Sep 21, 1994
National Register of Historic Places - Ritcher House (Early Modern Architecture Associated with NCSU School of Design Faculty MPS)
Statement of Significance: Erected in 1950 to the designs of George Matsumoto, the Ritcher House was one of the first of a series of innovative Raleigh residences created by faculty of the new School of Design at North Carolina State University that incorporated the ideas of the Modern Movement (See Multiple Property Documentation Form for "Early Modern Architecture in Raleigh Associated with the Faculty of the North Carolina State University School of Design, Raleigh, North Carolina"). It is being nominated under Criterion C, as the work of a master that possesses high artistic values. Matsumoto was only 27 when he designed the house, which was his first independent architectural commission in North Carolina, but he had already established himself as an adept and thoughtful architect. In his design for the Ritcher House he deftly employed the range of techniques developed by Frank Lloyd Wright in his Usonian houses of the 1930s and 1940s, such as passive climatic control, integrating the building into the natural environment and orienting it away from the street, modular design and construction with low-cost modern materials, and innovative structural systems. However, while the techniques may have come from Wright, the skilled composition, warmth, and wit of the detailing were provided by Matsumoto. It was the last Wrightian project by Matsumoto, but it includes elements he incorporated in his later Miesian buildings. Recognition of the high quality of the house's design came from contemporary publication in a number of sources, including House and Home, Progressive Architecture, and Quality Budget Homes.
National Register of Historic Places - Ritcher House (Early Modern Architecture Associated with NCSU School of Design Faculty MPS)
Statement of Significance: Erected in 1950 to the designs of George Matsumoto, the Ritcher House was one of the first of a series of innovative Raleigh residences created by faculty of the new School of Design at North Carolina State University that incorporated the ideas of the Modern Movement (See Multiple Property Documentation Form for "Early Modern Architecture in Raleigh Associated with the Faculty of the North Carolina State University School of Design, Raleigh, North Carolina"). It is being nominated under Criterion C, as the work of a master that possesses high artistic values. Matsumoto was only 27 when he designed the house, which was his first independent architectural commission in North Carolina, but he had already established himself as an adept and thoughtful architect. In his design for the Ritcher House he deftly employed the range of techniques developed by Frank Lloyd Wright in his Usonian houses of the 1930s and 1940s, such as passive climatic control, integrating the building into the natural environment and orienting it away from the street, modular design and construction with low-cost modern materials, and innovative structural systems. However, while the techniques may have come from Wright, the skilled composition, warmth, and wit of the detailing were provided by Matsumoto. It was the last Wrightian project by Matsumoto, but it includes elements he incorporated in his later Miesian buildings. Recognition of the high quality of the house's design came from contemporary publication in a number of sources, including House and Home, Progressive Architecture, and Quality Budget Homes.
Sep 21, 1994
Posted Date
Sep 04, 2023
Historical Record Date
Sep 21, 1994
Source Name
National Register of Historic Places
