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George Matsumoto (July 16, 1922 – June 28, 2016) was a Japanese-American architect and educator who is known for his modernist designs.
Following a year of private practice in Kansas City, Missouri, Matsumoto joined the department of architecture at the University of Oklahoma as an instructor. A year later, he moved with the head of the school of architecture, Henry L. Kamphoefner, to the new School of Design at North Carolina State University.
Kamphoefner was appointed as the first dean of the School of Design and he brought with him several students and faculty from the University of Oklahoma. During his tenure at the School of Design Matsumoto won over thirty awards for his housing designs and his achievements were published internationally. Some of his most well-known and acclaimed designs in North Carolina include the George Poland House in Raleigh, N.C., the Matsumoto Residence, also in Raleigh, N.C., the E.M. Lipman Residence in Richmond, V.A., the Milton Julian Residence in Chapel Hill, N.C., the J. Gregory Poole Resident in Raleigh, N.C., which he designed with G. Milton Small Jr., the Ritcher House in Raleigh, N.C., which he designed with Kamphoefner, and the E.K. Thrower Residence in Sedgefield (Greensboro), N.C. He also designed and built the home of Kirkwood Floyd Adams Sr., later Mayor of Roanoke Rapids, N.C., and his wife Sarah Chaney Adams located on White Ave. Mrs. Adams later remembered Matsumoto as "a talented practitioner yet, so compassionate". He treated all the people associated with the house with respect and they loved him." Matsumoto's houses are distinguished by their simplicity, precision and domestic application of the International Style.
After leaving the School of Design in 1961, Matsumoto returned to California to teach at the University of California, Berkeley and later opened a successful practice that did work in commercial, educational and recreational work, as well as campus and community planning. He was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1973.
Matsumoto modernist houses share common characteristics, including; a flat roof, an unobstructed internal view from one end of the house to the other, Terrazzo, natural woods for walls and ceilings, mahogany cabinetry, large windows in the rear, and small but functional kitchens.
Since 2016, a nonprofit organization named North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH) has an annual Matsumoto Prize, in honor of George Matsumoto.
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