Category Archives: Archive

Smith Hall update

August 5, 2023 – 11:54 pm

Last year Lawrence Modern learned that KU had placed Smith Hall on a list of university buildings—among a dozen deemed obsolete and “demolition ready”—that were likely to be razed in Fiscal Year 2023. Like the superheroes in The Avengers, we sprung into action with the Lawrence Preservation Alliance and assembled a multitalented team to save […]

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McMinn open house: it just felt good

May 25, 2023 – 12:28 pm

Lawrence Modern held its first residential gathering in four years at the Countryside Lane home of Dan & Lori McMinn on May 21. (It was also the occasion of Lawrence Modern’s 20th anniversary.) More than 100 guests enjoyed warm spring weather and a fabulously cool house that has been remodeled period-correct, landscaped for living, and […]

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Eye candy for midcentury addicts May 21st

April 30, 2023 – 7:29 pm

For many years, we at Lawrence Modern have fed your addiction to midcentury modern architecture and lifestyle with numerous private home tours of cool midcentury houses. But over the past four or five years we have held no private gatherings at residential properties, giving you all time to dry out. Well, that time has passed. […]

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The new KCI: SOM kind of airport

April 19, 2023 – 9:55 pm

It’s hard to leave home, but Kansas City has given us good reason to do so with the new Kansas City International Air Terminal. With its flying canopy and epic structural spans, the terminal stands as a gleaming temple of aviation—an inviting gateway to the heavens in the middle of flyover country. Fronted by a […]

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Save Smith Hall Open House: ‘We’re all in it together’

December 6, 2022 – 3:11 pm

Smith Hall, home to KU’s Department of Religious Studies, has been earmarked for demolition. Lawrence Modern, alongside the Lawrence Preservation Alliance and the Historic Mount Oread Friends groups, hosted an Open House on Saturday, Dec. 3 to raise awareness of the building’s plight. The event drew an estimated 125 attendees—current and former students, faculty, staff […]

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