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Mid-century accommodations Opened in 1946 as the “2400 Court,” a reference to when Motor Courts proliferated Kingsway (the main route leading in and out of Vancouver at the time), the 2400 rebranded itself as a “motel” in the early 1960s when more luxurious motor hotels (or, motels) began popping up along the busy thoroughfare. By the 1970s, new highway, bridge and Read more...
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Mid-century/desert modern buildings The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway was called the “eighth wonder of the world” when it opened in 1963, a major feat of engineering which took nearly 15 years from design to completion and later was designated an historical civil engineering landmark. Preeminent modernist architects Albert Frey & Robson C. Chambers and John Porter Clark were enlisted to Read more...
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Tiki Culture/Polynesian Pop For Tiki Culture enthusiasts this is a pilgrimage you’ll want to consider. One of the original two giant Maoi statues that graced the entrance to the Stardust Hotel & Casino’s Aku Aku Polynesian-themed restaurant back in the 1960s and 70s was relocated to Sunset Park in Henderson, just a few miles south of The Strip. Built by Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings The Pawa’a neighborhood was one of Honolulu’s most modernized districts back in the 1960s and although one could easily spend hours taking in the entire area’s Tropical Modernist offerings we like Amana Street and its immediate vicinity as a great place to start. Corresponding photos are above… click on building names below for Google Map locations. Walking Read more...
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Mid-century architecture museums One of our favorite buildings, The Palm Springs Art Museum‘s Architecture and Design Center, Edwards Harris Pavilion, started off as a bank in 1961; the Santa Fe Federal Savings & Loan to be exact, designed by noted modernist architect E. Stewart Williams. After years of disuse, The Palm Springs Art Museum purchased the vacant property in 2011 and mounted a Read more...
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Mid-century residential buildings The waterfront block of Argyle Ave. and its surrounding area – especially Bellevue Avenue – between 21st and 22nd Streets in the Dundarave/Ambleside area of West Vancouver was rezoned for apartment buildings in 1959 so it’s no wonder it boasts some of the sweetest mid-century modern construction in Metro Vancouver. With names like “The Crescent,” “Villa Maris” and “The Read more...
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Mid-century brutalist buildings Designed in 1965 by noted architect Arthur Erickson (along with Geoffrey Massey) for the Canadian forestry company of the building’s original namesake, MacMillan Bloedel, the two offset 27-story towers that comprise Arthur Erickson Place (as it was renamed in 2022) was a landmark of minimalist modernism at the time it went up in 1968. The towers’ primary Read more...
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Mid-century vintage bars Located just a few blocks east of the Fremont East Entertainment District, downtown, Atomic Liquors is the oldest free-standing bar in Las Vegas, dating back to the end of the Second World War when it opened as Virginia’s Café. The 1950s cold war era brought nuclear bomb testing to the Nevada desert just outside the city, and with Read more...
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Mid-century art/mid-century banks Tucked away above rows of greeting cards inside a busy downtown Vancouver drugstore at Granville & Dunsmuir streets endures a visually gripping mid-century mosaic mural by renowned Canadian artist & architect, BC Binning. For real! Commissioned as a feature wall inside this former Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building (designed by influential architects McCarter & Nairne, in 1958), Binning’s mural – measuring Read more...
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Mid-century office buildings Designed by architects Ron Thom & Ned Pratt (1955-1957) to house the B.C. Electric Company – later to be merged with BC Hydro – this 23-story tower is a classic example of the International Style and, at the time, was said to be the tallest building in the British Commonwealth. Although tall – for Vancouver in the Read more...
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Mid-century residential buildings Designed by Ojars Kalns (CBK Van Norman & Associates) and built in 1965, with a fourth tower added [to the original three] north of Harwood Street in 1968, the iconic Beach Towers follow Le Corbusier’s “towers in the park” dictum where structures are set back allowing room for plazas, parking and landscaping. Kalns also elevated his buildings (on stilts) Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings & art Located along Vancouver’s downtown Burrard Street corridor, the Bentall Centre holds a bank pavilion and four towers (housing established businesses and law offices) which were constructed between 1965 – 1981. Bentall One (1967) and Bentall Two (1969) were designed by Frank Musson and Charles Bentall using New Formalist principals that boast graceful precast white concrete Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings/art Located at Queen Elizabeth Park, the Bloedel Conservatory’s triodetic dome consists of over 1400 acrylic bubbles and an aluminum frame supported by a Brutalist concrete perimeter; the first of its kind in Canada and all very futuristic when it opened to the public in 1969. Its designers, Underwood, McKinley, Cameron, Wilson and Smith, structural engineers Thorson & Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings Designed by Percy Underwood and completed in 1961, the Vancouver Parks Board offices are comprised of three low lying linked buildings finished with natural stone, Douglas fir and clerestory windows. Its split level interior boasts beautiful and well preserved wood paneling, custom designed lighting fixtures and vintage furniture, all designed by Underwood. Celebrated for its naturalistic approach Read more...
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Mid-century popular culture For years organized crime got no respect, but lately Las Vegas has been embracing the mob’s role in the city’s evolution with places like The Mob Museum and The Mob Bar doing brisk business. If you believe the local lore – that mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was a visionary and driving force behind the genesis of what would become Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings Designed by CBK Van Norman in 1955, the Burrard Building was the first office high rise to go up in downtown Vancouver using new post-war modernist design and building techniques… at least on its trendy Miesian exterior. The interior holds a more traditional, less open floor plan, which the B.C. Electric/Hydro building improved upon when it went up the following Read more...
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West coast modernist houses Following the completion of the Lions Gate Bridge by Monsarrat & Pratley in 1937 – which linked Vancouver to the North Shore – residential construction in the Capilano Highlands and surrounding environs began in earnest and continued through the 1950s and 60s when the area saw a boom in West Coast modern post & beam and ranch Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings Within a few blocks of the magnificent Hawaii State Capital building are a handful of other mid-century modern structures that are magnificent in their own right. Listed in no particular order with corresponding photos above… click on addresses below for Google Map locations. Hawaii State Capital Building (415 South Beretania St.) – Designed by Belt, Lemmon & Lo, with John Carl Read more...
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Mid-century/desert modern buildings It could be said that Palm Springs was ground zero for the rapid emergence of mid-century modern civic architecture in the post-war years. In few places was the inventive manner in which new building materials and construction techniques put to such extensive use, and by such an accomplished group of architects, as it was on the Palm Read more...
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Desert modernist buildings Located in the Coachella Valley‘s central community of Palm Desert, the College of the Desert is well worth the 30 minute (or less) drive from Palm Springs for a chance to see desert modernism at its best. Designed in the late 1950s by noted architect John Carl Warnecke (the Hawaii State Capital building) in a unique collaboration Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings On the north side of West Hastings Street’s 1100 block, downtown, just past the Guinness Tower, sit three mid-century buildings constructed in the 1960s-70s by developer R.C. “Dick” Baxter. Known at the time as Columbia Centre, Baxter’s business complex boasted restaurants, offices, a hotel and was once located on prime waterfront property until Coal Harbour’s shoreline was Read more...
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Modernist comfort stations Located at dozens of beaches and parks throughout Oahu, the majority of Hawaii’s “comfort stations” – aka restrooms, changing rooms, toilets etc. – were built during the post war boom years of the 1950s & 60s which gave local architects an opportunity to incorporate the period’s predominantly modernist esthetic into what would otherwise be overlooked utilitarian structures. Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings As demand for office space increased in Honolulu during the booming 1950s, low-rise buildings gave way to mid-rise construction before the high-rise boom of the 1960s. The Continental building is a marvelous example of modernism at this time, and executed to perfection. Designed by Edwin Bauer and built in 1955, this 6-story office mid-rise exudes a tropical modernist Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings The Canadian Pacific Telecommunications Centre (currently occupied by Allstream) was the first mid-century modern structure to go up in Vancouver’s Historic Gastown, a district better known for its classical turn-of-the-century architecture. Designed by Francis Donaldson in 1968, the CP building utilized many of the New Formalist axioms such as an elevated profile, pristine columns and smooth, white, precast Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings Wanting to create a functional space that would house a downtown electrical substation as well as double as public art, BC Electric’s chief in the early 1950s, Edward “Dal” Grauer, commissioned architect Ned Pratt and artist BC Binning to make it so. The result was a stunning 3-story rectangular concrete box which boasted a street-front facade of Read more...
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Mid-century/desert modern houses Once home to an apricot orchard and a dude ranch, this area was subdivided in 1952 to make way for the Deepwell Estates, a new subdivision that would be comprised of large ranch and mid-century modern-style homes custom designed by noted ‘starchitects’ such as Howard Lapham and Barry Berkus. The stylish neighborhood with its lushly landscaped grounds and Read more...
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Mid-century/desert modern buildings Designed by noted desert modernist architect William F. Cody in 1947, for which he received the American Institute of Architects Design award, the Del Marcos Hotel was lovingly restored in 2012 and has since received Historic Landmark status. The 17 room mid-century property is a dream come true for adult-only guests who want to get away from Read more...
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Mid-century/desert modern houses Designed for singer, actress and television personality Dinah Shore by noted modernist architect Donald Wexler in 1964, this Old Las Palmas home may not reveal much from the street, but behind its discrete facade the 1.3 acre property defines timeless mid-century modern design, even today (especially today!). Walls of expansive floor to ceiling glass embrace its environment Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings With no less than a dozen mid-century modern buildings (including casinos, listed separately ) in the downtown area, modernists will feel like they’ve hit the jackpot. All are within easy walking distance of each other and we’ve listed them from north to south (more or less)… click on addresses below for Google Map locations. Old City Hall Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings When called upon to design a new downtown office building in the early 1960s, rather than go full-on high-rise, architect Gerald Hamilton designed a more intimate 8-story complex; a cluster of three towers (1 low and 2 mid-rise) artfully finished in white marble resting on green arched columns above a raised courtyard. He adorned nice minimalist embellishments on Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings In a city that often overlooks its history in favor of the next big thing it’s rare to find a mid-century modern building that still functions as it was originally intended to. Such is the case with the Edward A. Greer Education Center on East Flamingo Rd; still operating as an office building for the Clark County School District. Read more...
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Mid-century/desert modern houses Located northeast of the Palm Springs International Airport, the El Rancho Vista Estates was the first tract of homes developed by noted modernist architect Donald Wexler and is a really nice example of your typical late 1950s mid-century modern neighborhood. Wexler and his partner Rick Harrison used inventive desert-modern finishes on the homes which included decorative concrete block walls, clerestory Read more...
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Mid-century bank buildings Dotting south Palm Canyon Drive between Baristo and Camino Parocela stand a handful of elegant mid-century buildings that, in their day, represented the majesty of finance and inspired post-war optimism and consumer confidence. Some still serve the residents of the Coachella Valley as banks, while others have been restored and repurposed. All still inspire… corresponding photos are Read more...
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Mid-century brutalist buildings/plaza Comprised of three stunning Brutalist buildings and an inspired outdoor space, the Financial Plaza of the Pacific was originally conceived by Victor Gruen Associates in the mid 1960s as part of a four block revitalization project to make downtown Honolulu more pedestrian friendly. Only one block was fully realized – opened in 1968 – and consists of the 6-story Read more...
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Mid-century/brutalist buildings The tallest building at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus is also it’s most interesting. Built by modernist architects Walter Zick & Harris Sharp in 1970, and named for popular State Assembly woman Flora Dungan, the Humanities Building at UNLV is a unique example of combining the International Style with brutalism and desert modernism; a clean facade, lots Read more...
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Mid-century popular culture Las Vegas in the 1960s wouldn’t have been the same without Frank Sinatra and his legendary Summit performances with the Rat Pack. Today, imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, and all, there are a few options to relive those retro days… ♣ The Rat Pack is Back have been entertaining Las Vegas audiences since 1998 and features a Read more...
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Mid-century/desert modern houses Designed in 1947 by noted modernist architect E. Stewart Williams, The Frank Sinatra House set the bar in Palm Springs for sophisticated yet cool & casual modern living. Sinatra’s weekend desert retreat, however, was originally to have been a Georgian-style mansion if he’d had his way. Fortunately Williams’ concept for using non-traditional building materials with clean lines and open Read more...
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Vintage Casinos The original Las Vegas was built around Fremont Street, downtown, and started to take off during the Great Depression (yep, that’s ironic) when casino gambling was legalized and construction began on the nearby Hoover Dam. The real casino building boom on Fremont took place in the post-war years and at least six of these locations are still standing. Read more...
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Mid-century/desert modern houses Prolific architect Albert Frey lived and worked in Palm Springs for over 60 years, producing more than two-hundred home and building designs and pioneering what would later be termed “desert modernism.” His first home (1210 N. Via Donna), built on the flat lands near the El Mirador Resort in 1940, was a sleek and simple exercise in minimalism and Read more...
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495 W Georgia St, Vancouver, BC V6B 1Y0 Mid-century postal buildings Occupying an entire city block in Vancouver’s downtown core, the currently decommissioned General Post Office was designed by John McCarter & George Nairne and constructed between 1952-1958. It’s the city’s biggest, boldest and perhaps most distinguished mid-century modern structure still standing, so naturally it has no protective status and its Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings Near the end of Kalakaua Avenue, past Waikiki towards the base of Diamond Head, sits a strip of mid-century buildings on the Makai side (ocean side) of Kapiolani Park. Plantation style and contemporary houses also fill the neighborhood further along, but for our purposes it’s the mid-rise and high-rise buildings that give the “Gold Coast” its tropical modernist Read more...
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Mid-century/googie buildings The wacky architectural stylings of Googie can be defined by its Atomic Age-inspired geometric shapes, exaggerated rooflines and generous use of glass. Or you can just think The Jetsons meets modernist coffee shop. In fact, the word “Googie” comes from the original 1949 John Launter designed West Hollywood coffee shop, “Googie’s.” Unfortunately, that establishment was torn down years ago. In Palm Springs you’d Read more...
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Mid-century/googie buildings When defining the wacky architectural stylings of Googie, just think The Jetsons meets modernist coffee shop! In fact, the word Googie comes from the original 1949 John Launter designed West Hollywood coffee shop, “Googie’s.” Unfortunately, that establishment was torn down years ago. Las Vegas still has an array of eye-popping Googie buildings though – defined by their Atomic Age-inspired Read more...
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Mid-century modern churches Built on land donated by “Mr. Las Vegas,” Moe Dalitz (in a bid to improve his Mob-centric image, no doubt), pioneering modernist Paul R. Williams was enlisted by the Catholic Church to design the Guardian Angel Shrine in 1963. Raising the stakes on your typical mid-century church A-frame, though, Williams’ exaggerated Googie-like design did not go unnoticed Read more...
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Mid-century modern buildings & art Distinctive for its ocean green rectangular enamel panels that alternate with its glass facade, the Guinness Tower was designed by Charles Paine, circa 1967-69, and is one of the city’s finest examples of the International Style. The 23-story tower is located in downtown Vancouver’s financial district and adjacent to the equally modernist Oceanic Plaza. Its main Read more...