An abandoned bank in downtown Santa Rosa. Photo ©Darren Bradley |
Mid-Century Modernist architecture is far from safe these days. But there’s a growing contingent supporting its preservation, and it’s now finally starting to at least be recognized - if not valued - by the public at large. The same cannot yet be said for its generally unloved - or at least under-appreciated - younger sibling, Late Modernism. Often confused with (*shudder*) Post-Modernist architecture, which admittedly overlaps it a bit, it’s nonetheless it’s own distinct genre, and one that is more firmly planted in the Modernist design philosophies that preceded it than in the post-Modernist follies that followed. And strange as it may seem, I’ve just discovered that one of the best places to experience this type of architecture is in Santa Rosa, in the heart of Sonoma County.