Lawrence Modern began in 2002 shortly after we purchased a custom midcentury designed home by John Morley on Owens Lane, the first midcentury subdivision in Lawrence. We fell in love with the design, craftsmanship and location. Our home fostered a desire to learn about midcentury architecture and connect with people who also appreciate this aesthetic. As a Realtor, I witnessed people responding favorably to midcentury homes at open houses. When I saw people light up with excitement I thought, we have something in common, we should share this interest.
I organized a small group for a potluck at our home. It was a fun experience, so we decided to meet on a quarterly basis, sharing our homes, discussing our renovation plans and other modern interests.
In 2007 I met Bill Steele through a house sale where I was his buyer’s agent. We became friends and he caught the “midcentury modern bug”. Bill suggested that Lawrence Modern should broaden its scope from a social to a preservation group. I remember him saying; “Tom, Lawrence Modern is great but we need to take it to the next level, preservation and raising awareness of this important era of architecture is what we need to do, we also need a website”. Dr. Dennis Domer, Emeritus Professor at KU joined our team. He added a wealth of knowledge and legitimacy. We surveyed 35 midcentury homes in Lawrence to determine the top 13 and called it the “Bakers Dozen”. Tim Hossler, Associate Professor in the School of Architecture & Design at KU joined us in 2012. He is passionate about architecture, graphic design and teaching. Tim designs our open house announcements, has facilitated a modern film series at KU and assists in organizing our events. Bill Steele is our web designer. I think he has designed one of the top websites for a local midcentury group in the nation. I am also proud to say our group has been responsible for writing, assisting and inspiring nominations for several midcentury properties to be on National, State and Historic Registers.
I am grateful to be associated with Bill, Dennis and Tim. We make a great team striving to achieve our mission to raise awareness of midcentury and modern architecture in Lawrence and promote its preservation to ensure that future generations of Lawrencians will have significant examples to appreciate and/or to live in.
I hope you find our website interesting and gain the same appreciation I have for midcentury and modern architecture.
