
If you love mid-century modernism you are likely familiar with well-known MCM architect names such as Win & Elizabeth Close and Ralph Rapson, but not as many people are familiar with Robert Cerny.
A former student and colleague in Cerny’s architectural firm, Frederick Bentz, described him as an architect “whose record of achievement in design, in education, in service to his profession, and in public service, may well go unmatched in this area in our time.”
He was already fascinated by Wright designs when he was only 12 years old, and when he was about 14 he spent a few hours after school each day at an architectural firm in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1932, and then from the Harvard School of Architecture. He came back to Minnesota and worked as a practicing architect while he also taught at the UMN School of Architecture from 1937 to 1976.
I saw my first Robert Cerny house about 35 years ago, shortly after we moved to the Twin Cities. We were invited to a holiday party at the home of a work colleague of my husband on Folwell Avenue in Falcon Heights. As soon as we entered the neighborhood we knew we were somewhere special. It was our first encounter with one of the most unique neighborhoods in the country, University Grove.
Only eight blocks long and one and a half blocks wide, this group of 103 homes built for UMN professors and administrators on land owned by the University of Minnesota is an architectural time capsule. Because each home had to be designed by an architect with a maximum ceiling on costs, no two houses are alike and they create a cohesive mix.
Built between 1929 and 1970, The Grove shows an evolution from early period styles to modern and contemporary styles designed by familiar names in mid-century modern architecture such as Win and Lisl Close, Ralph Rapson, Carl Graffunder, James Stageberg, and Michael McGuire. The Robert Cerny name may not be as well known, but he also played an influential role in bringing modernism to Minnesota.
The first Robert Cerny house we saw in The Grove was built in 1941, when mid-century modernism was in its infancy. He also built a home in Desnoyer Park that same year… the same year the Walker Art Center built an “idea house” that showcased this new modernism – one of the first of its kind in the United States.
About 10 years later, in 1950, he designed a number of homes for UMN professors on Fairview Avenue across from the University agriculture test fields and not far from The Grove. This group of homes has been called ‘Professor Row’ and includes the home pictured below at 1757 Fairview Avenue North.
All these early designs were attributed to Long and Thorshov, the firm he was working for at that time. The firm was renamed Thorshov and Cerny in 1951, and that firm designed the Metropolitan Stadium in 1956. Robert Cerny spent nearly half of his life in pursuit of a better downtown Minneapolis, and he strongly advocated for building the sports stadium downtown rather than in Bloomington. It is interesting that now that is exactly where the sports stadiums are located.
I also find it fascinating that the original Rapson Hall, the UMN School of Architecture building named after architect Ralph Rapson, was designed by Thorshov and Cerny. When that firm dissolved in 1960 Cerny became head of his own firm, Cerny Associates, where he remained active until he retired about 1977. He died in Minneapolis on January 31, 1985.
Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results – Mid-Century Modern Realtor – shensrud@homesmsp.com
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