Keep it midmod

Mid-Century Modern Houses You Can Visit

Most mid-century modern houses are private homes. A small number are kept as museums or historic sites and let visitors in. This page lists twelve places to visit, in California and across the country, with who designed each one, who looks after it, how a visit works and a link to its official visiting page.

• CaliforniaEames House, Neutra VDL and Sunnylands.See the houses
• Palm SpringsFrey House II, by special tour.See how it opens
• Beyond CaliforniaFrom Arizona to New England.See the houses
• Closed for nowHanna House at Stanford.See the note

How to use this page

Every house on this page opens to visitors in some form. Each card says who designed the house, who looks after it and how a visit works, and ends with a link to the page where the house’s own keeper posts dates and tickets. We read each of those pages on November 14, 2026.

Seasons, days and tour types change. Treat this page as a starting list, and go by the official page for anything you plan around.

• Book ahead. Most of these houses sell timed tours, and several open by guided tour only.
• Check the season. Several close for part of the year, and the dates below are the ones posted for 2026.
• Expect to start somewhere else. Many visits begin at a visitor center or a museum, with a walk or a shuttle to the house.
• Prices. We print none. They are on the official pages.
• Older than mid-century. Three entries were built in the 1930s: the Neutra VDL house, Taliesin West and Gropius House. They are here because people who like mid-century houses tend to want to see them too.

California: houses with posted visits

Three California houses post regular ways in. Two are in Los Angeles and one is in the desert near Palm Springs.

• Pacific Palisades, California

  Eames House

  Designers

  Charles and Ray Eames

  Years

  Designed 1945, completed 1949

  Run by

  Eames Foundation

  This is Case Study House #8. It was both home and studio for Charles and Ray Eames, who moved in on Christmas Eve of 1949. The Foundation wrote a conservation management plan for the house with the Getty Conservation Institute.

  Visiting. The standard ticket is the Grounds and Studio Visit: you walk the grounds at your own pace with staff and docents on hand, and the inside of the studio is included. The Foundation also lists a guided exterior tour, a private exterior tour and a private interior tour. Tour dates come out one month at a time, in the opening week of the month before.

  On our site: Charles and Ray Eames.

  Eames House: visit page

• Silver Lake, Los Angeles

  Neutra VDL Studio and Residences

  Designer

  Richard Neutra; rebuilt with Dion Neutra

  Years

  Built 1932; redesigned after a 1963 fire

  Status

  National Historic Landmark and house museum

  Richard Neutra built the house on Silver Lake Boulevard with a no-interest loan from a Dutch benefactor and called it the VDL Research House after him. A garden house was added later. After the 1963 fire, Richard and Dion Neutra redesigned the main house.

  Visiting. The house posts Saturday hours, 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, with tickets sold through its site. The site’s own visit page returned an error on the day we read it, so the link below goes to the home page.

  On our site: Richard Neutra.

  Neutra VDL Studio and Residences

• Rancho Mirage, California

  Sunnylands

  Designers

  A. Quincy Jones, architect; William Haines, interiors

  Decade

  1960s

  Run by

  The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands

  In the 1960s the Annenbergs hired architect A. Quincy Jones and interior designer William Haines to design the estate.

  Visiting. Every tour leaves from the Center and Gardens with a guide. Tickets are sold online only, and each month’s tours go on sale on the 15th of the month before. The estate lists a historic house tour, a historic walk and a birding tour, and sets a minimum age for tour guests. It closes for a summer break, and it warns that official meetings at the estate can cancel a tour that is already ticketed, with a refund.

  On our site: A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons.

  Sunnylands: tour the historic estate

Palm Springs: by special tour

One Palm Springs house belongs on the list with a caution: it opens, but only through special tours.

• Palm Springs, California

  Frey House II

  Designer

  Albert Frey

  Year

  Completed 1964

  Run by

  Palm Springs Art Museum

  This is the second house Albert Frey designed for himself in Palm Springs.

  Visiting. The museum says the house is not open for regular visiting hours. It names one official tour operator for the general public, tours during Modernism Week in February and October, and self-guided Saturday tours that it hosts with Palm Springs Life. The museum’s tours page links to each.

  Frey House II: museum page

Beyond California

Eight more stops, listed roughly from west to east. Four are Frank Lloyd Wright sites, and three belong to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

• Scottsdale, Arizona

  Taliesin West

  Designer

  Frank Lloyd Wright

  Year

  Established 1937

  Status

  World Heritage site and National Historic Landmark

  Wright’s winter home and desert laboratory sits in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains. It is the home of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

  Visiting. The self-guided audio tour runs every day the site is open and goes through the Historic Core to Wright’s living and working spaces. The site also lists a behind-the-scenes tour and guided desert hikes, and it strongly recommends reserving ahead.

  Taliesin West: tours

• Plano, Illinois

  Edith Farnsworth House

  Designer

  Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

  Years

  Conceived 1945, completed 1951

  Owner

  National Trust for Historic Preservation

  Mies van der Rohe conceived the house as a country retreat for Dr. Edith Farnsworth. It stands by the Fox River, about 58 miles southwest of Chicago. It was bought for the National Trust, with an easement held by Landmarks Illinois, and opened for public tours in 2004.

  Visiting. The 2026 season runs March 25 to November 22, Wednesday through Sunday. The site asks visitors to book online ahead: interior tours take up to 20 guests at a time, and walk-in guests can buy ground access tickets. Everyone checks in at the Visitor Center, and the site says a tour option is the only legal way onto the property.

  Edith Farnsworth House: visit

• Columbus, Indiana

  Miller House and Garden

  Designers

  Eero Saarinen, architect; Alexander Girard, interiors; Dan Kiley, landscape

  Year

  1957

  Owner

  Newfields

  The house, its interiors and its garden were designed together. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 2000.

  Visiting. It opens by guided tour only, and tours must be reserved ahead. Each tour starts and ends at the Columbus Area Visitors Center and lasts 90 minutes.

  Miller House and Garden: tour page

• Laurel Highlands, Pennsylvania

  Kentuck Knob

  Designer

  Frank Lloyd Wright

  Year

  1956

  Type

  Usonian house

  A Usonian house by Frank Lloyd Wright in the Laurel Highlands of western Pennsylvania, open for guided tours.

  Visiting. There is a 45-minute guided house tour and a 90-minute in-depth tour. Tours begin at the visitors center with a short shuttle ride to the house. The site says to book ahead and takes walk-ins when it can. A grounds pass covers the woodland walk.

  Kentuck Knob: tours and tickets

• Alexandria, Virginia

  Pope-Leighey House

  Designer

  Frank Lloyd Wright

  Decade

  1940s; moved in the 1960s

  Owner

  National Trust for Historic Preservation

  Wright designed this Usonian house in the 1940s for a site elsewhere in Virginia. It was moved to Woodlawn in the 1960s, and the National Trust owns and runs both.

  Visiting. The 2026 regular season runs April 16 through December 28, Thursday to Monday. All tours check in at Woodlawn, a five-minute walk from the house. The grounds are open to the public during business hours.

  Woodlawn and Pope-Leighey House: tour information

• New Canaan, Connecticut

  The Glass House

  Designer

  Philip Johnson

  Status

  National Trust Historic Site

  Philip Johnson built the house, and it is now a National Trust Historic Site. The pages we read gave no year for it, so we print none.

  Visiting. The 2026 tour season runs April 16 to December 14. Visits start at the Visitor Center and Design Store in town, across the street from the New Canaan train station. The site says the Visitor Center has no parking and sends guests to public parking in New Canaan.

  The Glass House: hours and directions

• Lincoln, Massachusetts

  Gropius House

  Designer

  Walter Gropius

  Year

  1938

  Run by

  Historic New England

  Walter Gropius designed the house as his own home when he came to teach architecture at Harvard. It holds furniture designed by Marcel Breuer.

  Visiting. It is open Thursday to Sunday from May through October, and Saturdays and Sundays from November through April, with tours on the hour. Advance tickets are recommended.

  Gropius House: visit page

• Manchester, New Hampshire

  Zimmerman House and Kalil House

  Designer

  Frank Lloyd Wright

  Years

  Commissioned 1949; designed 1955

  Run by

  Currier Museum of Art

  The museum looks after two Wright houses. The Zimmerman House was commissioned in 1949 and keeps the furniture and garden Wright designed for it. The Kalil House was designed in 1955 and is a Usonian Automatic.

  Visiting. Both open by guided tour, with a place reserved ahead. Tours start and end at the museum, and museum admission is included with the tour.

  Currier Museum of Art: Frank Lloyd Wright houses

Closed for now

Hanna House, Stanford. The Frank Lloyd Wright house at Stanford is temporarily closed for repairs and conservation projects, and its tours page gives no reopening date for public tours. It is the one Bay Area house we would put on this list, and we will move it up when tours resume. Hanna House tours page.

What this page leaves out

• Private homes. Almost every mid-century house, Eichlers included, is someone’s home. Look from the public street or sidewalk, stay off the lot and do not photograph through windows.
• Houses without a visiting page we could read. If a house had no official page that says how the public gets in, or the page we found was not the keeper’s own, it is not here.
• Neighborhood home tours. Owners in some mid-century neighborhoods open their homes for a tour day from time to time. Those dates come and go, and this page does not track them.
• Public buildings. Civic centers, towers and theaters are on our mid-century modern landmarks page, which also shows the Eames House and several Palm Springs houses in public-domain photos.
• Prices, parking and access details. They change too often to copy. Each official page has them.

More to read

• Mid-century modern landmarks: public buildings, plus a few houses, in public-domain photos.
• Southern California modern architects, A to Z: who designed what, with a source for each line.
• Bay Area modern architects, A to Z: the same for the Bay Area.
• California mid-century modern timeline: the years in order.
• Mid-century modern gardens: the landscape side of these houses.
• Mid-century modern historic districts: whole neighborhoods on a register.
• Keep It Midmod: records, standards and repairs for owners.
• Preservation guides: every guide in the series on one page.

Questions and answers

We want mid-century houses to stay mid-century, and walking through a well-kept one is a good way to learn what is worth keeping. If you own or are thinking of buying or selling an Eichler or other mid-century home in the Bay Area, call the Boyenga Team at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or write to MidMods@Boyenga.com.