These homes reflect the change in form of houses after the war and the mid-century era.  The blue house, 1408 Baker, was built in 1957.  The green house, 1218 Sanders, was built in 1959.  This is a common house design in Laramie and provides affordable and functional housing.  With the advent of large sliding glass doors opening into backyards, the front of the house was no longer where the family met or lived.  These two homes found in Laramie have the bedrooms at the front of the house, with small windows to allow for privacy in the bedrooms.  The core of the house is towards the back where there is the large fireplace evidenced by the blocky chimney.  The low-pitched gable roof with wide eaves gives the house a low profile but allows for high ceilings inside.  Both houses have use mixture of stucco and wood on the exterior. 

At one point in our nation’s history there were no attached carports or garages.  By the post-war years the car was a member of the family.  The driveway takes up a substantial portion of the property, prompting the moving the entryway from the front of the property via the sidewalk to the side of the house.  The homes’ architecture focuses on functionality, not ornate details, though there are great little details like the wood siding creating vertical lines, or the diamond design adding a bit of flair.  This style of home in Laramie fits a family’s needs and captures some of the changes occurring in the 1950’s. 

The house at 2121 Spring Creek in Laramie Wyoming is a great example of a mid-century modern home. The home in Laramie was built in 1962.  The home features a low pitched roof over the house and a flat roof over the car port on the west side of the house.  Being true to mid-century modern designs the upper half of the house is stucco and the lower half features brick with a simple geometric design. 

The front door is off of the sidewalk, next to the car port and driveway.  During the post-war era homes began featuring the car as a prominent design element that helped shape the home’s layout and design.  The changing focus to the automobile also shifted the living room to the back of the house where large windows open up into the backyard, bringing nature into the home and the living space outside.  New construction techniques developed during the war allowed for large windows, sometimes used for an entire wall. 

These design elements are seen in Arapahoe Acres, a housing development of 124 houses south of Denver.  The homes were designed by Denver University Professor Eugene Sterburg and developed and built by Edward Hawkins.  One home in Arapahoe Acres looks like 2121 Spring Creek, a house known as the Hollans House (Image 4).  The Holland House incorporated a plywood paneled ceiling, masonry wall of brick with variegated color, vertical tongue and groove siding and exposed beams.  It features a vertical band of simple geometric ornament in the brick as well as a broad brick chimney at the center of the house.  Many of these same features and materials are shared with the house in Laramie, though they are rotated 90 degrees.  

712 Thirteenth Street was built in 1951. This house is a split-level Usonian style home. The term Usonian was coined by Frank Lloyd Wright, a prominent architect during this time. Usonian style homes are designed to support an indoor-outdoor lifestyle where the building “flows” on its landscape and people “flow” from room to room. Often, a mix of materials is used to emphasize the different prts such as the light paint on the flat roofs and the darker brick on the body of the house. The door and windows are highlighted through the use of different materials. The door has the same brick as the fireplace, while the windows most likely have aluminum lining. These features added to the “flowing” style of the architecture.Although Laramie Usonian homes are more muted than more well-known Usonian homes they still portray details that are indicative of their time.

During the mid-century modern building period an emphasis was placed on the family. Contrasting window sizes show the location of bedrooms and living rooms. The large windows on the left side of the house, facing the yard, indicate the designer’s intention to allow families to simultaneously “be” in an indoor space and an outdoor space. In warmer climates these windows were generally on the rear of the house. However, in Laramie these windows are generally on the south side of the house and better able to take in winter sunlight. The small windows indicate bedroom and other private spaces.

On the left side of the house there is a brick wall delineating the backyard. This wall is brick inlayed with artistic bricks that display a stylized floral pattern. This floral pattern breaks up the uniformity of the brick providing a pleasant visual. In addition, a wide chimney rises from the flat roof. These massive fireplaces were a central feature of the living room or dining room where families gathered to spend time with one another. Kitchens were often connected to these spaces so that even when adults were working in the kitchen, they could still keep an eye on and participate in their children’s activities.

The Usonian home style is one of the most iconic styles of mid-century home. They stand out in their neighborhoods. The large windows were designed to draw light into the home. The design was intended to both fade into and stand out in the landscape. The buildings that generally capture the attention of architects are found in California, but Laramie has its own fair share of iconic homes like 712 Thirteenth Street.

Homes like 965 Fourteenth Street show glimpses into our American past when our countrymen and women were dreaming big. This time period was filled with big dreams and hopes for the future. These homes show the progression of Laramie to the modern day. Laramie has a great opportunity to show its progression through time, from the pioneers of the frontier to the pioneers of space. Homes like these have great value to demonstrate Laramie’s history and that of the nation at large.

The Bim Kendall house is a 1954 prairie-style building near the west side of the University of Wyoming campus.  The Bim Kendall House was formerly the Hitchcock House, named for the Verna J. Hitchcock who was a department head in Family and Consumer Sciences.  As the Hitchcock House, the building was home to women learning to manage households, and later, to a UW daycare center. 

Now part of the UW Environmental and Natural Resources program, the Bim Kendall House has been restored and enhanced with additional offices and collaborative spaces.  The upgrades to the house were completed with sustainable building practices in mind.  The mid-century modern style roof design of the addition allows for properly oriented site for photovoltaic and allows for passive ventilation within staff offices.  In 2012, the house was awarded LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for its energy saving measures, low resource consumption, educational components, and healthy workspaces. 

The original house features numerous mid-century modern elements including the split level design, and large windows to allow for great views and bringing nature into the living space.  The west side of the house has large fixed glass windows that do not open and provide an unobstructed view to the outdoors. Below the large windows are smaller windows with screens that allow for ventilation.  This feature is replicated in several other locations in the building.  The building has large eaves as well as wooden slats that provide shading for the large windows in the summer, but allow the winter sun to warm the house.  The mid-century modern features of the house were designed to fit the site, the heating and cooling needs of the climate in Laramie, and bring the views of nature inside with the large windows. 

The building materials are a mix of textures and materials and colors highlighting the architectural features of the house as well as creating “warm feelings” from the natural earth tones.  The roof line is flat or low sloping, a common element in mid-century modern homes.    The mid-century modern architecture of the Bim Kendall House aims to make a connection between the inside of the house and nature outside.  The building elements address site and climatic concerns, putting emphasis on the siting and environmental constraints so as to make the house part of the landscape, a key mid-century modern element.