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59 mid century and modern historic house museums that you can visit

Kate

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

59 historic mid-century houses you can visit -- researched by retrorenovation-com-staging.enwf9w61-liquidwebsites.com

Gordon House FLW 1957 Silverton, OR Eugene O'Neill House 1937 Danville, CA Schindler House 1922 West Hollywood, CA Eames House 1949 Pacific Palisades, CA Stahl House 1959 Hollywood, CA Neutra VDL House 1933, Los Angeles, CA Hollyhock House FLW 1917 Los Angeles, CA Leo Carillo Ranch 1937 Carlsbad, CA Sinatra Twin Palms 1947 Palm Springs, CA Elvis’ Honeymoon House 1960 Palm Springs, CA Sunnylands 1966 Rancho Mirage, CA Clark Co. Museum Heritage Street Henderson, NV Morelli House 1959, Las Vegas, NV Taliesin West FLW 1939 Scottsdale, AZ Georgia O’Keefe Home/Studio renovated 1945, Abiquiu, NM Barton County Museum Lustron Home Great Bend, KS Allen-Lambe House FLW 1915 Wichita, KS LBJ Ranch Remodeled 1951 Stonewall, TX Wilson House 1959 Temple, TX 1950s All Electric House 1954 Shawnee, KS Winston Guest House 1982 Owatonna, MN Stockman House FLW 1908 Mason City, IA Taliesin 1911 FLW Spring Green, WI Murihead Farmhouse B&B FLW early 1950s Hampshire IL Fabyan Villa & Japanese Garden FLW 1907 Geneva, IL Dana-Thomas House FLW 1940 Springfield, IL Graceland remodeled 1957 Memphis, TN Rolling Meadows 1953 Ranch Replica Rolling Meadows, IL Farnsworth House 1951 Plano, IL Bradley House FLW 1900 Kankakee, IL Frank Lloyd Wright walking tour Oak Park, IL Robie House FLW 1910 Chicago, IL Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio 1889/1898 Chicago, IL Emil Bach House FLW 1910 Chicago, IL Miller House 1953 Columbus, IN Rosenbaum House FLW 1939 Florence, AL Alden B. Dow Home & Studio 1941 Midland, MI Saarinen House 1920s Bloomfield Hills, MI Dymaxion House 1946 Dearborn, MI Weltzheimer/Johnson House FLW 1948 Oberlin, OH Ohio Historical Society Lustron Home Columbus, Ohio Carl Sandburg Home 1838 Flat Rock, NC Kentuk Knob FLW 1956 Chalk Hill, PA Fallingwater FLW 1935 Mill Run, PA Martin House Complex FLW 1903-1905 Buffalo, NY Graycliff FLW 1926-1931 Derby, NY Shoe House 1948 York, PA Eisenhower National Historic Site 1950 Gettysburg, PA Hillwood Estate Museum & Gardens remodeled 1955 Washington, DC Pope-Leighey House FLW 1940 Alexandria, VA Wharton Esherick Museum 1926 Malvern, PA Russel Wright’s Manitoga & Dragon Rock 1961 Garrison, NY Guest House, Field Farm 1960 Williamstown, MA Frelinghuysen Morris House 1930-1942, Lennox, MA Philip Johnson Glass House 1949 New Canaan, CT Louis Armstrong House Museum 1910 remodeled 1940s, Queens, NY Pollock/Krasner House & Study Center 1879 East Hampton, NY Gropius House 1938 Lincoln, MA Zimmerman House FLW 1950 Manchester, NH

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.

Readers, did we miss any mid century or modern historic house museums?
If so, please let us know!
In all cases, the houses had to be open for tours. Some are open all the time. Some require reservations. So call ahead. Our map is interactive — hover over any of the dots to see the name and year of the house. Click on the dot to get to either the house’s website or, if we’ve written about the house, the link will take you to our story. With our stories, we always try to get lots of great photos — more than you are likely to see on the house’s website.

Read all our spotlight stories
with lots of “bonus” photos you won’t find on the house websites
by clicking here.

 

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  1. Kayelle says

    Don’t forget the Midcentury Modern Museum in Belleville, IL, featuring the work of Charles E. King. It is located right across the river from Saarinen’s Gateway Arch.

    • Susan Halla says

      I used to drive by this every day while I was working on a project over on Main Street! It was still a funeral home back then (only a few years ago) but I admired it from afar. So glad you posted about this!

  2. Theresa Crawford says

    You may want to consider adding the Oak Ridge “Flat Top” house that’s on display at the American Museum of Science and Energy at Oak Ridge, TN. It’s an interesting two bedroom cozy little home built to house research staff and their families during WWII. Built by the DOE from 4×8 sheets of birch veneer plywood (some of it as built in furniture in the living/dining room.) If I recall correctly, it’s an original flat top, not a replica, and it’s fully furnished with period furnishings. My son and I feel in love it’s thoughtful efficiencies, and with only minor changes, a similar construction could be a very nice starter or downsizer home if reproduced to today’s codes.

  4. John says

    #21 is Winton not Winston. It is no longer open to the public and is in the process of being moved.

    #24 is no longer open to the public as a B & B nor is it open for tours.

  5. Thomas says

    Not a house, but a great museum, tour and you can stay there; Price Tower in Bartlesville OK.

  8. Judy h. says

    Wasn’t able to view the Frank Lloyd Wright home in Shawnee, KS. 🙁 The only one that happens to be close by.

    • Pam Kueber says

      Not sure which one you’re talking about. #20 link works – their page just changed and they don’t seem to show the house online anymore. It’s not FLW.