On September 15th, 2019 from 1 PM to 3 PM Mid-Century Modern Midland will host an event that lets you explore the living environments designed by, or currently lived in, by three of Midland’s most influential artists and their families:
Charles Breed
Dave Morrison
Bruce Winslow
Check out their website for more information.
a2modern is hosting an open house on Sunday, July 21st at the home of Margaret Leary and Russ Serbay. Their home is at 1056 Newport Road just north of Miller Avenue.
When Ralph Hammett designed the Newport house in 1942, there were very few Mid-Century Modern houses in town to model on and World War II was in progress so it was hard to get materials, as most were needed for the war effort. However, he was well versed in MCM principles and did a wonderful job of siting the house on the two and a half acre former farm land and creating a home with large windows well placed for maximum sunlight and built-in furniture to make it look less cluttered. He was able to use recycled materials, including a support beam and other wood from the First Methodist Church who were replacing their 1866 church with a new one.
The next year Hammett joined the Monument Men, saving Europe’s art treasures from war devastation. After the war he resumed teaching at U-M and became a nationally recognized expert on modern church architecture, spending his sabbatical year in Europe studying their modern churches. He built three churches in Ann Arbor – Lord of Light Lutheran Church, Northside Community Church, and Trinity Lutheran, of which he was a member. He designed additions for St. Andrews, first Congregational, and also for the City Club (then the Woman’s City Club).
Hammett was also interested in historic architecture. When he came to town he and his family lived in the 1842 Guy Beckley house, which he spent years restoring. He oversaw the restoration of Kempf House after the city bought it in the 1950s. Meanwhile, in 1957 he built an ultra-modern house for his family at 485 Riverview.
The house was built by Dr. Ruth Cecelia Wanstrom. She retired in 1958 and sold the house to Alfred H. Stockard, head of the UM Biological Station on Douglas Lake. Margaret Leary bought the house from Stockard’s widow. They have kept or restored the original features including bathroom tile, wooden kitchen cabinets, and marble window sills. They enlisted the help of Mary Jane Williamson, interior designer for Gunner Birkerts, who Margaret, now retired as head of the Law Library, met when she was working on the Birkert-designed Law School addition, to help with paint colors and furniture selection. Russ, an architect with Hobbs and Black, designed an addition over the garage that creates a luxurious master bedroom and bathroom.
Tickets can be purchased here. Parking is on the opposite side of the street. After the inside tour, people are welcome to wander in the gardens around the house.
On June 29th, a2modern will be hosting tours of the Crane House. Built for Florence and Richard Crane in 1954, it was the first commission for Ann Arbor architect Robert Metcalf, who went on to design over 60 midcentury modern homes in the area.
Considered a novelty at the time, the Crane House immediately attracted the attention of neighbors, journalists, and Dr. Crane’s colleagues at the physics department, who soon supplied Metcalf with additional commissions.
The house is built into a hillside with expansive dining and living room windows facing south from the second floor. Behind the house to the north the second floor is at ground level and leads through sliding glass doors to a private, trellised patio.
Metcalf worked closely with the Cranes to provide them with a beautiful, functional home. 
One requirement was that the house be designed so that the three teenage children would have a place to play music and entertain their friends without bothering their parents. The second floor master bedroom, located at the western end of the house, included a built-in desk and a dressing area for Florence. The children’s three bedrooms were placed at the eastern end of the house. The central area of the second floor included the kitchen, dining and living areas.
Florence Crane was Ann Arbor’s first female City Council member and was politically active at the local, state and national levels. Richard Crane interacted with other notable scientists including Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and Edwin Hubble, and was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Ronald Reagan. 
Many of the original science displays at the Ann Arbor Hands-on Museum were designed and built by Dick Crane.The common areas were accordingly designed for frequent social interactions. Friends, neighbors, and visiting dignitaries enjoyed the modern open floor plan, the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the comfortable family setting. Robert McNamara and other local intellectuals joined Florence here for her book club meetings.
In 2012 the Elerts acquired the house and started an extensive restoration effort. The updates include a kitchen remodel (approved by Metcalf), all new windows, landscape improvements, a new geothermal HVAC system, a new 
roof, and a new back patio.They were awarded a Rehabilitation Award by the Ann Arbor Historic District Commission in 2018. The Crane House recently appeared in Michigan Modern, Designs that Shaped America by Amy Arnold and Brian Conway. The Elerts enjoy hosting tours for architect students from the University, and home tours by various local and national organizations.
The main entrance on the first floor, which contains the garage, utility room, family room, and study are joined to the main living area by a graceful foyer which leads to a redwood paneled hallway. The hallway connects the second floor living areas which open from it to the higher ceilinged rooms and to the private patio behind the house.
Tickets can be purchased at a2modern.myevents.com.
Minoru Yamasaki, Detroit’s best-known midcentury architect, left his mark all over the city. This tour, offered once per summer to the public, explores Yamasaki’s legacy in Midtown and the Cultural Center, including stops at Wayne State University’s magnificent McGregor Conference Center and reflecting pool. Kathleen Marcaccio is the tour guide.
Our friends at Mid-Century Modern Midland (midcenturymidland.org) have created a cool new mobile app. To download the app, go to Apple App Store or Google Play Store and type Mid-Century Modern Midland.
“Midland, Michigan has over 400 Mid-Twentieth Century Modern homes, churches, commercial, educational and civic structures woven throughout the city. Due to the quality and concentration of these structures, Midland is recognized as one the most architecturally significant communities in the United States.
Beginning in the early 1930s, Alden B. Dow, F.A.I.A. introduced modern architecture to Midland, Michigan. As part of the
Mid-Twentieth Century Modern movement, Mr. Dow challenged thinking and helped to redefine how we design and use buildings. His
innovative, functional and dynamic work inspired designers and architects like Francis Warner, Jackson Hallett, Glenn Beach, Robert
Schwartz, and others, to create modern structures that are integrated into the Midland community.
Mid-Century Modern Midland, committed to documenting, preserving and celebrating Midland’s architectural heritage, has created a mobile app to share this unprecedented collection of Mid-Century Modern structures.
The app allows you to search any Mid-Century Modern structure in the City of Midland and gives you a photo and documented information about it. It introduces you to the architects and designers who contributed to Midland’s architectural landscape.
It o ffers a number of predetermined tours, but also allows you to create your own customized tour. The app will then route you to the structures you selected.”
On September 9, a2modern will host a tour of the David and Ann Saffer’s George Brigham-designed house.
This expansive single-level home nestled in the northeastern corner of a six acre property provides a maximum of privacy with spectacular views of gardens and forest. The present owners, David and Ann Saffer, enjoy “the long views” both inside the house and out across the lush and level grounds.
Mid-century Modern architect George Brigham designed this house for an elderly client who asked for two wings for bedrooms, an indoor conservatory, and a screened porch, identified in the plans as “the terrace.” The Saffers have enhanced the sensitivity of this house to its orientation in the natural setting by adding a trellis-covered patio onto the terrace, by enlarging the existing skylights and by adding a large skylight above the dining area. They have made the house a most beautiful platform for entertaining.
Arriving by car, one first sees the two-car garage and a covered walkway to two separate points of entry to the house: the main door by the master bedroom wing (west end) and farther down an access door to the kitchen. An axial corridor runs the full length of the house from master bedroom to kitchen/food preparation area along this side of the house. Entering the central core of the house there is one long and quite wide room, gently lit by clerestory windows along the north roofline. The wide floor to ceiling fireplace sets the scene of a large gathering space that is flanked by the dining area, the terrace and the open patio on the east. In the other direction expanses of glass invite one to saunter to the conservatory area (now a conversation spot) and the courtyard between the bedroom wings. The Saffers have placed in this outdoor courtyard a fountain that is audible from the master bedroom and the library.
This is not a simple ranch-style house. The generous interior dimensions of conservatory space, fireplace area, dining area, terrace area and patio area respond to the client’s needs for accommodating gatherings of many people. Equally, the views out onto the grounds and the forest create a sensation of being in nature. A highlight of the house are the eaves and the overhangs left open so as to mediate the sunlight without blocking it. These overhangs are created by the ceiling beams extending beyond the walls of the house, and while unobtrusive at first the effect is pleasure at a friendly presence.
There are many striking design features and designed-in amenities in this largely original Mid-century Modern house. A great new feature involves the tile floor covering from conservatory to the terrace. Its quiet sandstone and ochre colors unite the entire entertaining space in a single sweep and add to the feeling of openness, serenity and naturalness already induced by the design of a gifted architect.
Tickets can be purchased at a2modern.myevents.com.
On Sunday, July 8th, a2modern and Concordia University of Ann Arbor (CCAA) will offer a tour of the CCAA campus flanking Geddes Road on the banks of the Huron River near US-23. The tour will feature several midcentury modern (MCM) structures including a classroom / administrative building, the library, and the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, a midcentury gem reminiscent of Eero Saarinen’s 1964 North Christian Church in Columbus, IN. Tour guests will also have an opportunity to meet and mingle in the Earhart Manor that now serves as CCAA’s administrative center.
Earhart Mansion
CCAA was founded in 1962 as Concordia Lutheran Junior College on a 187 acre site on the grounds of the former Earhart family estatein NE Ann Arbor. CCAA commissioned architect Vincent G. Kling and his Philadelphia, PA firm to design the campus buildings. Kling, who studied at Cornell and MIT and had worked for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, headed what became the largest architectural practice in Pennsylvania in the 1960s and ‘70s. He was an AIA Fellow and received multiple national and local AIA awards. He is best known for his large Philadelphia projects including the multi-building Penn Center and adjacent Love Park, the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Lankenau Hospital and the US Mint, but he also designed several MCM residences in the area.
Concordia was dedicated and opened to students in the fall of 1963. Campus buildings clearly exhibit a midcentury modern design aesthetic and MCM features, including shed-style pre-cast concrete roofs, simple unadorned materials, and large windows connecting the inside to the exterior. They contrast nicely with the Earhart Manor (designed by Detroit architects Smith, Hinchman, and Grylls, architects for many U of M buildings) and its classic but simple limestone edifice and elegant details like its slate roof, copper eaves and Pewabic ceramic fountain and bathroom tile.
The Chapel of the Holy Trinity, a gift of Michigan Lutheran church congregations, was designed with three sides so that its tall spire would cast its shadow over each of the academic buildings, reminding students, faculty and staff of the college’s primary purpose. It was completed in 1964. The chapel features multiple ‘faceted glass’ windows executed by the French artist Gabriel Loire; Barbara Krueger, a specialist on stained glass, will be there to answer questions about them. We hope you can join us on our tour of this notable MCM campus in Ann Arbor! Tickets can be purchased here.
Building the Modern World: Albert Kahn in Detroit, by Michael H. Hodges (Wayne State University Press), tells the tale of the penniless German-Jewish immigrant who never went beyond elementary school, yet at his death was one of the world’s most-famous architects. In this lecture and slide show, Hodges will discuss Kahn’s seminal contributions to modern architecture, his staunch defense of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Diego Rivera murals when they came under attack, and his role in laying down the industrial backbone for the Soviet Union as chief consulting architect for the first Five Year Plan.
AUTHOR BIO
Michael H. Hodges is the fine-arts writer at The Detroit News, where he’s worked since the early 1990s. Building the Modern World: Albert Kahn in Detroit is his second book. His first, Michigan’s Historic Railroad Stations, was named one of the best books of 2013 by the Library of Michigan. Books will be available for purchase.
Sorry! This event is sold out.
On June 10th a2modern will be hosting a walking tour of the Thornoaks neighborhood. The tour will include several interior visits. Thornoaks is an unusually intact group of 32 mid-century modern homes, recently designated as an historic district. Docent led tours will start at 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. The entire tour is 0.6 miles long.
Tickets to the event can be purchased here.
A small enclave of 32 houses on Thornoaks Drive and Huron River Service Drive, it’s located off East Huron Drive just before the U.S. 23 underpass. On April 18 the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners voted approval of a request by the residents to designate it as an historic district thus protecting it from demolition or unfortunate alterations.
Thornoaks was developed in 1957-1961 by architect James Livingston and builder E. E. Kurtz. They carefully laid out the lots to take advantage of views of the Huron River, South Pond, or the woods. As the parcels were sold, Livingston and Kurtz reviewed the site plans, as the incorporation document states, for “materials, harmony of external design with external structure… placement of walls or fences… and to the location with respect to topography.”
Livingston was a well- respected local architect (1922-1975). Bob Chance, who worked with Livingston at the beginning of his career noted, “All of Livingston’s houses were contemporary, with lots of daylight. He did nothing old-fashioned, he wouldn’t waste his time.” Livingston is best known as the designer of Lurie Terrace. Readers may remember the cave-like Kales Water Fall, later a Chinese restaurant, and now torn down, which Livingston designed. Other work included the Bell Tower Hotel, Weber’s Restaurant and Hotel (where the idea of a pool inside an atrium with hotel rooms looking down on it may have been his invention), Lawton School, apartments including Maynard House and one on Pear Street, as well as many private homes.
Livingston’s residence – front
Livingston’s residence – rear
It is known that Livingston was responsible for at least seven Thornoaks houses, but he’s probably the architect of quite a few more, as there are many where the architect is unknown that look like his work. When Livingston was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1975, he immediately closed his office and went to Florida to spend his remaining time. The architects working for him took plans for buildings they were involved in, but it is believed the rest of his files were destroyed.
Livingston’s residence – inside
Livingston’s residence – inside
Identified Livingston homes include one he built for himself at 4099 E Huron River Service Drive, now owned by Kristine Bolhuis, the president of the Thornoaks Neighborhood Association, and her husband John Holkeboer, which is where the tour will start.
Livingston was also the local agent for Techbuilt homes and there are several homes in the neighborhood that fit the description. Techbuilts are considered among the best of the modular homes of that era. Boston area architect Carl Koch noticed that in most homes the attic and basement were the least used, so developed a module home that was just that, a basement halfway out of the ground and an attic on top of it, so both floors were very usable.
Another modular house in Thornoaks is a Deck house developed by another Boston-area architect. Other local modern architects designing homes in the neighborhood include Ted Smith and Donald Van Curler.