Grand Forks Architecture for Graduate Students

Yesterday, an intrepid bunch of University of North Dakota graduate students made their way into the wilds outside the seminar room to look at some notable Grand Forks architecture.  The students are taking Prof. Prescott’s graduate history seminar on material culture which includes sections on both public and domestic architecture.

The tour stopped at the nice collection of church architecture in the Near Southside neighborhood including United Lutheran Church (1931-32), St. Mary’s Catholic Church (1915-1929), and Christian Science Church (1904).

We made a brief stop at the Grand Army of the Republic statue on our tour through the neighborhood and considered the efforts to create a monumental core for Grand Forks in the early 20th century.  We also observed the intermingling of religious, commercial and domestic architecture in the neighborhoods closest to the old downtown.

The group also explored Prof. Bret Weber’s territorial era house (1887) and debated whether it qualified as a craftsman style structure.

The trip continued with stops at my 1900 American Foursquare and Prof. Prescott’s 1948 ranch (or, in the local parlance rambler) style home in the historic Northside neighborhood. Our conversations focused how social, economic, and cultural expectations changed the organization of interior space through time.