. and others served as catalysts for economic development while supporting the growth and expansion eastwards alongside iconic planned residential subdivisions, which sprang up to house the new industrial workforce and support their modern lives.听

In 1970, then Herman Miller CEO Max De Pree began a poetic brief for a Herman Miller manufacturing facility in the United Kingdom by stating, 鈥淥ur goal is to make a contribution to the landscape of aesthetic and human value.鈥� The building that resulted from what became titled A Statement of Expectations was a pioneering High-Tech project by Nicholas Grimshaw that recently saw its own award-winning adaptive reuse into, very fittingly, an art and design school. We are happy to share a story originally published by Herman Miller鈥檚 WHY Magazine in 2014 that tells the story of The Bath Brief, and Herman Miller鈥檚 collaboration with Grimshaw.

It's been way too long听since our last听commercial real estate round up, and this year's annual theme, Corporate Campuses,听provides听the perfect听opportunity for a revisit. We听hope you enjoy perusing some of听our finds, including:听a Pomo headquarters that's instantly recognizable as a Michael Graves design; an elegant Yamasaki in Michigan; a former church looking for a new use designed by Elizabeth Wright Ingraham; and if you've听ever dreamed of an office space in "The Pyramids," now is your chance.

The Texas Instruments Semiconductor Building and headquarters in Dallas, Texas, is an example of a much lesser explored, yet no less historically relevant, corporate research facility from the same era as the well-publicized industrial complexes by Eero Saarinen. In 1958, Texan architects O鈥橬eil Ford with Richard Colley, Arch Swank and Sam Zisman conceived of the massive complex (Fig 1), which typified Ford's daring creativity and stands as what has been considered the most technologically innovative design of his career. The Semiconductor Building serves as a larger artifact of twentieth-century technology, showcasing both advancements in concrete structural design and pioneering breakthroughs in the field of digital electronics.

The Ford Motor Company corporate campus is located in Southeast Michigan, about 10 miles west of Detroit in the city of Dearborn. Ford first began purchasing property here along the Rouge River in 1915, but it was not until 1917, with the impetus of World War I, that they completed the first structure to produce eagle boats for the war effort. Countless additions later, the Rouge complex, now referred to as the Ford Rouge Center, is still operational and is itself a hallmark of adaptive reuse. The expansion of production at the Rouge anchored Ford in Dearborn, where the company would continue to expand its campus, especially after World War II.

Postwar corporate campuses were an important proving ground for architects to demonstrate the core principles of modernist design: that form should follow function, and that the honest expression of building materials should put their inherent qualities on display. Because corporate campuses in this era were also seen as rural oases, set apart from their urban high-rise counterparts on large plots of land, landscape design played an essential role in the expression of place. In many cases, the architectural expression of a modernist corporate campus required that it borrow some drama from its surrounding landscape. And, in some cases, this meant bringing the outside in.

This year鈥檚 爱豆app theme 鈥淐orporate Campus鈥� has sought to 鈥渆xplore and understand the influence of suburban corporate architecture and corporate campuses on the edge of more urban cores, their peaks, and now their valleys.鈥� In a post-pandemic world, and in the past year in particular, the evolving role of the corporate campus, and the office in general, has proven to be on trend across culture.

爱豆app is pleased to share the following selection of articles and recorded presentations that explore an extensive range and breadth of topics under the subject of this year's thematic focus, Revisiting Urban Renewal.听

I have lived in Southwest DC for the past seven years in a 1963 cooperative housing 鈥渃ampus鈥� that was built as part of the 1945 Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). Considered to be the first formal urban renewal project in the United States, the RLA dislocated thousands of residents and their intact community of mainly Black Americans. The photograph that I was most familiar with that depicted the 鈥渂efore鈥� community was the 1939 image (image #1) that shows the proximity of Southwest, District of Columbia, to the U.S. Capitol Building. Many residences in the foreground were built in 鈥渁lley ways鈥� and did not have electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing.听

Taking measure of a life鈥檚 work as complex as Ed Logue鈥檚 raises challenges. He described his career to an oral historian from the Library of Congress in 1995 as 鈥渁 helluva ride.鈥�

Rushed design processes, poor construction quality, post-occupancy mismanagement and a general lack of maintenance characterize the typical modernist public housing estate; their decline symbolic of the cycle of neighborhood obsolescence and redevelopment that once enabled these projects. While originally conceived as alternatives to blighted post-war urban neighborhoods, these stigma-prone estates throughout Europe and the Americas have ironically become convenient targets for demolition. It is no surprise that proponents for their preservation are first confronted with poor public perception and ideological conflicts 鈥� fundamental issues that are often more inhibiting than the physical viability of preservation.

2024 will mark the 20th anniversary of the publication of Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America and What You Can Do About It. The book explores the long-term consequences of urban renewal in Black neighborhoods and has many lessons to help us understand the complex problems we face today. Root Shock was written by Dr. Mindy Fullilove with support from the research team she co-founded, the Community Research (now known as the Cities Research Group).

During the 1950s and 1960s, architectural models, maps, and renderings helped local boosters justify and build support for urban renewal in communities across the nation. New York City鈥檚 master planner Robert Moses helped pioneer this practice. Urban historian Themis Chronopoulos has analyzed how brochures produced by Moses鈥� Committee on Slum Clearance juxtaposed images of actual (if outdated) places 鈥� tenements, corner stores, back alleys 鈥� against illustrations depicting the sleek, modern residential and commercial structures that might be built in their stead.

In Coral Gables, an ongoing conversation concerns the beauty of our architectural heritage. Does our design sensibility begin and end in the 1920s, when the city was founded as part of the City Beautiful Movement? Or do we view our built environment as a dynamic work in progress 鈥� a 鈥渕oveable feast鈥� of diverse building styles that reflect changing standards of beauty, utility, and sustainability.

With close to a month left to our National Symposium in New Haven, 爱豆app President Robert Meckfessel admits an embarrassing secret; he has never been to New Haven. In this month鈥檚 President鈥檚 Column, read about what Bob is most excited to see when he visits this 鈥渁rchitectural cornucopia鈥� for the first time next month.

Interested in hearing more about Modern Travel: Finland? 爱豆app President Robert Meckfessel shares his own Finnish travel experience, a Modernist pilgrimage sure to “affirm one’s life as an architect.” Read more in this month’s President’s Column.

The Italian-born photographer and, of course, long-time 爱豆app member, Andrea Brizzi has been capturing the built environment for 40 years. His most recent photography features a series of forgotten Modernist works in northern Italy and Sardinia.听

The Modern architecture movement in the United States has a rich but complicated history, one that 爱豆app is committed to explore, even as we advocate for its preservation. This history is closely intertwined with that of Modernism in Europe, but the post-war American version has its own flavor and context, driven by our own unique demographics, economics, cultures and politics. Out of that complex mix arose countless examples of innovative, thought-provoking architecture and landscape, both by transplanted Europeans and by our own home-grown American practitioners. Several aspects of that, however, are less admirable and merit further examination to understand the true and complete story of Modernism.

How the producers of Star Trek The Original Series employed an existing design genre to provide us the World of the Future.

How did Milwaukee, in the middle of the country, in the middle of the 20th-century, come to have some of the nation鈥檚 most inspiring and monumental mosaic murals? How is it that many churches, libraries, schools, government buildings and public spaces across Wisconsin have mural-sized mosaics fully integrated into the architectural surroundings? A close look at four mosaics commissioned in Milwaukee, at a time when modern art and architecture were capturing a new spirit of innovation and civic pride, reveals different approaches to using mosaic as an architectural art form and presents a unique perspective on the history of arts in Wisconsin.

Last April, the 爱豆app Board of Directors and staff assembled in Milwaukee for our first long-range planning retreat in five years, to consider the future of 爱豆app 鈥� our goals, aspirations, challenges, opportunities, and role in the future of preservation. This was sorely needed, especially since the context we work in has dramatically changed in the past five years, as we have dealt with COVID, a leadership transition, a dynamic political landscape, our own growth and expansion, and more.

听Jessica Anshutz, aka the "Rust Belt Mallwalker" shares a visual essay of malls she has documented since 2016.

With high design and high art, NorthPark Center made shopping glamorous for everyone.

In this excerpt from听The American Department Store Transformed, 1920-1960, Richard Longstreth听explores听the influential role of department stores in the rise of the regional shopping mall.

This excerpt from Alexandra Lange's new book, Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall (Bloomsbury USA), tracks architect Victor Gruen and designer Elsie Krummeck's听early attempts at improving on the traditional shopping center,听resulting in the Northland Mall in Southfield, Michigan.听

爱豆app Board President Robert Meckfessel, FAIA, will be sharing听his thoughts on current issues in the field of modern preservation as well as the latest updates on the organization in a new monthly President's Column. In this first installment, he reflects on the National Symposium in Philadelphia and the ongoing modern/postmodern divide.

This 爱豆app Regional Spotlight article offers some historic background and insight on a key contribution by Hawaiian modern architect Vladimir Ossipoff (1907-1998). In general, Ossipoff鈥檚 architecture consistently fused the climate, topography and culture of Hawai鈥榠 like no other over his over 6 decades of practice solely in the islands. His design sensibility was timeless, elegant and usually understated.

In the 1960s, the partnership of the Hawaii architecture firm Lemmon, Freeth, Haines and Jones, their joint venture of Belt, Lemmon and Lo, and San Francisco鈥檚 John Carl Warnecke and Associates were selected to design the new Hawaii State Capitol Building.听 The resulting building in the Hawaiian International Architecture style was devoid of the classic rotunda featured in most capitol buildings, instead utilizing an open-air rotunda that invites the sun, trade winds, and the occasional rainbow into the lofty, emblematic space.听 The design symbolized natural beauty while breaking many boundaries of architectural design both in Hawai驶i and across the United States.

Parking at Ala Moana Center can be a nightmare. Even for those of us that have been going there for decades, finding a store can be almost as challenging. As kids, we all knew where all the important things were: the sculptures to play on, the deli with the tasty sandwiches, the koi ponds, the hippie store with the imports from India, and the book/record store. It was a adventure to go into 鈥渢own鈥� to shop at the mall. Even after changes to Ala Moana in the early 80s, finding the cute shop with the funky international jewelry, or familiar 鈥渓ocal鈥� drug store or any of the three department stores was not tricky. Navigation was easy. On the lower level, almost all the shops (HOPACO and its glorious pens!) were located on the outer perimeter of the mall building. On the upper level, shops were all along the main open passageway, with a few accessible from the parking side, easy! The mall鈥檚 appearance now - muddled and confusing from all the years of updates, is an unfortunate result of its more than sixty years of success.

Shopping centers built between the 1950s through the 1970s on the island of Oahu are unique examples of Modernist architecture in Hawaii. They comprise the majority of large-scale commercial buildings on Oahu and amongst the other islands, which experienced a different level of commercial impact from tourism during the post-war era.

In the decades immediately following World War II听Hawaii听exploded into the modern era. This remote island chain in the north Pacific suddenly found itself in the midst of global activity with the advent of passenger jet service to听Honolulu听and the laying of the trans-Pacific telephone cable, both of which contributed to more closely linking the听United States听with its newest state. The architecture of the islands, keeping pace with its society, assumed an increasingly modern flair, while continuing to embrace the听Islands鈥� strong regional design tradition.听

Throughout much of the 20th century the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company was known by its moniker "Behind Your Independence ... Stands the Penn Mutual." Located just south of Independence Hall, the slogan reflected both corporate branding and the physical reality of its corporate headquarters as backdrop to Independence Hall.

An excerpt from the book听Reglazing Modernism听- Intervention Strategies for 20th Century Icons, by听Angel Ay贸n, Uta Pottgiesser and Nathaniel Richards, which was awarded the 2021 Lee Nelson Book Award from the Association for Preservation Technology International (APT).

Architect Fred Guirey and his associates received the commission in 1961 to be the architect for the Arizona Public Service (APS) administrative building. Over the next 60 years, several panels over the walkway developed hairline cracks, making them a safety hazard. Alison King of Modern Phoenix and the firm 180 Degrees Design + Build stepped in to save them from the landfill.

In August of 2020, an unexpected sight debuted along interstate I-40 in Albuquerque, New Mexico: a sign for the BLVD2500 Luxury Apartments. Since 1971, 2500 Carlisle Boulevard NE has been the address of a modern architectural curiosity, a story that begins in the 1960s.

Identifying a project by its architect is a common occurrence; it's easy to associate a building with a single name. But a project is rarely the result of a singular vision. It's the result of a collaboration between the client, architects, engineers, and contractors for a specific site and defined problem. Among those unsung engineers is Sergio Acosta.

Founded in 1889, the University of New Mexico (UNM) is known for the balance and adherence to a Southwestern design identity that鈥檚 persisted throughout its 130+ years of architectural development. Upon first impression, the UNM main campus does not invoke the sense of architectural design variation that many campuses do; the modernist elements of the campus may not be initially apparent.

Don P. Schlegel, FAIA, is remembered by many as a mentor and credited with teaching a significant number of the practicing architects in Albuquerque. Schlegel spent the majority of his architectural career teaching on the University of New Mexico鈥檚 (UNM) Albuquerque campus and was a key figure in the establishment of the university's School of Architecture and Planning.

Albuquerque's modernist architecture, spanning the pre-war period into today, has only recently begun to be recognized and contextualized for the roles it has played in the city's development. The city government commissioned its first survey of mid-century modern architectural resources in 2013, followed closely thereafter by the study of select structures by a University of New Mexico architecture class. As interest has grown, new resources and research have emerged from a growing group of enthusiasts, preservationists, architects, and historians. This Regional Spotlight aims to contribute to this expanding pool of resources documenting Modern ABQ.听

Jennifer Baughn's new book, Buildings of Mississippi, is the first volume in the newly redesigned Buildings of the United States series. With a more reader-friendly guidebook format and color illustrations throughout, Buildings of Mississippi is also the most substantive, up-to-date history of the state鈥檚 built environment.听Crafted specifically for听the 爱豆app audience,听the following excerpt听highlights the state's modern travel and leisure resources of the midcentury and recent past.

The sign beckons you, the building interests you, and the office welcomes you, but the room itself defines most of your motel lodging experience. It is here that the traveler sheds the stress of the road, seeking relaxation and slumber. The success, or lack thereof, of this effort determines the enjoyment of your stay.

Modeled after roadside parks, safety rest areas (SRAs) were constructed as part of the Interstate Highway System to provide minimal comfort amenities for the traveling public. Early in their developmental history, however, design aesthetics moved in the tradition of roadside architecture that defined American highways in previous decades. Thus safety rest area sites emerged as unique and colorful expressions of regional flavor and modern architectural design.

Before neon signs with trendy sayings were popping up in hipster mac n鈥� cheese bars, before old motels were being revamped into $300/night luxury experiences, before ruin porn proliferated on Instagram, there was the Society for Commercial Archeology (SCA).听As 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Roadside Heritage Advocate,鈥� SCA is thrilled to participate in 爱豆app鈥檚 鈥淭ravel & Leisure鈥� annual theme. What follows are听three articles: an introduction to SCA and roadside architecture by Jeremy Ebersole, Joanna Dowling鈥檚 2008 study of Interstate rest areas, and Lyle Miller鈥檚 2020 look at the evolution of motel rooms. "Drive" with us into听this exploration of the bewildering, evocative, and always fascinating world of commercial archeology.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s there was an efflorescence of ski resorts across the USA. In Vermont the pastime was in its heyday with 81 ski areas operating in 1966. Not the least of which were the Sugarbush, Glen Ellen, and Mad River Glen resorts in the Mad River Valley. Nestled between the two ranges of the Green Mountains, it was a groovy place to ski and be seen. Young professionals and hip suburbanites were drawn to the area for its low-key charms and great skiing. It was this atmosphere that drew a group of adventurous young graduates of the Yale School of Architecture to the area to try their hand at design, building and developing weekend houses for the ski set.

The town of Norwich, Vermont has a deep and rich developmental history dating back to the mid-18th century. As the town grew over the next century, its residents built houses in the Georgian, Federal, and Greek Revival styles. There was little new construction in Norwich during the period of population loss in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and as a result there are few examples of Victorian, Arts and Crafts, Art Deco, or bungalow-style buildings in the town. Between 1944 and 1974, however, development began again, and low-slung homes of the style now known as Midcentury Modern were built on the hillsides in Norwich.

The Gutterson Fieldhouse at the University of Vermont. St. Mark Catholic Parish on North Avenue. The Given Medical Building of the UVM College of Medicine. The NBT Bank on Bank Street. The Sustainability Academy at Lawrence Barnes. Ohavi Zedek Synagogue. Rice Memorial High School. What do all these greater Burlington buildings from the 1940s, '50s and '60s have in common? All of them 鈥斺�痑nd hundreds鈥痬ore around Vermont鈥�鈥� were designed by one architect: Ruth Reynolds Freeman.

Think of Vermont, and what comes to mind? Most likely a decidedly nostalgic vision of quaint villages, white churches with tall steeples, picturesque farmsteads with red barns and cows grazing in green fields, and covered bridges crossing meandering rivers. This is all true, but it鈥檚 not the complete story. Believe it or not, the 20th century did happen in Vermont and left its own unique imprint on our built environment.

Was it to be a missing person鈥檚 report, or more of a personal ad? Middle-aged female architect ISO a goddess she recollects from her youth: about seven feet tall; long, flowing locks; triumphant pose.听Last seen: Battle Creek, Michigan, sometime in the late 1980s, in the food-court of a mall.听I see now that it鈥檚 starting to read a bit like an episode of Stranger Things, but pour yourself a bowl of corn flakes and settle in.

Hot Spring鈥檚 downtown core and Park Avenue (Highway 70) approach road hosts several elegant modernist hotels sprinkled throughout an urban fabric typically touted for its historic Bathhouse Row, Arlington Hotel, and assortment of prewar buildings dating back to the 1880s, tightly hemmed into a picturesque valley of the Ouachita Mountains. This group of hotels, some undervalued and threatened, represent the final phase of the dynamic, almost century-long trajectory of the Arkansas settlement which was once considered a top resort destination in the United States.

In her definitive biography of Walter Gropius, Fiona MacCarthy posed the question about the last years of Gropius鈥檚 life: 鈥淲hy was it that the Bauhaus and its history continued to be his great preoccupation and why did he cling to the little group of friends鈥擝ayer and Breuer and Schawinsky鈥攚ho had been with him at the Bauhaus, and who sometimes treated him with singular disloyalty, for the rest of his long life?鈥� To answer this question, one need simply look to the Wellfleet community they shared and the unforgettable times spent together on Cape Cod beginning in the mid-1940s. The following is an excerpt from听Breuer鈥檚 Bohemia: The Architect, His Circle, and Midcentury Houses in New England by James Crump, forthcoming from Monacelli Press on September 14.听

During the mid-20th century, the听Green Book听helped Black Americans听to travel听by letting them know which hotels, motels, restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses it would be safe for them to frequent. Here we highlight some of the modern resources that听made their way into the Green Book.

The 2021 爱豆app National Symposium focused on the most important city in the United States when it comes to modern design 鈥� Chicago. I have never physically visited Chicago, but I was very grateful for my opportunity to attend this event. It illuminated not only the central role that the city of Chicago has played in Midcentury Modernism but also how it represents a node that connects the Midcentury Modern design of many other large cities in America, such as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington DC. 听

A list of Robert Venturi鈥檚 most well-known works will usually include the Sainsbury wing extension to London鈥檚 National Gallery (1991), Fire Station no. 4 (1968) for the city of Columbus, Indiana, and of course his postmodernist masterpiece, the iconic residential house built for his mother, the Vanna Venturi House (1964) in Philadelphia. Quite less known are the remarkable series of vacation and second homes his firm designed in the 1980s in classic coastal New England locales.

Local architects in the modern era could have tremendous impact on the built landscape of their communities. In post-WWII South Dakota, there were only a handful of architectural firms in-state that were very active, though that pool of professionals expanded some into the 1960s and beyond.听A unique contributor to modern architecture in South Dakota, and in particular the city of Sioux Falls, was the architect Ward Whitwam, who recently passed away in January 2021.听

Our society learns to appreciate past architectural styles in waves, and landmark buildings attract attention earlier than other types of structures. In the mid-20th century, the Catholic Church in South Dakota invested in a handful of worship spaces that stand out in the top tier of Modernist ecclesiastical design for the state, making them an excellent introduction to architecture of the Modern movement in South Dakota.

Historical context for modern sites in South Dakota is still in its fledgling stages and recognition of modern resources within the general population of South Dakota is still a hill to climb, and, for those outside the state, awareness of this history is likely negligible.听Writing this set of spotlight articles has served as a way for听the staff of the South Dakota SHPO听to expand their knowledge about Modernism, and they are our humble way to introduce South Dakota to the wider Modern Movement audience.听听

Director of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Heinz History Center of Pittsburgh takes us on a 鈥榲isit鈥� to the Betty and Irving Abrams home designed in 1979-82 by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown and explores the broader trends of Jewish patronage for modern architecture along the neighborhood鈥檚 infamous Woodland Road, and throughout the region. Recently a contentious local preservation issue, the property鈥檚 new owner wants the dwelling dismantled and removed from their property. The preservation community reacted in disagreement, noting the grave loss of an important postmodern design in a particular context.

In conducting research for the exhibition Imagining the Modern: Architecture and Urbanism of the Pittsburgh Renaissance听at the Carnegie Museum of Art鈥檚 Heinz Architectural Center and the subsequent book, we made it a priority to meet some of the key players active during this critical time in Pittsburgh鈥檚 renewal. Among the most surprising discoveries was Troy West.听West was a surprise not just for his bold body of work, but for the participatory process by which they were created. His built legacy in Pittsburgh could be considered scant, but his influence on the city, the way architecture is taught, and the definition of a modernist architect is far more profound.

A local leader in education with a keen eye for Brutalism shares a visionary, preservationminded love poem of the open-plan structure that welcomes and inspires his students from lowincome communities - designed with a groundbreaking concept in 1972 by Tasso Katselas, Pittsburgh鈥檚 most prolific modern architect.

Through the lens of a contemporary, award-winning landscape architect-designer, we explore and examine a 1974 project by Dan Kiley, painstakingly crafted in tandem with architect Edward Larrabee Barnes, enhancing the site of one of Pittsburgh鈥檚 most epic cultural institutions in the Carnegie legacy, and most successful modernist additions in a U.S. art museum.

Recently retired archivist of Carnegie Mellon University鈥檚 Architecture Archives offers a glimpse into the professional career and Pittsburgh-rooted portfolio of Walter L. Roberts, a multi-talented, unsung architect of the region who made a diverse, modernist mark including with Westinghouse Electric, community housing and facilities, industrial design firms and more.

Chair of the Pittsburgh Modern Committee of Preservation Pittsburgh introduces 鈥楶ittsburgh鈥檚 Modern Milieu鈥� with an impression of the city and region鈥檚 modern and postmodern resources, initiatives, challenges and curiosities 鈥� along with a summary of the spotlight series, which touches on the ongoing 爱豆app themes: the Diversity of Modernism and the 1970s turn 50, amongst other topics. (+ plus announcing the launch of a special collaboration-series of limited edition screen-prints of Pittsburgh modernist gems!).

When one thinks of Kansas, a hotbed of progressive design is likely not the first descriptor that comes to mind. One usually thinks of the Wizard of Oz, figures like Dwight D. Eisenhower, and perhaps the origin of fast food pizza (Pizza Hut). That said, a deeper review of architecture and design brings to the forefront the breadth of modernism that can be found throughout the state.

In October of 2020, in the middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Wichita Public Library, likely the first Brutalist building designed in the state of Kansas, became the state鈥檚 first Beton Brut building added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Library nomination was rushed through, along with a separate nomination for the adjacent Century II Performing Arts and Convention Center by concerned citizens against the wishes of developers and City officials.

Kansas, the 15th largest state by area, resides at the geographical center of the continental United States. 鈥淭he Sunflower State鈥� combines mostly family-owned farms and ranches with the robust aviation industry that made the state a strategic military training center during World War II. Paralleling this, between 1941 and 1956 the population of Kansas鈥檚 largest city, Wichita, doubled from 115,000 to 240,000 during the peak years of postwar modernism.

Adapted from an assignment for the class Modern American Architecture on the Historic Preservation program at GSAPP, Columbia University, James E. Churchill discusses the global impact of New Brutalism and the attempt to reinstall ethics and humanism into architectural design and examines the works of Louis I. Kahn, his connections to C.I.A.M. and the three-phase plan for the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Gio Ponti麓s contact with North America dates from 1928 when he was invited to participate in an interior and furniture design exhibition organized by Macy麓s department store, but it was only at the beginning of the 1950s that Ponti would return his attention to the American continent. During that period, his many travels included Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, and the United States, and were marked by the enunciation of some of his key design principles听that would听be taken further in the decades to come.

Googie design was a hot topic of conversation in the summer of 2019, when the question of preserving Tom鈥檚 Diner was a frequent headline. The Diner was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places more than ten years ago and featured in local publications, but the term Googie was not widely known or understood even though the building was highly recognizable and well loved by many.听 Fortunately, through community support and creative partnerships the most intact Armet and Davis design in Colorado survived and is set to thrive again soon. 听

The design of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is a masterpiece of the Modern Movement in architecture. It is the foundational, break-out design by I.M. Pei that kicked off his extraordinary career.听

The adoption of Modern architecture is a ubiquitous feature of most American cities following the Second World War. However, the preferences and architectural palettes within the Modern movement varied considerably based on the tastes of locals and the architects they commissioned. The City of Fort Collins is using the work of northern Colorado architect William Robb to better understand its local trends within the Modern Movement.

In 1939, Elizabeth Paepcke came to ski in Aspen. She would return in 1945 with her husband, Walter, a wealthy Chicagoan, starting a long relationship听that would introduce Bauhaus modernism to the once quiet ski town.

On July 23, 1954, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) was awarded the contract to design and construct the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. The site itself was chosen from over 580 submissions by a Site Selection Committee that included Reserve Brigadier General Charles A. Lindberg, while over 300 architectural firms applied for the commission 鈥� one of the largest government construction projects of the Cold War era. Constructed during Eisenhower鈥檚 presidency, the Air Force Academy was intended to complement the established military academies West Point and Annapolis.

This historic context statement was prepared for the City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning, Office of Historic Resource as a part of the SurveyLA initiative,听the largest and most comprehensive survey ever completed by an American city. Architectural historian Daniel Paul provides an overview of Late Modern architecture, its character-defining features, and selected subtypes.

On August 7, 2020, I went to the estate sale at the former home of midcentury American designers, Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman.听It felt almost like visiting a house museum 鈥� one that was open to the public for only three days. It was akin visiting the Eames house, frozen in time as Ray left it when she passed away. It was rather magical to be in the Ackerman鈥檚 home and see their backyard studio where so much of their work had been imagined and created.

American Architecture in the 1970s was fraught with divergent reactions to Modernism and responses to sociopolitical and environmental crises. The decade was one of exploration, experimentation, and reckoning that would shape the directions of architecture through remainder of the twentieth century. As the 70s turn 50, we are faced with the new task of trying to comprehend and contextualize these buildings, sites, and landscapes in order to steward them into the future.

An energetic D.C. real estate mogul has swooped into Buffalo to bring the city鈥檚 tallest building, SOM鈥檚 Marine Midland Center, back to life. The result is an unfocused mish-mash of interventions on what once exemplified the sophistication of its original architects and their client.

As 2020 marks the first year that the 1970s turn 50 years old, we find ourselves seemingly in the same place as in 2010, 2000, 1990, and听the beginning of each听past听decade: Having to听make the case that buildings and sites that听seem so young can be considered historic. Just as the public has gained an appreciation for Midcentury Modern and the preservation community has developed the intellectual and technical expertise to evaluate and preserve 1950s and 1960s resources, we are now at the starting point of a new decade needing to reestablish these baselines. Like the previous decades, there will be places from the 1970s that are important and worthy of preservation. Our eyes and personal tastes will gradually adjust to see the beauty in what many now consider to be outdated, ugly, and mundane.

Hidden in plain sight lie hundreds of forgotten Cliff May homes in the heart of Las Vegas. Architect Cliff May鈥檚 designs first appeared in Las Vegas in 1954 with the construction of a pair of identical homes on Van Patten Place, a half-mile west of Las Vegas Boulevard. That same year, Cliff May鈥檚 take on听 modernism would be brought to the masses with the purchase of 103 homesites by Burns Construction from land developer Ernest Becker. Located in the third unit of the relatively young Charleston Heights Tract, the subdivision drew its name from the elevation created by the large fault line which runs north/south through west-central Las Vegas.听

In 1962 the City of Henderson commissioned the Palm Springs architecture firm of Wexler and Harrison to design a new, state-of-the-art City Hall. Incorporated only nine years earlier, Henderson already found itself outgrowing its original City Hall 鈥� a barracks structure dating from the construction of Boulder Dam that was moved from Boulder City. George Tate, who had begun practicing architecture in Henderson in 1960, acted as the local architect on the new steel structure.听

Due east of the Las Vegas strip lies one of the most well-known treasure troves of midcentury homes in Las Vegas: Paradise Palms. In 1960, fresh off their build of nearby Sunrise Hospital, local developers Irwin Molasky and Merv Adelson (who later in the decade would form Lorimar Television Productions) formed Paradise Development Corporation and Paradise Homes, with the intention of opening up Las Vegas鈥� Paradise Valley east of Maryland Parkway along Desert Inn Road for development and creating a wide-range of upscale housing on a 720-acre plot of vacant desert.

Legendary midcentury architect Paul Revere Williams had a long-standing involvement with Las Vegas that began in the early 1940s and lasted through the 1960s. Williams, widely regarded as the first African American member of the AIA in 1923, had built a successful Southern California practice designing over 2,000 residences ranging from humble bungalows to sprawling estates for Hollywood鈥檚 elite.听

Architects A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons made a successful name for themselves in the midcentury era as the preferred architects for prolific developer Joseph Eichler. While not exclusively employed by Eichler, it was their work with another well-known West Coast builder that would first bring them to the Las Vegas market.

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What will you find if you wander off the Las Vegas "Strip"? Longtime residents and preservation advocates Dave Cornoyer听and Heidi Swank will introduce you to听"the other Las Vegas," full of midcentury charm听that visitors don't commonly see.

When Howard Barnstone landed in Texas in 1948, fresh out of Yale, it seemed as if he and Gertrude Levy were fated to meet in Houston鈥檚 contemporary art scene. With a job offer to teach at the new University of Houston architecture school, Howard moved to town and settled in. That was the opening scene in the marriage play starring Gertrude Levy and Howard Barnstone.

A number of important Houston Jewish families were drawn to Braeswood in its first decades, including the Gordons, Rauches, Brochsteins, Battelsteins, and Kaufmans, and they often employed Jewish architects such as Joseph Finger, Irving Klein, and Lenard Gabert, as well as Barnstone, to design their houses.

Barnstone鈥檚 office produced multiple schemes for the proposed Menil art center, which would house art storage primarily, along with offices, a conference room, and a small public gallery. The program grew to include a library for 3,700 volumes of 鈥渟piritual and philosophical鈥� books, a workshop, and a small theater.

During the English architectural critic Reyner Banham鈥檚 last visit to Houston, to write about the Menil Collection by Renzo Piano (with Richard Fitzgerald, 1986), he observed the interrelationships among three generations of architects--Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson, and Howard Barnstone--who all left an indelible mark on modern architecture in Houston.

Complex, controversial, and prolific, Howard Barnstone was a central figure in the world of twentieth-century modern architecture. Recognized as Houston鈥檚 foremost modern architect in the 1950s, Barnstone came to prominence for his designs with partner Preston M. Bolton, which transposed the rigorous and austere architectural practices of Mies van der Rohe to the hot, steamy coastal plain of Texas. Barnstone was a man of contradictions鈥攃harming and witty but also self-centered, caustic and abusive鈥攚ho shaped new settings that were imbued, at once, with spatial calm and emotional intensity.

At this time of profound sorrow and frustration over the murder of George Floyd, 爱豆app honors the call put forth by the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), 鈥渢o condemn racism and take an active role in eliminating the racial biases that account for a myriad of social, economic, and health disparities, and most importantly, result in the loss of human lives."

The Mississippi Heritage Trust has been advocating for a preservation solution for the Sun-n-Sand Motel for over 15 years. The following excerpts, from the Spring issue of Elevation, the Journal of the Mississippi Heritage Trust, illustrate听the preservation battle from a variety of perspectives.

Nestled within a bevy of towering trees on a quiet street in the heart of Jackson, Mississippi sits one of our state鈥檚 most meticulously preserved modern gems, the Falk House. Homeowner John Hooks recalls discovering the house when he was a mere 19 years old. 鈥淚 remember thinking the place was mysterious and unique,鈥� he remembers. 鈥淭he house has an energy that鈥檚 very special, very powerful.鈥�

If buildings today were designed following visionary Mississippi builder and designer Carroll Ishee鈥檚 principles, we would have more interesting communities that respected the natural environment instead of wreaking havoc on this limited resource. Ishee is said to have built over 150 buildings, most of which were houses, along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He tackled tricky terrain and conquered challenging sites others deemed unbuildable. His love for nature is visible in his work which was designed using sustainable principles and crafted with natural materials long before 鈥済reen鈥� was the norm.

The first image that comes to mind when many Americans picture Mississippi鈥檚 landmark architecture is probably white-columned antebellum mansions built by wealthy cotton planters. But Mississippi鈥檚 historically agricultural economy boomed with new industry in the 20th century, and that gave rise to a diverse and complex architectural landscape. Jennifer Baughn, who along with Michael Fazio recently co-authored the听book Buildings of Mississippi, explores some of Mississippi's modernist landmarks.听

Many cities have landmarks or elements that distinguish them from every other city or place. Midland, Michigan is unique because of the unbelievable quality and concentration of structures that create a cohesive expression of modernism in the Midwest.听

Jacques Calmon Brownson has received praise for his civic buildings, especially as chief architect of the award-winning Chicago Civic Center (1965, renamed Richard J. Daley Center in 1979) during his time with C. F. Murphy Associates. In the 1990s, Paul Gapp, architecture critic at the Chicago Tribune, listed it among the city鈥檚 ten most important postwar works of architecture.

The house William Deknatel designed for prominent Northwestern University English literature professor Lambert H. Ennis and his spouse, Ellen Newby Ennis, reflects Deknatel鈥檚 training at the Taliesin Fellowship. Deknatel鈥攁long with his spouse, Geraldine, John H. Howe, and Wesley Peters鈥攚as among the charter applicants for membership at Wright鈥檚 school when it was established in 1932. While in temporary quarters, he and his colleagues worked directly under Wright on construction of the Fellowship buildings. This gave Deknatel hands-on experience with Wright before setting out to establish his own practice.

The house for Dr. Aaron and Lucile Gottschalk Heimbach in the city of Blue Island, south of Chicago, is one of a handful of single-family houses designed by Bertrand Goldberg. After starting his own independent practice with the commission of the Harriet Higginson House (1935) in the city of Wood Dale (northwest of Chicago), he designed this family residence and physician鈥檚 office.

Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses 1929鈥�75, co-authored by Susan Benjamin and Michelangelo Sabatino, is the first survey of the classic twentieth-century houses that defined American Midwestern modernism. The authors survey dozens of influential houses by architects whose contributions are ripe for reappraisal, such as Paul Schweikher and Winston Elting, Harry Weese, Keck & Keck, and William Pereira. Offered for the first time here is a excerpt of four selected homes that we hope will expand your understanding of modern in the middle.

Elizabeth Munyan, the recipient of 爱豆app Northern California (NOCA) Chapter鈥檚 2019 Travel Grant for Students & Emerging Professionals, writes about her experience attending the 2019 National Symposium in Honolulu.

Adaptive use remains an important and essential part of the preservation strategies. The case presented by Sara di Resta and Roberta Bartolone is particularly interesting. The Masieri Foundation originally asked Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new building along the Grand Canal in Venice to house its offices, replacing a typical Venetian building. After several attempts the Wright design was officially rejected by the city and Carlo Scarpa 鈥� who in turn was an admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright 鈥� was commissioned. Rather than designing a completely new building he kept the original facade, a solution typical for many projects in the 1960s and 1970s. It is this building that is being adapted for student housing to host visiting professors and students.

Claes Caldenby鈥檚 鈥淎rchitecture and Society. White Arkitekter and Swedish Post-war Architecture鈥� sketches the design and business trajectory of a large Swedish architectural firm and how its portfolio evolves in response to the changes in policies and the move away from the government鈥檚 involvement in housing.