Cohen Davis Residence Wins 1st Jury Matsumoto Prize
We are proud to share that our Cohen Davis Residence was awarded the prestigious 2026 1st Jury Matsumoto Prize, hosted by NCModernist. This year a distinguished panel of 8 jurors considered 20 entries of new modern homes by our peers and 8 entries for renovated modernist houses. It was presented by Mr. Modernism himself, George Smart.
About the Matsumoto Prize
The George Matsumoto Prize is North Carolina's highest honor exclusively for Modernist residential architecture. NCModernist created the Matsumoto Prize in 2012 in honor of George Matsumoto, one of the founding faculty members of North Carolina State University's College of Design. Matsumoto created some of North Carolina's most well-known and well-loved Modernist houses. The Matsumoto Prize encourages architects, designers, and prospective clients to continue the Modernist movement in houses so important to North Carolina's design heritage. The Prize meaningfully and powerfully engages the public with the architecture they love and showcases exceptional Modernist architects and designers in North Carolina.
The Event
The award ceremony was held at Leland Little Auction in the NC Triangle Area and was sponsored by NC Modernist, Fitch Lumber, and Marvin. Toby Witte was joined by his daughter Lucy and got to mingle with the best of the best of the Southeast residential design world. It was a memorable evening.
Fellow award winners included Rusafova Markulis, REdesign.build, Kersting Architecture, Ellen Cassilly Architects, Melinda Knowles Interior Design, Toma Farren Architects.
The Jury assembled a 2nd generation of midcentury modern architectural stalwarts: Raymond Neutra (Richard Neutra), Susan Saarinen (Eliel and Eero Saarinen), Celia Bertoia (Harry Bertoia), Carla Atwood Hartman (Charles and Ray Eames), Erin Ellwood (Craig Ellwood), Miles Jaffe (Norman Jaffe), and Finn Kappe (Ray Kappe).
About the Home
The Cohen Davis Residence was finished in 2024 for our wonderful and adventurous clients Deb and John Cohen Davis in Charlotte NC. We had the great pleasure of working with the builders Mike Masto and Ryan Dennison of Spoke & Hammer Construction Company, fine woodworker and interior powerhouse Kate Schindler of Fine Grit, and landscape architect Ric Solow.
