Us Modernist Radio - Architecture You Love

Today, it’s Bartlesville, Oklahoma, home to Frank Lloyd Wright’s skyscraper, the 19-story Price Tower, talking with new owners Macy Snyder-Amatucci and John Snyder, about their plan to bring the tower back to life. Then it’s on to Washington DC and the administration’s plans for architecture, with writer and critic Ian Volner. Next, World’s Fairs with Bill Cotter, and later, music from jazz pianist Lenore Raphael.

Do you like architecture?  Do you like Jeopardy?  Recent Jeopardy contestant Jade Snelling is an archivist at Virginia Tech working at the International Archive of Women in Architecture, preserving the history of women architects around the world. Next we've got Catherine Croft, the Director of the Twentieth Century Society dedicated to protecting Britain’s most significant 20th-century buildings. Then special musical guest, Thomas Lauderdale and Pink Martini.

Every serious Modernist fan knows about the Case Study Houses, the legendary program started by John Entenza of Arts and Architecture Magazine in the 1950’s, attracting top and emerging architects to create affordable houses for Los Angeles.  We’ll talk with Dustin Bramell, who’s working to create a new series of Case Study Houses; Cary O’Dell on the great Bucky Fuller;  mother-daughter duo Sarah and Debbie Dykstra share the story of their Frank Lloyd Wright house, and music by Lenore Raphael. 

Our last set of poolside interviews from Modernism Week 2025 features three fun and exciting author pairs: Corey and Margeret Bienert on midcentury motels, Jonathan Schroeder and Janet Borgerson on instructional records, and Adriene Biondo and Chris Nichols on the sporting craze of the 1950's - bowling!

Welcome to USModernist Radio, where we talk and laugh with people who enjoy, own, create, dream about, preserve, love, and hate Modernist architecture, the most exciting and controversial buildings in the world. It’s Monday, August 4, and we’ve got prolific architecture author Sam Lubell, Colorado architects Rowland and Broughton, and musical guest Taurey Butler.  Plus, a new addition for the USModernist Archives - we're taking on architecture podcasts that stopped producing new episodes - and preservation websites that have vanished. 

From the swanky USModernist compound in Palm Springs during Modernism Week 2025, it’s a full schedule of poolside guests. We’ve got pop culture historian Charles Phoenix, the Craig Ellwood Whisperer Barton Jahncke, and authors Peter Moruzzi and Sven Kirsten on the most fun you can have in a brightly colored Polynesian shirt - tiki bars. 

On the blue plate special today we’ve got a full platter of deliciously talented architects, with Tod Williams, Paul Masi, and Jon Gentry. Later on for a jazzy dessert, music with Carrie Marshall.

Recorded poolside at the swanky USModernist compound during Modernism Week 2025, this week we’re hanging with the Daughters of Design: Susan Saarinen, Celia Bertoia, and Carla Hartman.  Back in the studio, authors Phillip Cox and Niall Cronin on architect Evans Woollen, and later, a well-known NPR host who’s toured with Pink Martini, special musical guest Ari Shapiro.

Joining us today is architectural historian Sian Winship; Minnesota’s MVP for midcentury modern, Bobak Ha’Eri; Spencer Luckey on his playgrounds, and music by jazz pianist Lenore Raphael.  

From poolside at the swanky USModernist compound during Modernism Week, we’re all about two architects: Chicago’s Mies van der Rohe with guests Iveta Cerna, director of the Villa Tugendhat in Brno, Czech Republic; and Mies’s grandson, architect Dirk Lohan. Later on, we’ll hear from Max Strang, archivist of Gene Leedy and his impressive Florida architecture. 

This week is the close of a wildly popular exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington DC called Capital Brutalism, the history of DC’s best Modernist buildings.  With us is Executive Director Aileen Fuchs and head curator Angela Person.  Heading to California, we’ll hear what happened to a couple who went all-in on prefab, which is great, but then their prefab company went belly up, which is not.  Later on, special musical guest Madeleine Peyroux dances us to the end of love. 

From poolside in Palm Springs during Modernism Week 2025, today’s guests are authors Chris Rawlins on Fire Island’s Horace Gifford, Donald Luxton on Vancouver’s Arthur Erickson, and recorded at the PRP4 DOCOMOMO conference in Boston, David Fixler. 

When you hear about architect Mies van der Rohe and his famous Farnsworth House in Plano Illinois, little is said of the client.  Today you’ll learn the real story of Dr. Edith Farnsworth from author Nora Wendl, we talk with Todd Gannon about architect Frank Israel, plus authors Kevin Murphy and Mary Anne Hunting on women architects in the early days of Modernism. Later on, tacos with musical guest Gabrielle Stravelli. 

From poolside at the swanky USModernist compound in Palm Springs, today’s guests are the three distinguished men about town. Need a midcentury sofa in green tomorrow?  How about a tour for 25?  Or a private cocktail party at the Dinah Shore house?  Who are you gonna call?  As the expression goes, we got a guy, actually three guys, who make these wonderful kinds of things happen. 

From watches to undersea lodges to 21st century architecture, we’ll step outside the box a bit today to talk exquisite timepieces with  Ben Rousseau, underwater house pioneer Ian Koblick, and architect John Jennifer Marx.  

From poolside at Modernism Week 2025, we’ll talk with Colin Flavin, Halsey Smith, and Tim Techler on the architecture of Walter Gropius in Massachusetts and William Krisel in Palm Springs. Back in the studio, San Diego’s top Modernist realtor and ardent preservationist Keith York has a new book on Craig Ellwood -- and Alexandra Bregman hunts for a Philip Johnson house. UPDATE: A previous version of this episode gave the incorrect location for Tim Techler's practice. He is based in Newton MA. 

Today on the show number 404, architects Celeste Robbins, Grant Kirkpatrick, and Duan Tran, and podcast host Lisa Gralnek. Plus the wit and wisdom of Modernist homeowner, Burt Reynolds!

From poolside at the swanky USModernist compound in Palm Springs during Modernism Week 2025, we will meet Steve Treinen, with a new book on the Indian Canyons area in Palm Springs, plus Palm Springs architect James Cioffi, who sheds light on a pervasive myth.  Back in the studio, we’ll hear from author Helen Thompson on Aspen plus lovely tunes from musical guest Champian Fulton. 

Today we’ll visit with the CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Carol Quillen; the 2025 President of the AIA, Evelyn Lee; the founder of Tucson Modern, Demion Clinco, and the co-host of HGTV’s Who's Afraid of a Cheap Old House, Elizabeth Finkelstein.  

From poolside at the swanky USModernist compound in Palm Springs during Modernism Week 2025, we’ll talk to Liz Waytkus, Executive Director of DOCOMOMO-US and photographer-on-a-quest Andrew Pielage.  Back in the studio, we’ll hear from LA’s architect to the stars, Paul McClean and musical guest Laura Anglade.