Modern Architecture in the Home of the Father of Modern Genetics: A Conversation on Mid-Century Architecture at the Thomas Hunt Morgan House

The modern People’s Bank Branch on South Broadway in Lexington. Rachel Alexander.

Tomorrow evening at the Blue Grass Trust’s Thomas Hunt Morgan House, Sarah House Tate will give a talk entitled “What’s to Love? Mid-Century Modern Buildings Speak Out.” The lecture itself is expected to begin at 6:15 pm with a panel discussion to follow. The event is free and open to the public.

Sarah House Tate is a founding partner of Tate Hill Jacobs Architects and has been documenting the Lexington’s modern architecture for nearly three decades. “What’s to Love? Mid-Century Modern Buildings Speak Out” will trace the early national trends in modern architecture and explore how those trends appear in Lexington.

After the talk, a panel discussion moderated by BGT Director of Preservation Jason Sloan will ensue. On the panel: Sarah Tate, Craig Potts (Kentucky’s State Historic Preservation Officer), David O’Neill (Lexington’s PVA), Matthew Brooks (Principal architect at ALT32 Architects), and Bill Johnston (the BGT’s Vice President).

The lecture and panel discussion will feature an important dialogue on an often forgotten part of historic preservation: that which is most recently historic. Under the National Preservation Act of 1966, a historic property is that which is 50 years or older. Thus the architecture of the mid-20th century is becoming historic.

Also historic is the venue for this conversation: the birthplace of the Father of Modern Genetics, Thomas Hunt Morgan. The property, recently acquired by the Blue Grass Trust is undergoing a beautiful renovation and this will be the Trust’s first public event in the recently renovated auditorium.


If you go:
April 28, 2015 at 5:30
Thomas Hunt Morgan House
210 N. Broadway, Lexington