Meet George Smart (the man behind Triangle Modernist Houses)

“I’m trying to create as much passion (the word covet was actually used but it doesn’t sound right in print) for these architectural gems as possible…” says George Smart, referring to one of the ways he is protecting the Triangle’s stock of modernist housing ( 3^rd largest in the nation) by getting people excited about the houses so that when they list for sale or rent, they will be snapped up instantly.

Meet George Smart – a Raleigh native and the son of an architect. George had zero interest in architecture until 3-4 years ago, but now he sits in the living room of a modern home (and world headquarters of Triangle Modernist Houses) in Durham County (he says he survived the purging of Raleigh natives in the 80’s by escaping over the border to Durham County). Recently completed , his new house was designed and built by Tonic Design and Tonic Construction.

The same George Smart who decided to pursue business as a profession rather than architecture, after he got ammonia poisoning in the 70’s working for his Father’s architecture office in the summer. He simply didn’t find architecture fun – so he pursued business by studying at UNC, NC State and Duke for an MBA, focusing on services marketing rather than the more traditional product marketing. The same George Smart who in 2007 established Triangle Modernist Houses, “A 501C3 nonprofit documenting, preserving and promoting residential modernist architecture” in the Triangle, which now serves as an archive of over 1,000 modernist houses in North Carolina. The same George Smart who currently works as a business and executive coach, helping people and businesses set goals to,” to get out of the way of their business” and let them grow.

His life is an eclectic mix of architecture and business, and occasionally the two converge – with a few of his clients being architects. He says that through candid, sometimes uncomfortable conversations with business owners, he can help them overcome crucial flaws, personal weaknesses and create successful businesses.

Over the past 3-4 years George has spent thousands of hours devoted to TMH; some days its 2-3 hours a day or just on weekends, but on tour weeks it can be nearly full time. With all this personal time invested in a labor of love, George admits he does have some favorites. Among those both newly constructed and destroyed and in no particular order: the Catalano House by Eduardo Catalano; Cassilhaus by Ellen Cassilly, Chiles House by Tonic Design/Vinny Petrarca, The Koch House by Arthur Cogswell, The Thompson Residence by David Davenport, and the John and Helen Latimer Residence by John Latimer. All of these can (of course) be found on Triangle Modernist Houses.com.

From Weekend Pastime to Burgeoning Organization - Finding an Untapped Market and the Formation of TMH

So how exactly did George go from his self-described “zero” interest in architecture to spending thousands of hours volunteering (with his own organization) to protect and encourage the stock of modern housing in the Triangle? Paraphrasing his version of it, he was minding his own business late one night on the internet (don’t so many great stories start this way?) while considering one day building his own house, possibly modern. He typed in Raleigh modern houses into Google, and to his surprise he found only the Matsumoto house, Milton Small Home and Office, and a few small tours taking place around the Triangle. He said at this moment he could hear his Dad’s voice in his head talking about all of his architect friends’ houses so he thought he would dig a little deeper. George created a list of about 20 modern houses in the area and compiled them into a word document, with no real intention as to where it would lead, just purely out of personal interest.

Next he began driving around neighborhoods on weekends and checking out houses. He took his list to architects and they told him it was a good start, and each offered him several more to add to the list. Once he got the list to about 60 houses people began to encourage him to build a website, and that’s what he did in the fall of 2007 – Triangle Modernist Houses. As the list began to grow, as well as outside interest, George realized an untapped market of modern architecture enthusiasm existed in the triangle.

As the meteoric rise of TMH continued, he planned his first tour. By the middle of 2008 George had begun to meet not only others interested in modern architecture, but the homeowners of many of the properties. They decided to test out a tour of a few homes, but George doesn’t do anything without careful preparation. Research being such a big part of his professional life, he wanted to find out how other tours were faring (both locally and nationally), as well as any issues they were running into. The result of his research was the TMH tour format: visitors park at a central location and ride buses to avoid any ill-will from neighbors forced to endure overcrowding caused by hundreds of cars, allowing for multiple-house tours, and the tours are well-publicized events. Visitors get a very unique opportunity and a great value – all a direct result of George’s efforts. Fringe benefits also include riding around on buses with other individuals interested in architecture.

The first tour was a huge hit - 200 people showed up and George was surprised at the turnout. The tour was of three houses on Rugby Road in Durham in May of 2008. From these somewhat humble beginnings, great things have blossomed. By this fall TMH will have sponsored 15 tours, totaling 3000-4000 people, including three out-of-state tours: A New York tour with 24 attendees, a Washington DC tour where 15 people went along, and this September a Fallingwater/Pittsburgh tour with a max of 28 available seats (at the time of the interview half the seats had sold).

These out of state trips are a special treat for those who travel along. George calls them his paratroopers . They get up very early one morning, see as much as modern architecture as is humanly possible in one day and catch the last flight out. This way expenses are able to stay relatively low, with the maximum bang for the buck for the attendees. George works very hard on these trips to make them special for those who make the trip. Take the NY trip for example: the day began by landing at JFK and heading over to the closed TWA Terminal designed by Eero Saarinen, for a personal tour by an architect involved in the renovations, followed by an open house of the Smith Residence in Connecticut by Richard Meier. Thereafter the group headed over to Long Island to see Richard Meiers’s Model Museum. The day ended at the Museum of Modern Art for a Bauhaus exhibit. George took care of all the details, arranged for the bus travel – all the attendees had to do is enjoy the ride.

The other tours were just as special. The DC trip included, among other stops, a visit to the last house Richard Neutra designed in America (the Brown House), and a visit to the Hirshhorn Museum designed by Gordon Bunshaft. In many cases, the original homeowners still live in houses TMH tours, opening their homes to these visitors as a special exception.

George said what happened to the Catalano house (it was destroyed in 2001) is what ignited his passion – he knew he needed to become involved to never let that type of tragedy occur again. By creating as much interest as possible, he can assist in the efforts to keep vacancy from ever occurring (this is just one of the ways, more will be written about TMH’s preservation efforts in part 2 of this article). TMH is doing a great job so far. He frequently hears from people who have taken pages from his website and drive around past the various houses. He loves to hear stories from fans of the website, and is happy to hear they use the site to tour or study.

According to George there is no typical demographic for modern enthusiasts – only 10-15% are architects, the others have a variety of reasons for wanting to visit houses. For some it’s architectural design, for others it’s interiors and furniture, and some just like the hardware. Levels of interest range from people who have designed many houses, to others who live in modern houses (or want to in the future and are thus potential clients for future purchase/renting) and some just have a few coffee table books. Whatever the level of interest and involvement, there is a place for everyone at the TMH tours.

George was so generous with his time, we got plenty of material to write about TMH. This, along with the fact that no one would read a 30 minute article in one sitting (especially on the internet) caused us to divide the article in two sections. The next section will discuss the future of TMH and a tour through George’s newly-finished modern house in Durham County by Tonic Design.