Historic house museums aren’t just for Early American revolutionaries, pioneer settlers or Victorians any more. Yes, as appreciation for mid-20th century architecture has grown, so has the number of historic house museums. Kate and I have been working for several weeks to research and prepare what we believe is the first conclusive list of mid-century and modern historic house museums that you can visit and see. In the USA. In your Chevrolet, even.
Our list includes 59 mid century and modern house museums. A number of these are iconic, architect-designed “mid-century modern” masterpiece houses. But we also were somewhat liberal in including other early- and mid-20th historic houses that played key roles in the evolution of mid century residential architecture and the “modern” way we still live today. There are quite a few houses by Frank Lloyd Wright that fall into our “extremely influential” but not really “mid-century” category, for example.
Houses generally become “historic” for one of two reasons (or both): (1) Their architecture is special, or (2) Someone historic lived there. Reflecting this, the houses in our roundup are there for a variety of reasons — and we believe this diversity helps illuminate the story of mid-century America. In addition to the houses that are important examples of mid century and modern residential architecture, our list includes celebrity houses where Elvis, Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong lived… a number of “biographical” houses including from Russel Wright, Georgia O’Keefe, and Jackson Pollock and Louise Krasner… There are two presidential estates… and we dug and dug and dug to find two Lustron houses open to the public! We take the research all the way to one “post modern” house, a 1982 design by Frank Gehry. Don’t be harassing us, please, if you don’t like the way we sliced and diced the list; be nice; we were trying to show the love for 20th century modern and modern-esque houses that haven’t quite made it onto others’ formal lists yet. Also, we started to get cross-eyed after a while of hashing what’s “in” the list and “what’s out”. We kinda wanted to be done already.
If so, please let us know!
with lots of “bonus” photos you won’t find on the house websites
by clicking here.
pam kueber says
Note to File: Barbara on Facebooks contributes Cedar Rock in Iowa http://www.iowadnr.gov/Destinations/StateParksRecAreas/IowasStateParks/ParkDetails.aspx?ParkID=3
Lauryn says
Yay! Not too awful far from me … I’m sure it’s on the way to some place I’ll need to go in the not-so-distant future!
Elyse Rifkin says
Wow! Thanks for this great list. I can’t wait to seek out the houses and discover what wonders they hold.
Nancy B says
What fun!! Can really plan some great road trips around this info!
Queen of Fifty Cents says
What smart ladies you are – you put number one right where it should be: a few miles from my MCM house in Oregon!
pam kueber says
Kate gets all the credit for that! Working on that map was “some therapy”, I can tell you!
Jay says
Hi Pam and Kate!
Glad to see a nod to Wharton Esherick’s home, it’s in my back yard and is not widely known locally even though there have been numerous articles in publications through the years. Kentuck Knob I found out about by touring Falling Water where the guide said Falling Water was fantasy and Kentuck Nnob was reality. I am touring Manitoga after the 4th of July. Thanks for the list, great for future reference.
pam kueber says
We probably received the tip from you — thanks, Jay!
Patty says
St. Louis, Mo suburb of Kirkwood has Frank Lloyd Wright designed Kraus house open as a museum and features all original furniture including a trapezoid shaped bed.
pam kueber says
Thanks, Patty, we’ll check it out!!!
Robert says
Beat me to it Patty. I was going to mention the Kraus house here in STL as well. http://www.ebsworthpark.org
wendy in st. louis says
I’ve been there…fabulous to see. Here is a link to the few pics I was allowed to take:
http://www.pbase.com/weed30/frank_lloyd_wright_house_st_louis_mo
Sally says
The Meyer May house is located in Grand Rapids MI in Heritage Hill. Steelcase owns the house and there are tours twice a week. Heritage Hill also has a house tour once a year of five or so homes.
pam kueber says
Thanks, Sally, we’ll check these out!
Kelly Wittenauer says
Thanks for the list. I’ve done numbers 14, 23, 31, 32, 33 ,34 ,39, 43, 44 & 50. Each one a treasure. Glad to see so many more possibilities yet to explore, assembled here. A couple you may want to add – Park Forest, IL 1950s history house (parkforesthistory.org) and Polymath Architecture Park in Acme, PA (polymathpark.com). I’ve not yet had the pleasure of visiting these, but they sound worthwhile. The latter offers overnight rentals of three FLLW houses about half an hour from Fallingwater, and near Kentuck Knob as well. Also Wright In Wisconsin (wrightinwisconsin.org) offers its Wright & Like tour each June. This is a self-drive tour of buildings designed by Wright & others who practiced similarly organic architecture. Usually one or two public buildings & several private residences opened for tours for the day. I attended a few of these when we lived at the northern edge of IL, and highly recommend them. An early start & good navigation are musts!
pam kueber says
Thanks, Kelly, we’ll check these out!
Catherine says
My in-laws having been living in one of those units in Park Forest since the late 70s. Architecturally, they are not particularly interesting (they were built as and remain economical housing), but what is interesting is that they cover acres and acres. Some are rentals, some are condos, and some are co-ops. Park Forest has a lot of cool mid-century single-family houses, too. It is also highlighted as part of the permanent exhibit on transportation in the Smithsonian’s American History Museum: http://amhistory.si.edu/onthemove/exhibition/exhibition_15_2.html.
Paul says
Glad to see Polymath Park mentioned, it’s very close to Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob, and (understandably) largely overshadowed by them. The Duncan House is a FLW house moved from Illinois to a property in a failed subdivision of an apprentice, which also has two apprentice Usonian houses. I saw it for the first time this past fall and it had a great spirit that Kentuck Knob seems to be missing. OH, and you can stay overnight in it! http://www.polymathpark.com/
Sarah g (roundhouse) says
Dang! None near me! I guess I’ll have to plan a northeast or southern cal vacation soon! All we have in louisiana are plantation tours….
lynda says
Thank you! Good information and just in time for summer travel plans! The Lustron house looks interesting in Columbus, Ohio.
I think the whole town of Columbus, Indiana is worth a visit too. http://www.npr.org/2012/08/04/157675872/columbus-ind-a-midwestern-mecca-of-architecture
pam kueber says
ok but…. this list will focus only on residential architecture, not commercial or public spaces. yes, Columbus, Indiana, a great place!
Melanie says
You can tour the Miller house in Columbus, Indiana. It’s absolutely breathtaking.
pam kueber says
Yes, that’s on our list — and we have a story on it, too, from when it was first opened.