Docomomo US National Tour Day 2025: Places of Worship. In-Person Twin Cities Sacred Spaces Tours. Saturday October 11, 2025


Join Docomomo US/MN for in-person site visits across the Twin Cities to Places of Worship designed during the mid 20th century.

Date: Saturday, October 11, 2025

Tickets are free for all tour locations, open to all.

Eventbrite registration is required for each location. Please be sure to add tickets for each location you plan to visit!
Locations and Tour Times –

Trinity Lutheran Church of Minnehaha Falls, Minneapolis. 1959-61.
Open House; 10am – 11:30am

Designed by the architectural firm of Sovik, Mathre & Associates, the church has concrete side columns shaped like elongated diamonds; the $600,000 structure was designed to seat 660 with more than 200 in overflow; the assembly hall on the lower level designed to seat 700 for banquets; St. Olaf College Prof. Arnold Flaaten created relief panels in the chancel depicting Biblical themes; Builder: M.A. Mortenson Co. 

​St. Columba Catholic Church, St. Paul. 1948-50
Open House; 11:30am - 1pm

Architect Barry Bryne was an internationally-noted architect based in Evanston, IL. Bryne began his career working in the Prairie Style, before developing his own more simplified approach to form after WWI, implementing the Expressionist Style. The parish pastor Michael Casey insisted that the bell tower of the new church be built to look like an Irish round tower; per a contemporaneous report in The Minneapolis Star, "... it would combine the ancient and modern, recall the youth of the church's patron saint, St. Columba, who played at the foot of such a tower in Ireland."

Mount Zion Temple, St. Paul. 1952-54.
Guided Tour; Beginning Promptly at 1:30pm

Designed by Erich Mendelsohn and completed after the architect's death, the structure has a large patio, opening towards downtown St. Paul, flanked by an 18-classroom school, sanctuary, and chapel. The design is filled with symbolism: The towers of sanctuary and chapel rise to denote "the aspiration of worship." One tower has a double-tablet symbolic of the Ten Commandments, the other has a Menorah.

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, New Brighton. 1967-68.
Guided Tour; Beginning Promptly at 3pm. Abstract lecture by Mary Dahlman Smith; 3:45pm

This Late Modern church was designed by Shifflet, Hutchison & Associates, with liturgical consultant Frank Kacmarcik. Strong design with powerful brick walls, the nave seats 1,400. Congregation established in 1902 for a mostly Polish community; the current complex began with the 2-story school at the northern end, finished in 1952. A large 1955 addition included a 500-seat auditorium which served as the parish church until the 1968 structure was completed.

About the Presenter:
Mary Dahlman Smith is an architectural designer, researcher, and writer living in Chicago. She has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, South Dakota State University, and the University of Minnesota. Mary holds an M.Arch from the University of Minnesota and a B.Arts in American Studies from Carleton College. She co-founded Interesting Tactics, a design collaborative, and is a member of the Institute for Linear Research, a platform for studies of remoteness. Since 2020, Mary has been conducting thematic and site-specific research supporting the Docomomo US/MN Minnesota Modern Registry.

This year, Mary Dahman Smith is presenting her research in a virtual lecture as part of the Places of Worship series of events: Liturgy and Modernism: Frank Kacmarcik's influence in Minnesota. Thursday, October 16
Registration Details:
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​Registration via Eventbrite is required for each location. Please add tickets for all of the locations you plan to visit. Some locations have limited capacity and may sell out. 

Limit four tickets per registration. Full Names for each attendee will be required to complete registration. Transportation to each location is on your own – carpooling is strongly encouraged!

Additional Places of Worship Events Throughout October, Presented by Docomomo US/MN:


​About Docomomo US National Tour Day:
The only national program of its kind, Tour Day is devoted to the appreciation of modern architecture in the United States. Tours and events focused on architecture and design of the Modern Movement are hosted, coast-to-coast, by Docomomo US chapters, partners, and leading voices in preservation. 
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Exceptional and inspirational places of worship built in the mid-twentieth century exist in nearly every corner of the country. They often serve as community anchors – “third places” – where people come together to pray, to celebrate, and to support one another in times of need.  
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For many, including preservationists, historians, and architecture lovers, these sites uplift and inspire regardless of religious affiliation or denomination. And yet for every soaring ceiling, contemplative ray of light, moving element of art, and stained-glass adoration, places of worship and their congregations often struggle with maintenance, reuse, and continued relevancy in an ever-changing world. 
Our thematic focus for 2025 is on the multitude of religious, spiritual and faith-based sites across the country – illuminating their distinct styles, development, and community impact. A deeper examination of this common typology furthers our understanding of Modern architecture and design in the United States.   

The creation of these uplifting structures, interiors, and landscapes often included a complex design fabric related to means of worship, rituals, and embedded iconography integral to specific denominations and storytelling. Spatial volumes, materials, light, sculpture, furniture, landscape, and decoration were intentionally designed to foster celebration and meditation.  

Today some of these sites are under threat because of underuse and surrounding development pressures. Deterioration of large structures that are overwhelming to small congregations, deferred maintenance and financial challenges are significant issues facing many historic sites. Due to the sheer number of this resource type, another challenge is documentation. 

We hope this theme encourages members of the public to seek out the midcentury churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, and other places of worship in their neighborhood or across the country.