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59 Midcentury and Modern Historic Houses to visit across the U.S.

Pam Kueber - June 23, 2017, Updated: July 26, 2021

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

historic house museumsAre you planning a road trip this summer? If so… be sure to check out our interactive map of >> 59 Midcentury and Modern historic house museums << all across the U.S. There are even more houses listed in the comments.

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  1. kt2le says

    Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, which is a first-class museum with a stunningly beautiful collection, added a FLW home that was disassembled, moved, and rebuilt on their grounds a couple years ago. The house and setting are gorgeous and it’s definitely worth touring if in the area.

  3. Robin, WA says

    I would also recommend the tours of the Alphabet Houses in Richland, Washington. The REACH museum does monthly walking/driving tours during the summer. The Alphabet Houses (and most of the town of Richland) were built for the workers at Hanford (part of the Manhattan Project). In an attempt to keep Richland from looking too much like a government town, 26 house plans were designed with each model given a letter of the alphabet. Construction of the town spans 1942 to about 1950. From 1942 to 1956, Richland was a closed community, populated only by Hanford workers. It’s now a normal town, open to anyone. The REACH Museum has a nice exhibit about the Alphabet Houses and it also has a guided driving tour during which you get to ride on an original 1952 bus that served Richland and Hanford. The houses are privately owned, so no interior tours but just seeing the layout of the neighborhoods and the hundreds of remaining homes is well worth it. This is a really fascinating subject that combines community planning history and Cold War history. Might even be worth its own blog post! http://visitthereach.org

  4. Barbara says

    Oh my, Pamela!
    This is wonderful info!
    Me…appreciates this!
    I will certainly take you up on this!!
    Barbara!