Architectural Research Resources

02/02/2023

2023 Doors Open weekend is soon to hit around the country! Free access to museums, historic homes, galleries etc! Check your local area for dates and lists of things to see! Registration I believe is required and does fill up quickly so Google for your area! California is Sept 9-10, Minneapolis May 13-14, Milwaukee (check Historic Milwaukee website). Keep looking for your area, if I find more I'll post!

10/06/2022

For those of you in NY, here's what Archtober brings you, oh how I wish I had wings to get to all of these places!

It's that time of the year again: Archtober, New York City's Architecture and Design Month, is back. Now in its 12th year, the annual festival has returned with another packed calendar featuring lectures, tours, workshops, screenings, and other exciting live special events across the five...

10/06/2022

For any of you near or in Chicago - a great weekend ahead! Open Chicago is free access to a gazillion neat museums, neighborhood tours, etc! Who doesn't love free fun?! Here's a link to get your app to start enjoying! Way too much to see in one weekend, I'd be exhausted!

Browse 20+ neighborhoods and more than 150 sites that are part of Chicago Architecture Center's Open House Chicago. Plan which neighborhoods you want to explore.

10/06/2022

So I get a lot of architectural posts in my email, websites, groups, etc and I do try to at least take a look at them regardless of style of architecture since I love just about everything. While this isn't exactly architecture, it relates to our beautiful US Post Offices and their lovely murals! During the New Deal when a lot of governmental building was going on, talented artists graced our post offices with amazing murals, maybe you've seen some of them. The group is holding a FREE webinar on the 11th that I though some of you might enjoy. I am hoping to be there myself, at least on line. Here's more info:

The New Deal didn’t just decorate post offices, it celebrated them. Murals, bas-reliefs and sculptures depict letters being written, mailed, sorted, transported, delivered, read and shared. Yet, these artworks are increasingly imperiled as post offices are sold and repurposed. Barbara Bernstein, t...

10/06/2022

Good morning architecture fans! Coming to you from Boulder CO today! Check out this lovely MCM church I found by the architects Nixon and Jones, who were in practice during the 1950's - 70's. Nearly had an accident gawking at this beautiful building, as well as several others, driving around this gorgeus area. This is First Christian Church, built in 1960.

09/12/2022

Great event we had for our archives commission through the American Institute of Architects this past summer. Theme was women in architecture. Give a listen, 3 amazing Arizona architects!

This session, from March 2022, highlighted the stories and lives of Tucson architects Anne Graham Rockfellow, Anne Rysdale, AIA, and Judith Chafee, FAIA. Presenters…

09/11/2022

Clinton Library and Museum, James Polshek

09/11/2022

James Polshek, Santa Fe Opera House

09/11/2022

James Stewart Polshek a wonderful Modernist architect, passed away this week at the age of 92. He is most currently known for his design of the William J. Clinton Library and Museum, but for my New Mexico friends, he also did the the 3rd rebuild of the Santa Fe Opera House. Mostly known for his commercial and museum architecture, he did design the US Embassy in Oman. The last formation of his architectural practice is known as Ennead Architecture https://www.ennead.com/. He will be missed by the architecture community.

Ennead Architects makes transformative architecture for institutions in the public realm.

07/16/2022

As always, check up on what we're doing on www.usmodernist.org and sister website www.ncmodernist.org for everything residential modern! Some great tours, lots of great architecture magazines you can full free access too, and there's a podcast as well! You'll be hooked I promise ;)

The Eduardo Fernando Catalano House in Raleigh NC (since destroyed): from left to right: Smitty, Ginny, Bev, Pam, and Marty in a photo by famed architecture photographer Ezra Stoller.

07/16/2022

This week I'm working on the architecture of Pietro Belluschi (no relation to John as far as I know ;) ), California architect Beverly Willis, and Malibu architect Harry Gesner who just recently passed away at the age of 97, man this dude was cool! Check out this video on Harry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPVWEZ2pM4 Thanks for checking out the page and I'll keep you posted on what's new!

Film by Eric Minh Swenson, Music by Casey Martin Dolan Houses of the Sundown Sea:The Architectural Vision of Harry GesnerBy Lisa GermanyNew Photography by Ju...

07/04/2022

It's been a long time. I was going to shut the page down but guess I never got around to it! I'll be better about adding new architecture content. The latest is an archive I'm working on that will be donated to the university or the museum, whichever decides they've got enough room. A local firms partial archive of plans that were accidentally thrown out a couple of decades ago that was rescued by a dumpster diver who gave them to me to find a home for. More later as it becomes a done deal. As for the modernist work, check out www.usmodernist.org for new collections I've researched, several women and soon more Palm Springs designers! We've also added more AIA magazines from several states/cities, more fun podcasts, and check out the new tours! Will be back for more!