Docomomo NOCA 2024 Year in Review
In 2024, Docomomo Northern California (NOCA) celebrated the Bay Area’s modern architecture and design with seven events, including walking tours and house tours, various advocacy efforts, and the recognition of an emerging professional with our annual Symposium Travel Grant!
We are thrilled to be growing our membership base and the community of Northern Californians who love and support Modernism through events, documentation, and advocacy. We are a 100% volunteer-run non-profit membership organization, so we are grateful to all our members and people who attend events as all proceeds go directly to helping us continue to run events, advocate for Modernism, and fund programs such as our Student/Emerging Professional Symposium Travel Grant. We always love to hear from our members with ideas and advocacy issues, so please get in touch! And let us know if you want to get more involved!
Five Walking Tours
Docomomo NOCA hosted five sold-out walking tours in 2024. These tours explored a wide variety of architectural styles and neighborhoods. The 2024 Docomomo advocacy theme was Corporate Campuses, and in October, we hosted a tour of Lawrence Halprin’s landscape design at Levi’s Plaza, one of San Francisco’s rare urban corporate campuses. This tour, led by board members Anna Grune, Petra Marar, and Barrett Reiter, covered the context and controversy of development along the waterfront, the history of the Levi Strauss Company and its San Francisco headquarters, and the landscape design and work of Lawrence Halprin.
Board member Ted Barrow led two walking tours: Pacific to Presidio Heights: 1st & 2nd Bay Traditions, which explored the design evolution from the First to the Second Bay Tradition, and Skate Modernism: California Street Corridor, which offered a second chance to attend what was recognized as the “Sickest Skate Tour” by Sarah Hotchkiss in KQED’s article “The Best Art I Saw in 2023.”
Board member Camila Baum led Roger Lee: Modernism for the Masses, which included access to the interiors of two of Lee’s tract homes. Lee was a brilliant architect who helped shape Bay Area Modernism from the 1940s through the 1970s and was renowned for his ability to build on complicated sites.
Docomomo NOCA brought back our BART walking (and riding) tour by popular demand! The Architecture & Art of BART: San Francisco Stations was led by board members Kevin H. Souza, Petra Marar, Andrea Fineman, and volunteer Gary Leung. This tour visited several BART stations in San Francisco designed by prominent local modern architects and architecture firms, including Ernest Born and Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM).
24th Stree BART Station, Levi’s Plaza, Pacific Heights, and Roger Lee Tour.
Two Exclusive Home Tours
Architect Beverley Thorne’s “The Music House”
Beverley D Thorne (1924-2017) was a pioneering Bay Area architect renowned for his innovative use of steel in residential construction. His distinctive designs, including the famous Brubeck House and Case Study House #26, earned him the moniker "The Man of Steel" and significantly influenced the development of California Modernism. Working with the long-time owner and members of the Thorne family, Docomomo NOCA hosted a house tour of the 1970 Music House in Kensington, CA, when it was on the market last year. The tour included short presentations on Thorne and the house's history, interspersed with live music performed by Keisuke Nakagoshi, and cake to mark Thorne’s 100th birthday.
Beverley Thorne’s Music House. Photo by Rob Jordan
Architect George Homsey’s Family Home
Architect George W. Homsey, a partner at the renowned firm Esherick, Homsey, Dodge, and Davis (EHDD), was a pivotal figure in the Third Bay Tradition of architecture, known for his innovative residential designs that seamlessly integrated modernist principles with the natural environment. His personal residence in San Francisco's Dolores Heights served as a laboratory for experimental designs later incorporated into his broader portfolio. Docomomo NOCA offered a unique opportunity for Docomomo members to tour the home and hear reflections from Homsey’s daughter, Diana.
Homesey House, San Francisco, Calif.
Docomomo National Symposium Travel Grant
Jingyi Luo, a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Historic Preservation Program, was the recipient of our sixth annual Symposium Travel Grant, which provides financial support for a current student or emerging professional with a connection to Northern California Modernism to attend the yearly Docomomo US National Symposium. Proceeds from Docomomo NOCA’s many tours and events directly fund this grant each year.
Jingyi Luo, Travel Grant Recipient 2024
Ms. Luo attended the 11th annual Docomomo US National Symposium Streams of Modernity: Postwar to Postmodern in Miami and Coral Gables, Florida. You can read about her experience here.
Advocacy
In 2024, Docomomo NOCA advocated preserving two significant modernist buildings: Al Beadle House #6, known as "White Gates,” in Phoenix, AZ, and Millard Sheet’s Home Savings & Loan in Sacramento, CA.
Advocacy efforts for the Al Beadle House proved partially successful, and demolition plans were paused. However, the current plan involves architectural salvage of key elements of the house, and it appears unlikely that the home will survive intact. Modern Phoenix has led the effort to save White Gates.
Beadle House, Phoenix, Az.
Docomomo NOCA also supported our friend organization, Sacramento Modern, in an attempt to have the former Home Savings & Loan building recognized as a local historic resource. The building, designed by Millard Sheets in 1978, includes mosaics collaboratively designed and executed by Sheets with renowned artist Susan Hertel. Unfortunately, in a 5-4 decision by the Sacramento City Council, the building was not recognized as historic and will likely be demolished. The previously announced proposal was to replace the building with a Shake Shack.
Home Savings & Loan, Sacramento, Calif.
Looking forward to 2025
We are looking forward to exploring the 2025 Advocacy Theme of Places of Worship and are planning some great events! We hope to see you at events and tours throughout the year!