Stewardship Award for Modernist Homes
World Monuments Fund’s (WMF) Stewardship Award for Modernist Homes recognizes exemplary conservation work at modernist residences.
Modernist homes face acute threats to their survival, from deterioration to developer pressure. In 2026, WMF established the biennial Stewardship Award for Modernist Homes to spotlight the owners and architects whose work helps preserve irreplaceable examples of residential avant-garde architecture while making sure that the buildings remain livable.
About the Prize
WMF’s Stewardship Award for Modernist Homes honors homeowners whose thoughtful restoration work preserves a house’s unique architectural and historic value.
The award grew out of WMF's Modernism Program, which champions the preservation of modernist architecture at risk of damage or demolition. The Stewardship Award for Modernist Homes complements the World Monument Fund / Knoll Modernism Prize, which recognizes the outstanding conservation of modernist public buildings.
In 2026, WMF launched the Stewardship Award for Modernist Homes and the inaugural winner was Umbrella House.
Umbrella House
Anne and Robert Essner received the inaugural Stewardship Award for Modernist Homes for their restoration of the Umbrella House in Sarasota, Florida. Paul Rudolph’s innovative 1953 design incorporated unique adaptations to the tropical climate, including the house’s namesake sunshade. Restoration work, led by Hall Architects, brought the house in line with contemporary building codes and reconstructed its signature “umbrella,” which a hurricane had destroyed in 1960.
2026 Selection Criteria
- Modernist homes that have been restored within the last ten years and that have faced threats that affected the site before the project implementation.
- Threats may include deterioration of original materials, obsolescence, abandonment, or inappropriate changes in use, ownership, economic, or political conditions surrounding the site.
- Exemplary stewardship practices that set a benchmark for the thoughtful preservation of Modernist home.
