Tucson Modernism Week Celebrates Mid-Century Design

The Valley National Bank Operations Center is an early example of modern architecture in Tucson.

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The fourth annual Tucson Modernism Week starts Friday, an eight-day celebration of the architectural and design relics of last century that Tucsonans pass by every day.

The Tucson Convention Center Music Hall, the Chase Bank at Broadway and Country Club, the swooping roof that crowns the Catalina American Baptist Church - they are all vestiges of the mid-century modernism movement that flourished in this city.

Demion Clinco, CEO of the Tucson Historical Preservation Foundation, which organizes Modernism Week, said there was something very special about what was built here beginning the middle of the last century.

"We had a group of incredible architects and designers who really understood the environment here," Clinco said. "[They] began to build architecture that was responsive to the environment in what's become known as as Sonoran modern or desert modern."

The community will get a chance to learn more about those architects and see some of their designs up close in the coming week at a series of talks, parties, exhibits, and tours.

Of course, mid-century modernism was not just an architectural style; it permeated all aspects of design, from clothes to cars to appliances. The Tucson Modernism Week is a celebration of them all.

A full schedule of events is at tucsonmod.com.