Get your modern architecture fix at the Mad About Modern Home Tour

This Saturday’s event will mark the fifth year of the tour, and its first under the banner of the Charlotte Museum of History. It was previously hosted by Historic Charlotte, which merged with the museum earlier this year, and is a signature event to fulfill the group’s mission to promote historic preservation in the greater Charlotte region by focusing on the built environment.

Mentioning Charlotte’s residential architecture typically calls to mind the bungalows of Elizabeth and Dilworth, the Victorian homes of Fourth Ward or the ubiquitous ranches of SouthPark, but the mid-century modern homes of Charlotte are out there and are aging to perfection coming into their fifth decade, having been built between 1940 and 1965.

So what exactly is “Mid Century Modern”? That term describes a design style popular from roughly 1935 to 1965, emphasizing natural materials and a flow between indoors and outdoors, typically through wide widows and sliding doors. And also weird chairs. At the homes on the tour, you can expect to see living spaces that incorporate the outdoors, open floor plans, and clean lines mixed with bold patterns.

In case the home tour doesn’t fully scratch your itch for all things mid-century modern, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in Uptown has an exhibit through Sunday entitled The House That Modernism Built exhibit of mid-century modern furniture and art. Your ticket to the home tour will also get you a free ticket to that exhibit. Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce themselves couldn’t come up with a better sales pitch than that.

The Essentials:

What: The fifth annual Mad About Modern home tour presented by the Charlotte Museum of History.

How: Ticket holders can view the homes at their own pace on this self-guided tour. Advance tickets are available online at charlottemuseum.org ($20 for Museum members and $25 for non-members) through 5 p.m. Thursday, September 8. Day-of tickets are $30 and can be purchased at Hans Krug Fine European Cabinetry (The Village at SouthPark, 4310 Sharon Road)

When: Saturday, September 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: Eight privately-owned homes in the SouthPark area that are designed and decorated in the mid-century modern style

Why: Because why complain about Charlotte not having any history when you can go out and walk around in it?

About The Charlotte Museum of History

Founded in 1969, The Charlotte Museum of History and Hezekiah Alexander Home (built circa 1774) and Home Site comprise multiple venues on an eight-acre wooded campus in east Charlotte. The Museum offers educational programming on site and throughout the community that explores the history of the Charlotte region through the stories of its people, events, ideas, built environment and artifacts.

All home photos courtesy of Dustin Peck Photography. Header image courtesy of Charlotte Museum of History.