Little Mid Century Modern House on the Prairie: Prairie Tours

Nov 17, 2011

I know, I know - hardly mid century. But there is nothing more beautiful, more elementally modern in both form and ornament than a prairie barn. A collection from my travels in Alberta the last few months.

CPR barn - near Vulcan

patchwork barn - Mile 34

raise the roof - near Milo

barn exoskelton - Mercoal

red barn (1918) - near nowhere

log barn - near Edson

CPR barn - near Champion

griege barn - near Vulcan

ventilated barn - near nowhere

bird's barn - near Milo

arched barn - near Evansburg

barn face (see it?) - near Carmangay

Dec 14, 2010

With Christmas quickly approaching and my Christmas shopping nearly almost started, I thought it would be festive to share a few gems from Calgary's modern spiritual built heritage. Calgary, to my pleasant surprise, has an impressive stock of top tier modern sites throughout the city. And the churches are no exception.

To give a bit of background, Calgary blossomed into a major city after the Second World War. With the Leduc Oil Boom of 1947, Calgary positioned itself early on as the administrative and management centre of the oil industry in Canada. Oil companies from across Canada and the US set up their headquarters in shiny new modern towers in an area that became to be known as the 'Oil Patch' on the northwest side of downtown. The city was alive with optimism, a massive population explosion and a bustling economy. This is reflected in a number of churches that were built during this period. Many churches were playful, experimental and possessed a high quality of modern design similar to what is found in Palm Springs.

Here a little sampling*: