The only national program of its kind, Docomomo US Tour Day is devoted to the appreciation of modern architecture in the US. Tours and events focused on architecture and design of the Modern Movement are hosted by Docomomo US chapters, partners, and leading voices in preservation. 

This year’s thematic focus is Corporate Campuses. Participating organizations are encouraged but not required to incorporate the theme. Tour Day 2024 is Saturday, October 19, and throughout the month of October.

 

Here is what’s on the calendar this year in the Tri-State area:

Paul Rudolph’s Pharmaceutical Fortress: Tour of Endo Laboratories in Garden City, Long Island
Join Paul Rudolph Foundation board members Dan Webre and Sean Khorsandi for a rare tour of Paul Rudolph’s 1960–1964 Endo Laboratories in Garden City, LI. Built as a corporate campus for a pharmaceutical manufacturer, Endo’s design employs many of the features common to Rudolph’s work of the period, like corduroy concrete, orange carpeting, and inset plate glass. Legible from the Meadowbrook Parkway, Endo exhibits Rudolph’s facility for designing at multiple scales for different viewers from the lab table of a research scientist to the dashboard of a passing motorist.

Saturday October 26, 10:30 am
1000 Stewart Ave
Garden City, NY

Registrants will be informed of the exact meeting place where the tour will begin. Rain or shine.
$30 DOCOMOMO members
$40 General public
Advance registration required. Capacity is strictly limited.

 

The Breuer Buildings at Lehman College CUNY
In collaboration with Lehman College of the City University of New York, the New York Tri-State chapter will be guiding tours of the two connected buildings on that Bronx campus designed by Marcel Breuer, his first permanent buildings built in New York City. The Fine Arts Building (1960), originally designed as a library, features a notable and structurally daring roof of six hyperbolic-paraboloid concrete shells. Three-story Shuster Hall (1959) is known for its distinctive facade partially comprised of sunscreens of terra cotta flue tile.

Saturday October 19, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
250 Bedford Park Boulevard West
Bronx, NY

Multiple tours will be offered within this time frame
No advance registration

 

The Glass House Extended Tour
As part of Tour Day 2024, The Glass House is generously offering a discount on its “Extended Tour” to Docomomo members. The Extended Tour affords time to visit Philip Johnson’s Studio, as well as The Glass House, the newly restored Brick House, Painting Gallery, Sculpture Gallery, outdoor sculpture, and Da Monsta. This tour includes a one-mile walk on paths and grass and an up-close view of the installation Shigeru Ban: The Paper Log House.

Saturday October 19, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
The Glass House
New Canaan, CT

 

Long Wharf: Sargent Drive Walking Tour
Conceived through coastal reclamation in the late 1950s, New Haven’s Long Wharf district is as much a mid-century creation as the corporate architecture which populates it. Covering the area’s history, planning and architecture, this tour, organized by New Haven Preservation Trust, will walk the length of Sargent Drive from Marcel Breuer’s Armstrong Rubber building to the Gant Shirt factory. Stops along the way will include work by local architects Orr, deCossy, Winder and Associates, Granberry and Cash, Pedersen and Tilney, and Bruce Porter Arniell.

Saturday October 19, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Hotel Marcel
New Haven, CT

 

Sacred Spaces Architectural Tour
Join Mark Markiewicz, AIA, on this journey to discover three fabulous sacred spaces in Fairfield County. The selections are all examples of midcentury modern architecture, and Mark will place them in their historical context. At each stop, knowledgeable docents will explain the design decisions, construction details, and preservation challenges today.

Saturday October 19, 1:00 – 5:00 pm
New Canaan Museum & Historical Society
New Canaan, CT

 

From Bell Labs to Bell Works
Bell Telephone Laboratories, designed by Eero Saarinen & Associates from 1957–1962 and built on 472-acres in Holmdel, NJ, was commissioned to be a symbol of progress and innovative technology endeavors. The rectilinear, symmetrical, and refined complex came out of the American corporate campus planning genre of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Learn about the transformation of Bell Works from Lead Architect, Alexander Gorlin, and Lead Designer + Creative Director, Paola Zamudio. The hour-long tour of this 2 million square foot Modernist building will include a bit of history, design intent, and architectural vision. Afterwards, participants will have a chance to ask questions and then can continue exploring the space, enjoy events happening in the atrium, or grab a drink and a bite to eat. Be inspired at today’s Metroburb, a metropolis in suburbia.

Saturday October 19, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Bell Works
Holmdel, NJ

 

View all the Docomomo US Tour Day events happening in October. 

Share your Tour Day experience using #TourDay2024 and #ModernCorporateCampus.