Richmond Road Trip: Neutra's Rice House

Richard Neutra's Rice House

The folks at Modern Richmond are inviting the modernists of D.C. down I-95 on Saturday, Sept. 26 for tours of the 1965 Rice House, designed by Richard Neutra for Ambassador Walter Rice, a top Reynolds Metals Corp. executive, and his wife, Inger. The only International Style home in Richmond, the Rice House is perched on a man-made island overlooking Williams Dam on the James River. The Rices donated the home to the Science Museum of Virginia Foundation in the 1996.

Tours will be held between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. beginning on the hour. The tour costs $20. All proceeds from the event will benefit the museum. A catered cocktail party with live music will be held between 6 t0 8 p.m. and costs $50. A combined tour and party ticket is $60. See flyer here for more details and contact info. Read more about the history of the house in the nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.

If you head to Richmond, here is a good piece on some of the city's other modernist sites. Also, if you are making a day of it, drive through Charles Goodman's Highland Hills and see Goodman's Alcoa Care-Free Home as I did here.

I plan on heading down for one of the earlier tours. If others plan to go, let me know. Maybe we can gather up a D.C. contingent for the trip south.

Update: I was remiss in not mentioning D.C.'s one and only Neutra-designed house, which I have written about before on the blog. Neutra designed the 1968 house for Ann and Donald Brown in a mere minutes once he saw the wooded lot overlooking Rock Creek Park. The house is located here and you can see professional pictures here.