Mid-Century Modern architecture, for the purposes of this blog, is smaller-scale Modernist architecture built in the United States from 1950-1969. Related to the larger Modern and International movements, Mid-Century Modernism represents the change in the architectural zeitgeist from the lavishly ornamented Art Deco and Beaux-Arts architecture to a rejection of perceived unnecessary decoration. Most of my entries with this tag will be Ohio State's campus architecture from the 1950s and 1960s.
For the sake of clarity, there are many different terms for the overall Modernist movement. I define the ones I use as such:
- Modernism - a blanket term for all vaguely Modernistic architecture built from the mid-1940s until the late 1970s
- Internationalism - In Europe, specifically the beginnings of the Modern movement starting in the 1920s. In the United States, the glassy, boxy skyscrapers of the 1950s-1970s, designed by Mies van der Rohe, SOM, et al.
- Mid-Century Modernism - see first paragraph
Mid-Century Modernism traces its roots to the International movement, which began in Europe in the 1920s. The United States was beginning its Art Deco craze during this period, another proto-Modernist movement, and by the end of World War II modern architecture became popular. Many famous houses, which Mid-Century Modernism is best known for, were built within the next few years.
The main principles of Mid-Century Modernist architecture are its simplicity, lack of ornament, and transparency. In the United States, it was slightly less formal than orthodox Internationalism, though most of its tenets were still obeyed. A good example of this is the related Mid-Century Modern movement in the design world, which brought us the famous Eames Chair.
The first principle is very obvious through analyzing the massing of Mid-Century Modernism--many buildings are rectangular and low-slung. (Naturally, this is why critics who deride this style of architecture call them "boxes.") Most features exist for the ease of the homeowner, like the innovation of the single-story ranch house.
Second, the Modernists believed traditional architecture was too excessive and that the high levels of ornament present in the preceding Victorian/Gilded Age era were 1. a distraction from what a building really should be tectonically and 2. so ugly/out of fashion that many older buildings had their remaining original decoration removed entirely during this period, perverting those "dated" works of architecture into bastard Modernist buildings.
Finally, Mid-Century Modern architecture is usually very transparent and glassy. Although it is not always the case, many houses from this period have massive curtain walls of glass. In plan, rooms are very wide and low, and the idea of "open-concept" was being pioneered for the first time.
Like the larger Modern movement, Mid-Century Modernism went out of fashion in the mid-1970s after Postmodern architecture grew in popularity. Postmodernism advocated for a return to traditional decoration when designing and attempted to defeat the hoity-toity attitude of many Modernist architects towards their work by taking architecture less seriously.