Docomomo US/MN
  • WHO WE ARE
    • Board Members
    • Contact Us
  • NEWS & EVENTS
    • News
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events >
      • Mid Mod Marvel: Masterfully Maintained Modernism
      • Going, Going Gone! Close Encounters
      • Spring 2025 Ackerman Events >
        • ONLINE Lecture: Mid-Century Modern Design Duo: Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman
        • Film Screening and Presentation: A Life and Legacy of Design: Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman
        • Book Launch and Presentation: Timeless Tapestries of Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman
        • Reception with Laura Ackerman-Shaw
        • Weaving Studio Open House
      • Mid Mod Marvel: Graffunder Rewind
      • Mid Mod Marvel: One Owner Wonder!
      • Road Trip to Clear Lake: Ashera by Tom Olson; Going, Going Gone!
      • 2024 Events >
        • A Very Merry Mod Mixer 2024
        • 2024 Tour Day
        • 2024 Fall Home Tour
        • Friedman House Tour: Going, Going Gone!
        • Mod Mixer 2024
        • George Mastny Residence Open House
      • 2023 Events >
        • 2023 Tour Day
        • Open House: Frank Lloyd Wright's Willey House
        • 2023 Fall Home Tour
        • Pop Up Tour: St. John the Evangelist
        • Member Road Trip to the Bunker House
      • 2022 Events >
        • 2022 Tour Day
        • Joseph Michels in Saint Anthony Park: Going Going Gone!
        • Gustafson Residence, 1956; Going Going Gone!
        • Going Going Gone! John Howe in Rochester
        • 2022 Film Screening: GOFF
        • Tapping History: Midcentury Modernism in the South Lake Minnetonka Area
      • 2021 Events >
        • Cabin Culture Tour 2021
        • Going, Going, Gone! Broadbent Residence
        • Going, Going, Gone! Boynton Cutright House
        • Going, Going, Gone! Arthur Dickey in Minnesota
        • Mount Telemark Virtual Visit
        • Mini Film Fest: MN Modern Masters
      • 2020 Events >
        • 2020 Tour Day
        • Grabow House Going, Going, Gone!
        • 2020 Film Screening
        • Lisl Close and the Legacy of Modern Design
      • 2019 Events >
        • 2019 Tour Day
      • 2018 Events
      • 2017 Events
      • 2016 Events
      • 2015 Events >
        • 2015 National Symposium
  • EXPLORE
    • Resources
    • Buildings, Sites and Designers
    • National Advocacy Themes >
      • '25 Nat'l Theme: Places of Worship
      • '24 Nat'l Theme: Corporate Campuses
      • '23 Nat'l Theme: Revisiting Urban Renewal
      • '22 Nat'l Theme: Shopping Malls
      • '21 Nat'l Theme: Travel & Leisure
      • '20 Nat'l Theme: 70s Turn 50
    • 2015 Symposium Archive
  • MN MODERN REGISTRY
  • JOIN
  • DONATE
  • STORE

2020 (virtual) Tour Day: The 1970s Turn 50 Across Minnesota – Sunday, October 11​; 1-4pm

Can you dig it? The Docomomo US/MN annual Tour Day was virtual this year. Far out!

On Sunday, October 11, 2020, Docomomo US/MN crisscrossed the state of Minnesota, highlighting public and private sites that exemplify the outta sight (and now historic) decade of late modernism that was the 1970s.

Presented via livestream by intrepid reporters (okay, actually socially distant  Docomomo US/MN board members), our 2020 Tour Day featured three keen sites across Minnesota, to explore the impact of seventies modernism on our state.  Each tour host answered live questions from the virtual audience.

Here's the skinny: recordings of each virtual tour, as well as supplemental information are available below. Catch you on the flip side!
​

Featured Tours:

 University Grove Rehab: 1972 Tom Van Housen adapted to 2020
Picture
Photo Courtesy Obeo

Built in 1972, this home was one of the last installations of the 50-year architect-designed enclave of University Grove. This year, the new owners embarked on a renovation plan that honored the original vision by Tom Van Housen and Progressive Design Associates while modernizing the interior to reflect life in 2020.

Repeat tour goers will recognize the style of this house from previously featured Tom Van Housen homes in University Grove: open first floor, clerestory windows and modest bedrooms separated from living spaces.

This tour was guided by one of the listing agents with the new homeowner. Download a PDF with 2019 photos before renovation.
​
Watch Recorded Tour on Vimeo
Chanhassen Earth Home: In the future, we will live underground
Picture
Photo Courtesy Jamie Heilicher

Conceived during the energy crisis of the 1970s, this earth-sheltered home in Chanhassen, MN sought to take advantage of natural heating and cooling properties by burrowing into the earth, reflecting one of the directions that architecture was taking at the time.

The house was designed by Architect Bruce Knutson of K.K. Designs (St. Louis Park, MN) for Lee and Jane Mosman. Construction began in 1975. Lee Mosman was a second generation mason and built the house himself as contractor. He spent about 4 years building the home as he did most of the work himself and completed it in 1979.

The home includes Old Chicago Brick (over 10,000 on the interior), Rocky Mountain quartzite flooring, oak tongue and groove paneling on walls, pine tongue and groove ceilings in lofted areas, Spancrete ceilings in rest of structure, and the exterior is covered with rocks – accumulated in the low area near the house from the farmland that used to surround the home.

The multi-level level home is earth-sheltered, with the lowest portion about 25 feet below grade. Originally all flat areas were covered with earth and grass, but over time these areas have changed to decking, pavers, and rock due to leaking issues – it turns out that Minnesota's climate made earth-sheltered structures more complicated than everyone thought at the time.

The tour was hosted by the current owners – since 1986 – Stephanie and Jamie Heilicher, who have made many updates over the years, including renovated bathrooms and kitchen. Jamie is the board treasurer for Docomomo US/MN.

Download a PDF with photos and original blueprints.
​
Watch Recorded Tour on Vimeo
 New Ulm Library and Environs: Late modernism in greater Minnesota
Picture
Photo Courtesy Mike Lovato

New Ulm may be known more for its rich German heritage and quaint small-town vitality than for its bold mid-century architecture, but the 1970s were an important decade for this small prairie community in southwest Minnesota.

We will begin by looking at the master planning work undertaken by InterDesign, Inc. in the mid-1970s to provide a modern framework for the city's cultural heritage. InterDesign, Inc. is recognized as one of the first interdisciplinary design firms in the country and was founded by visual designer Peter Seitz, architect Dewey Thorbeck, and landscape architect Roger Martin. InterDesign, and Peter Seitz specifically, had an outsized role in developing Minnesota's design intelligence, both through Seitz's design work and particularly in his role as the Walker Art Center's first Design Director.

​The tour concluded at the New Ulm Public Library, designed by Freerks, Sperl, and Flynn, which opened in 1976. The brutalist library manages the difficult task of being an excellent example of late-modern brutalism, while still being an inviting and beloved part of the community.

Read more about InterDesign, the New Ulm master plan and Freerks, Sperl and Flynn 
​
Watch Recorded Tour on Vimeo

Useful Links

2015 Symposium Archive
Upcoming Events
Resources
Contact Us

Sign Up for Updates

Contact Us

Docomomo US/MN
850 Decatur Ave N
Golden Valley MN 55427
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Proudly powered by Weebly

Unless otherwise noted, site photographs courtesy of  Peter J. Sieger Architectural Photography 


share

© 2019 DOCOMOMO US MN | SITE BY WHIP-SMART

Docomomo US/MN