The Ritcher House is considered to be one of the best examples of Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian mode of design in North Carolina. Located near downtown Raleigh, the house is one of many Modernist houses that were built in the city during the mid-20th century. Most of these homes were designed by faculty members of the

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

School of Design. Established in 1948 by Henry Kamphoefner, the school hired several Modernist architects as faculty members. Kamphoefner was awarded the North Carolina Award for

Fine Arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

in 1978 for his work and for his encouragement of other Modernists to build and design homes in the state. On September 21, 1994, the Ritcher House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house is also a Raleigh Historic Landmark.

George Matsumoto George Matsumoto (July 16, 1922 – June 28, 2016) was a Japanese-American architect and educator who is known for his Modernist designs. Early life and education George Matsumoto was born in 1922 in San Francisco, California. He grew up in San ...

, a professor teaching

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...

classes at North Carolina State University, designed the Ritcher House in 1951 along with Henry Kamphoefner. The house was built on a modest budget and is an example of

modular constructivism Modular constructivism is a style of sculpture that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s and was associated especially with Erwin Hauer and Norman Carlberg. It is based on carefully structured modules which allow for intricate and in some cases infinite p ...

and timber framing.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Modernist architecture in North Carolina Houses completed in 1956 Houses in Raleigh, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Raleigh, North Carolina {{RaleighNC-struct-stub

See also

References