homes on this page are all within the city of Philadelphia (Philadelphia County) The first 4 are in the West Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia
Frank boyer 1960: Louis Levy House below
This section has homes that are in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia
BUILT 1938 KENNETH MACKENZIE DAY (1901-1958), a native of Chestnut Hill, designed 8220 Millman for George Woodward. As the most prominent example of the International Style in Chestnut Hill, the house embodies many of the characteristic formal qualities of the movement including an emphasis on abstraction, a rejection of applied ornamentation and decoration, and a belief in the potential of machine age technology and materials. The clearly expressed volumes and finely rendered openings are of brick construction painted with a white-wash finish to convey a sense of abstraction. A steel structure provides for expansive interior spaces which, on the garden side, open gracefully to the exterior. The handsomely proportioned front door suggests the 2-story entry hall beyond?a space dominated by a spectacular free standing circular stair. The stair is supported, in part, by a parapet rail of birch plywood which was a novel material for the domestic market at the time. The curvilinear wall adjacent to the entry originally housed a service court (now enclosed) and beyond, a large, two-car garage (now filled in) signalled the increasing importance of the automobile in American life.
William Whitaker Curator, Architectural Archives University of Pennsylvania
Louis Kahn: Esherick House, front side and rear
Romaldo Guirgola 1963: Mrs. Thomas Raeburn White Residence, lower 2 photos by Rollin R. La France from the Mitchell/Giurgola (Philadelphia office) Collection, Architectural Archives, University of Pa.
Vanna Venturi House 1962
Robert Venturi
MOTHER?S HOUSE. Here is a house the architectural historian, Vincent Scully, referred to as ?? the biggest small building of the second half of the twentieth century.? As an example of Modern architecture of the 1960s it was unusual as a building whose aesthetic engaged symbolism as well as abstraction: it was Modern but it also looked like a traditional house with a sloping roof, traditional/actual windows in its facades, and explicit elements of ornament on its surfaces
John Lane Evans and Roland Taylor Addis 1964: above, 2 shots from rear
below, front view
a modern Chestnut Hill home built in the 1970's
Montgomery and Bishop 1961
Montgomery & Bishop: rear and side view; front above right Montgomery and Bishop: FleerResidence
This is an additional group of homes in the northeast section of Philadelphia
This following article is from the Philadelphia Weekly dated June 20th 2007 and was written by Gwen Shaffer
When
developer Morris Milgram broke ground for Greenbelt Knoll in 1956, he built
significantly more than houses. He laid the foundation for tolerance,
understanding and lifelong friendships. Milgram, a pioneer in the nation's open
housing movement, built Greenbelt Knoll in Northeast Philadelphia as the only
planned integrated development in the city, and among the first in the United
States. He stipulated that 55 percent of the buyers be white and 45 percent be
nonwhite.
Residents
who've lived in Greenbelt Knoll over the past 50 years met on their cherished
Longford Street this past Sunday for a reunion. They flew in from as far away
as New Delhi, Florida and Indiana. Under an overcast sky they exchanged hugs,
reminisced and of course grilled burgers.
All 19
original homes in Greenbelt Knoll--on a cul-de-sac bounded by Pennypack Park on
three sides--are similar in appearance. Each consists of a single-story
rectangular box with a flat roof, broad windows, natural wood siding and a
tubular metal chimney soaring toward the sky. Renowned architectural firm
Montgomery & Bishop designed the houses with input from Louis Kahn.
Virginia
Barlow, one of the original homeowners on Longford Street, chose plot No. 3
from a blueprint. "My husband thought ahead. He liked the design, he told
me, because we'd need a house with few steps when we got older."
Roosevelt
Barlow, who went on to become one of Philadelphia's first African-American fire
captains, passed away about three years ago. Not long after, Virginia made the
difficult decision to live in a senior citizen complex. "But the neighbors
in Greenbelt Knoll always took care of me," Barlow says. "They hated
to see me move."
Larry
Schwartz's family made a "conscious choice" to buy a house in
Greenbelt Knoll when he was in the sixth grade. "It took incredible
commitment to move into this community in the mid-'60s," says Schwartz,
now the spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in New Delhi. "Growing up in
Greenbelt Knoll taught me to live with people who are different. That's the
single most important gift my parents gave me."
Certainly
the folks who moved to Greenbelt Knoll before the civil rights movement were
swimming against a powerful tide. Their actions have been equated with
high-profile events like the freedom marches in Mississippi and lunch counter
boycotts.
Barbara
Bodner was 3 when her parents bought a brand-new house in Greenbelt Knoll for
about $20,000. "My parents moved here for noble and visionary
reasons," Bodner says. "As a little girl I was like a hummingbird
that got nectar from all the other houses. There was a real feeling of connectedness
among the neighbors."
While making
her rounds, the young Bodner knocked on doors of luminaries from all walks of
life. Robert Nix Sr., the first African- American from Pennsylvania to serve in
Congress when he was elected in 1958, was the original owner of No. 16 Longford
St
Rev. Leon
Sullivan, the eminent civil rights leader who founded the Opportunities
Industrialization Centers of America, lived in No. 12 Longford St.
Milgram himself, along with his family, chose to
live in house No. 5.
the following photos are of #3 the Barlow residence, mentioned in the article above
mid-century homes from the East Falls section of Philadelphia
Hasserick House Richard Neutra
Galen Schlosser 1957
Montgomery and Bishop
Montgomery & Bishop 1958 N.William Winkelman, Jr., House more photos on
Galen Schlosser page 9 Irwin Stein history page 10
Brassler Residence by Levinson history One of 4 by Norman Rice history
James Reid Thompson 1956 George Starrels House
Mid-Century Modern Homes in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia
Tofani Carner House 1951 Frank Weise
Index to MODERN HOMES PHILADELPHIA History Pages
Overview of Philadelphia Area Mid-Century Modern Residential Architecture(below on this page)Photo overviewfollowed by brief written overview of Philadelphia mid-century architects .
Time Lineof area modern homes from 1930's to todayMid-Century Modern Homes Architects Who Designed Mid-Century Modern Homes in the Philadelphia Region
photographs of the regional homes designed by each architect are included
Tofani 
