US Modernist Radio - Architecture You Love

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.  

Since launching the podcast ten years ago in 2015, hosts George Smart and Tom Guild have had fascinating conversations with over 700 guests, including architects, owners, media, critics, authors, actors, and jazz performers.  USModernist Radio is one of America's top-rated architecture and jazz podcasts, ranked in the past as #1 by Atomic Ranch and #2 by Dwell.  The 400th episode features interviews with actress and Modernist preservationist Kelly Lynch and architecture critic Kate Wagner; the return of comedian Frank King; and special musical guest, Heather Rigdon. It will also include highlights from past episodes, including interviews with Bjarke Ingels; the last living Frank Lloyd Wright client, Roland Reisley; Moshe Safdie, Eric Lloyd Wright, Suzanne Somers, Youtube star Stewart Hicks, Hugh Kaptur; author Chris Rawlins; Daniel Libeskind; Harriet Pattison on Lou Kahn; Harry Bates; Myron Goldfinger; Raleigh's Brian Shawcroft and Lewis Clarke; Mary Schindler; and Modernism opponents David Brussat, Professor J. S. Curl, and classical scholar Catesby Leigh.

From poolside at the swanky USModernist compound in Palm Springs, three stars of the Modernist movement, Alan Hess + Janice Lyle + Sidney Williams, discussing what's become known as the Palm Springs School of Modernism and an accompanying new book.  From the studio, Russell Brown and Tom Lazarus on their recent stage play called LISTING, plus returning musical guest Colleen Duffy of Devil Doll. 

Modernist architecture makes special use of light and color, and with us today, architect Wid Chapman, color expert Sara McLean, and musical guest and expert skater, Laura Pursell. 

Today from Palm Springs during Modernism Week we explore architect Richard Neutra with guests Raymond Neutra of the Neutra Institute and Catherine Meyler, owner of a celebrated Neutra house. Back in the studio, we'll hear about Neutra's VDL house in Los Angeles from Executive Director Noam Saragosti; Neutra's sadly destroyed Maslon House from filmmaker Scott Goldstein; and special musical guests Louis Prima Jr. and the Witnesses. 

You'll hear from with the principal architects of Architecture Research Office (ARO), Adam Yarinsky, Stephen Cassell, and Kim Yao. We'll explore a 12,000 sf Modernist house in Dallas with architect Kevin Alter, and wrapping up, musical guest Carrie Marshall.

With so many good architecture books coming out, we can barely keep up.  Today we'll explore Architectural Pottery with Dan Chavkin, Jeffrey Head, and Jo Lauria;  sustainable houses with Penny Craswell, and the Queen of architecture interviews, journalist and historian Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, who has a new book out on New York.

We visit with Ward Miller of Preservation Chicago; design critic and New York Magazine writer Justin Davidson; and musical guest Eddie Mugavero of the beloved Nashville swing band Bada Bing Bada Boom.   

Following up on last week, three more authors with exciting books on architecture and design.  DJ Waldie is the bard of Lakewood California with a new book, Becoming Los Angeles. Past podcast guest, the prolific Dominic Bradbury, has a new Atlas of modernist icons.  And returning podcast guest Pierluigi Serraino shares in the new book Modern Garden how often-underappreciated landscape design was the secret sauce for midcentury modern.  

With so many good architecture books coming out, we can barely keep up scheduling interviews, but we are gonna try.  Joining the show are authors Aaron Betsky and Sam Lubell, architecture photographer Darren Bradley, and Danish Modern furniture savant, Carl D'Silva.  More books and authors next week!

It's architecture movie day, and with us is Valentina Ganeva, the producer/director of the latest doc on Rudolph Schindler, Schindler Space Architect.  Actor Ken Ogborn shares his role in a short film on photography and brutalism in the UK. Then it's the actress and singer we've loved for decades in just about everything, like Monk and Friends and The Office, Melora Hardin.  

It's another exciting edition of our Children of Genius show, with guests Jim Venturi, son of Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi; Peter Nowicki, son of Matthew and Siasia Nowicki; and Sue Ann Kahn, daughter of Lou Kahn. 

Today's new mega-transportation centers are sweeping complexes for airports and subways to move millions of people.  They are huge canvasses for architects like today's guest, Scottish architect John McAslan, who's working on the hot mess that is Penn Station.  Later we'll explore the Toast of Illinois, Champaign, with Phillip Kalantzis-Cope, author of Mid-Continent Modern and one of Champaign's architects, Jeffrey Poss.  Then it's off to New York for a fine dining breakfast in New York with returning podcast guest Monika Ryan. 

Charles Moore, the architect of California's famous Sea Ranch, was one of the chief proponents of postmodernism. His work brought a return to more ornamental detail, steep roofs, and shingles, among other classical features, and we'll learn more from Kevin Keim, Director of the Charles Moore Foundation.  Next, you've heard for a year about the destruction of Craig Ellwood's Zimmerman house in Los Angeles, now you'll hear attorney Evan Dyer's plans to bring it back.  Then we talk with Lou Grotta on preserving a Richard Meier-designed house for the future.

Paul Rudolph's buildings, built and unbuilt, continue to inspire clients, annoy critics, and gain fame, even though he died in the mid-90's.  These days, though, it's almost all smiles and admiration, and there's an important exhibition of Rudolph's work at the Metropolitan Museum in New York through March.  Year round on certain days, however, you can visit Rudolph's former office in New York, the Paul Rudolph Institute for Modern Architecture, or PRIMA.  And while you're there, you can also see the late architect Myron Goldfinger's traveling exhibition, Circle Square Triangle.  Today we'll talk with the curator of that Met exhibition, Abraham thomas, the Executive Director of PRIMA, Kelvin Dickinson, and the curator of Goldfinger's exhibition, his partner and wife June Goldfinger.  Later on, come out swinging with musical guests Chelsee Hicks and the Wholly Cats.

The Bjarke Ingels Group completed the Spiral, a tower in Hudson Yards with tree-lined terraces going around the building, all the way up.  Today we'll talk with project architect, Dominyka Voelkle.  Later, you'll discover architect Carter Sparks through his number one fan and archivist, Justin Wood.  Then it's returning musical guest, jazz superstar and high school teacher, the delightful Canadian Diana Panton.

For decades, we've been reading about Lindal Cedar Homes in design magazines.  Now, under the leadership of third-generation President Christina Lindal they've branched out into compelling designs inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright.  And inside great houses like this, you're probably going to need good decorating advice, so we go to Montauk New York to talk with author and interior designer Lauren Rottet.  Wrapping up, musical guests Marco Palos and American Idol's Blake Lewis of Phat Cat Swinger.   

It's our annual Christmas show, and In the studio we have a partner in one of North Carolina's hottest firms, architect Adam Sebastian. We talk with Quinn Garvey, our special agent inside the amazing Craig Ellwood house that Chris Pratt tore down in early 2024, and later, jazz with Angela Bingham.

Celebrities aren't typically huge fans of Modernist architecture. Most prefer a 1930's mansion or an Italianate villa. But there are a few, like Jennifer Aniston, Holland Taylor, Scott Caan, Kelly Lynch, Leonardo DiCaprio, and others who keep Modernist houses in the spotlight.  Today we'll talk with Alison Martino, producer, historian, and preservationist, the Godmother of Old Hollywood and Los Angeles.  Next up, Frank Sinatra expert Bill Boggs, and later, we'll learn about the Modernist town of Columbus Indiana from author Matt Shaw, with a new book. 

The town of Lancaster OH is famous as the birthplace of David Graf, best known as Sgt. Eugene Tackleberry in the Police Academy series.  Lancaster is also famous for … glassware, and their best-known creative rebel was Fran Taylor.  From 1939 to 1962, Taylor ran GayFad Studios, and 60+ years after her business closed, partners Jason and David Annecy have revived the brand, opened a store, and held Bottoms Up, a wildly successful midcentury barware show this past summer.  USModernist was there, interviewing the Annecys, artist Josh Agle aka Shag, and  the barware lady Amy Chastek.

We can't believe it, but USModernist Radio will be ten years old soon.  We'll have a special show number 400 featuring past guests and - you!  Are you a fan of the show?  Learned something useful?  Got a funny story?  Please contact George Smart george@usmodernist.org or 919.740.8407

From Australia, we talk with with architect and 2002 Pritkzer Prize winner Glenn Murcutt. From the UK, we've got architecture critic Rowan Moore, and wrapping up, the author of Modern Chinese Architecture: 180 Years, Nancy Steinhardt.

Rocking the California architecture scene for over 60 years, we'll talk with Malibu architect Ed Niles.  Then it's over 3000 miles and down 500 to Florida with tropical architect Ralph Choeff.  Later, one of the stars of the Purple Room in Palm Springs, musical guest Chris Bennett!

In late 2023, new owners of a classic George Matsumoto Modernist house in Raleigh NC took out a demolition permit. Usually, that's the end of the road for a Modernist house, but Melinda and Andy Knowles stepped up and persuaded those owners to delay demolition – so the couple could move the house seven miles across town, where it has been wonderfully restored on a new site next to their existing mid-century Modernist house. And with the best architecture book of the year, we'll talk to architect and author James Biber. Later on, musical guest Allegra Levy.

We'll talk today about Texas and California, two of our most populous states that could not be more different, with Kathryn O'Rourke and Ben Koush, authors of Home, Heat, Money, God: Texas and Modern Architecture; and Michael Webb, author of California Houses: Creativity in Context.

Talking architecture can be a little dense, wordy, and imponderable, especially for people who aren't architects but just love talking about, visiting, and being inspired by cool buildings.  Today we talk with two noted populists who make architecture understandable, architect and professor Christopher Wilson, and journalist and architourist Ken MacIntyre of modtraveler.com.  Later on, musical guest Emilie-Claire Barlow. 

Landscape architects are the ninjas of the design world, silently orchestrating beauty around buildings while you're too busy staring at your phone. They decide whether that park bench is in the sun or shade, the exact curve of a sidewalk, and how to make an average building look extraordinary.  They're the ones who make sure your city doesn't feel like a concrete jungle and that your suburban sprawl doesn't completely lose touch with nature. Today we'll talk with two exceptional landscape architects, Chris LaGuardia and Michael Van Valkenburgh. Later, music with Pink Martini's Timothy Nishimoto. 

In nearly every major city, housing the homeless is a major problem.  Since the defunding of residential mental health programs in Reagan era, the dramatic cost of housing, and other cutbacks in the welfare safety net, America created a huge population of people with problems who have nowhere to live except outside.  Especially in California, which has the most homeless citizens in America, everyone recognizes the problem but there's complete lack of political will or consensus to significantly address it.  Even with the better ideas, there's a generally well-funded, lawyered-up constituency that's going to fight it.  Joining us today are the authors of the new book Housing the Nation, architect Alexander Gorlin and architectural historian Victoria Newhouse, with their take on what to do.

Where does the real work get done in Modernist preservation? State and local preservation groups show up at long, boring, and ridiculously bureaucratic public meetings, week after week, sometimes for years.  They get historic preservation tax credits passed in most states, and they monitor everything from development to the preservation easements we talk about frequently.  Joining us in the studio are two of these heroes, Preservation Durham's Julianne Patterson and Preservation North Carolina's Benjamin Briggs. From Chicago, we'll talk with Ben Thomas, Executive Director of the Society of Architectural historians; later, music with Helena Redman.

Today you'll hear from Miami architect and author Chad Oppenheim; from Long Beach architect Alan Pullman; from New Canaan author David Peterson, and later we swoon again with returning musical guest Halie Loren singing from her new album. 

Being a Black architect in the white-male-dominated 20th century was tough.  You were paid less, worked harder, and rarely got any credit.  That is, if you could get hired at all. For example, by 1950 there were only two Black architects registered in North Carolina, both male. By 1980 the number was only 65 out of 1909. Even by 1993, Black architects made up only 7.5% nationally.  Today we'll hear from Charles McAfee, considered by many to be the greatest living African-American architect. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, supported by the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles, is working to share and elevate the achievements of African-American architects, both men and women.  We'll talk with the director that program, Brent Leggs.  Later on, great jazz with Jaimee Paul.

The 2024 Architecture and Design Film Festival, or ADFF, starts up next week in New York.  This long-running series is led by returning podcast guest Kyle Bergman, who founded the ADFF in New York in 2008 and hosts versions all over the world.  ADFF seeks out films with impassioned, human stories that appeal to both architects and the general design-loving public.  Today we'll talk with filmmakers who've shown at ADFF including Sabine Gisger, Beatrice Minger, Katerina Kliwadenko and Mario Novas. Plus, we'll talk with Kyle about the highlights for 2024.  Then, it's a great conversation with actor and singer Lucie Arnaz about architecture and jazz - and Spock's half-brother.

For every 3 or 4 Modernist buildings out there, there is likely one amazing unbuilt building with plans sitting in a drawer or a hard drive somewhere.  Exploring the wonderful world of the imagined but not realized, joining us are the authors of Never Built Los Angeles, Never Built New York, and the new book, the Atlas of Never Built Architecture, Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin. Later, music with Chicago's Paul Giallorenzo.

Today we're talking about Modernist havens San Diego and La Jolla with midcentury author and historian Keith York; plus Joan Gand and Lauren Lockhart of the La Jolla Historical Society on their upcoming Modernist tour, of which USModernist is a sponsor.  Later on, jazz with Lisa Veronica Wood and the Sidecar Social Club.

It's a sad day in the studio, because this is the last Modernism Week show of 2024.  We've brought you 11 wonderful episodes from our annual pilgrimage, and today wraps up the series with returning guests mid-century historian Charles Phoenix; Natascha Drabbe of iconichouses.com; traveling all the way from Canberra, Australia, Phillip Jones the Martini Whisperer; and Lautner homeowner Andrew Vottero.

Today we're talking about an architecture TV series spanning the globe and a new design documentary.  Joining us is ByDesign's Mike Chapman and IBM archivist Jamie Martin, who is featured in the new documentary Modernism Inc.  Later, musical guest Paget Moren.

In this our next to last show from Modernism Week 2024, George talks with San Francisco concrete designer and architect Fu Tung Cheng, and later Marisa Mulder + Jim Burns + Brooke Babcock on composer and arranger Jimmy Van Huesen, who with Frank Sinatra as his muse carried the great American songbook to new heights in the 1950's and 1960's.  

When the internet came along, many industries changed forever, and one of them was the auction business.  Remember how exciting eBay was when everything was up for bid?  Traditional auction houses had to move quickly to adapt, and the opportunities of moving from a local to a regional or national or international market through the internet were immense.  One auction firm which has made a wildly successful transition is Leland Little in Hillsborough NC, and we'll talk inside their Modernist warehouse with Modernist director Luke Newbold.  Later, it's architect, professor, attorney, and former first lady of Hartford CT, Sara Bronin, chair of the US Advisory Council for Historic Preservation, plus musical guest Roslyn Kind.

If there's one thing architecture fans love as much as tours and parties, it's architecture documentaries, and we've been covering dozens of those over the years.  Recorded at Modernism Week 2024, George talks with author and Emmy-winning filmmaker Jake Gorst on his new film New England Modernism.  Following that, a chat with Kirk Brown of DesignOnScreen, who funded many of Gorst's films about Palm Springs, creating a visual history of Modernism.  Later on, musical guest Laura Pursell skates into our hearts. 

Oh California, where the sun is warm.  Where the winds from Santa Ana make you feel like you belong.  California, wherever you may roam.  California keeps calling you home.  Those words from the 1978 movie If Ever I see You Again, a tribute to California. Are you pining to live in the Golden State?  Joining us are today are well-known California architects Leo Marmol, Wally Cunningham, Monika Hafelfinger, and Drew Pedrick.

We've had many shows on the great midcentury architects of Palm Springs, people like Chambers, Clark, Cody, Frey, Krisel, Sackley, Wexler, White, Williams, and the last man standing, Hugh Kaptur.  But that was the 20th century, and we're in the 21st.  In fact, we're pretty near mid-century in the 21st, so today, you'll hear from two of today's Palm Springs architects, Michael Kiner and Mark Daniels.  They create houses that Modernist fans will be fondly touring and doing podcasts about - 30 years from now. 

Michael Kimmelman is the architecture critic for the New York Times. He writes on design, housing and homelessness, neighborhood development, cities, the environment,  and civil society. Then it's a delightful visit with returning musical guest Monika Ryan.

Kirsten Roech is the new executive director of Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. Then, take a ride down memory lane with Marina Coates, creator of the YouTube series Behind the Scenes, featuring tours of your favorite TV and movie houses.  Later on, musical guest Andrea Carter.

Designed by Richard Meier, with project architect Tod Williams, the 1973 Douglas House is a towering white residence built on a steep, conifer-covered slope overlooking Lake Michigan.  In 2007, retired Proctor & Gamble executives Mike McCarthy and Marcia Myers became the fourth owners and embarked on its second restoration, doing a deep dive to bring it back to life.