Modern Architecture
Travel by Design
In Connecticut, a Midcentury Legacy Evolves for Modern Times
A May house tour taps into New Canaan’s rich repository of modernist homes and contemporary designs
New Canaan, Connecticut, is known for its trove of midcentury modern homes, and on Saturday, May 14, 2016, the local historical society will stage its biennial tour celebrating that architectural history. Midcentury aficionados should be aware that this year’s tour comes with a twist: contemporary designs for today’s way of life.
Eliot Noyes designed the Bremer House for Nina and Paul Bremer. It was completed in 1951. Photo from the Nina Bremer collection of the New Canaan Historical Society.
Simple, Pared-Down Design
After World War II, New Canaan, which lies about 45 miles outside Manhattan, became popular with both architects and corporate execs, who designed (and funded) a new wave of “modern” homes. Among the most prominent architects were Philip Johnson, Marcel Breuer, Eliot Noyes, John M. Johansen and Landis Gores, sometimes referred to as the Harvard Five. (Breuer had been an instructor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design; the other four men were students.)
The Harvard group shared a common influence: Walter Gropius, who founded the Bauhaus school of design in Germany in 1919, and in 1938 became the head of Harvard’s architecture program. The Harvard Five and others (including John Black Lee, Hugh Smallen, Alan Goldberg and Carl Koch) designed about a hundred modern homes in New Canaan.
The homes shared an emphasis on simple, pared-down design and the architects’ attempt to fit their designs into the surrounding landscape. Many of them had floor-to-ceiling glass windows and minimal architectural detail. The architects believed that simplicity of design reflected the buoyant spirit of the times, and a faith in human progress after the Great Depression and the wars had ended. “It was more than a style; it was really a way of life,” says Goldberg, an architect who was Eliot Noyes’ design partner, and a lead designer on many projects. “People thought — certainly architects — tomorrow was always going to be better than today. There was a great deal of optimism.”
Simple, Pared-Down Design
After World War II, New Canaan, which lies about 45 miles outside Manhattan, became popular with both architects and corporate execs, who designed (and funded) a new wave of “modern” homes. Among the most prominent architects were Philip Johnson, Marcel Breuer, Eliot Noyes, John M. Johansen and Landis Gores, sometimes referred to as the Harvard Five. (Breuer had been an instructor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design; the other four men were students.)
The Harvard group shared a common influence: Walter Gropius, who founded the Bauhaus school of design in Germany in 1919, and in 1938 became the head of Harvard’s architecture program. The Harvard Five and others (including John Black Lee, Hugh Smallen, Alan Goldberg and Carl Koch) designed about a hundred modern homes in New Canaan.
The homes shared an emphasis on simple, pared-down design and the architects’ attempt to fit their designs into the surrounding landscape. Many of them had floor-to-ceiling glass windows and minimal architectural detail. The architects believed that simplicity of design reflected the buoyant spirit of the times, and a faith in human progress after the Great Depression and the wars had ended. “It was more than a style; it was really a way of life,” says Goldberg, an architect who was Eliot Noyes’ design partner, and a lead designer on many projects. “People thought — certainly architects — tomorrow was always going to be better than today. There was a great deal of optimism.”
Noyes House 1, completed in 1952, was one of two homes architect Eliot Noyes designed for his family. Photo from the Nina Bremer collection of the New Canaan Historical Society.
The First Tours
To raise the profile of their work, the architects in the mid-1950s began opening the homes they’d designed — including their own — for tours, Goldberg says. Architectural students would come from New York City, stay in the architects’ homes and chat about the new modernism. By the late 1960s, the homes were no longer considered cutting-edge, and the tours stopped. Eventually, the homes fell out of favor and some 20 were razed. Others were changed, many quite significantly.
In 2002, the New Canaan Historical Society picked up the tour again, hoping to encourage people to save these homes. The group also commissioned a survey of the homes to preserve their history, even as people continued to change them.
“No one really knows how many are left in the original form,” says William S. Earls, an architect and the author of The Harvard Five in New Canaan: Midcentury Modern Houses by Marcel Breuer, Landis Gores, John Johansen, Philip Johnson, Eliot Noyes, and Others. “Very few, if any.”
The First Tours
To raise the profile of their work, the architects in the mid-1950s began opening the homes they’d designed — including their own — for tours, Goldberg says. Architectural students would come from New York City, stay in the architects’ homes and chat about the new modernism. By the late 1960s, the homes were no longer considered cutting-edge, and the tours stopped. Eventually, the homes fell out of favor and some 20 were razed. Others were changed, many quite significantly.
In 2002, the New Canaan Historical Society picked up the tour again, hoping to encourage people to save these homes. The group also commissioned a survey of the homes to preserve their history, even as people continued to change them.
“No one really knows how many are left in the original form,” says William S. Earls, an architect and the author of The Harvard Five in New Canaan: Midcentury Modern Houses by Marcel Breuer, Landis Gores, John Johansen, Philip Johnson, Eliot Noyes, and Others. “Very few, if any.”
Noyes House 2 is the second home that architect Eliot Noyes built for his family, in 1954. Lifeand Time magazines featured the home, which was awarded the American Institute of Architects’ Award of Merit in 1957. Photo from the Nina Bremer collection of the New Canaan Historical Society.
Changing Needs
There are many reasons that the homes have been transformed over the years. The midcentury homes were smaller (less than 2,000 square feet) than today’s standards. Goldberg remembers planning a dining room by determining the number of people who would eat there and adding on a bit more for chairs. “Remember, right after the war there was a great shortage of materials. People didn’t have a lot of money. These houses were built to a person’s needs,” he says.
Many were also built using cheap materials. Goldberg recalls one home in which the builder used a table tennis tabletop for siding. The homes also lacked sufficient insulation, and their radiant-heat floors eventually gave out. “To heat and cool a house that had no [double-paned] windows and insulation was really not practical,” Lindstrom says.
“I guess this is all inevitable,” Earls says. “If they don’t change, then they are stuck as museum pieces, and I don’t believe that was the intention or spirit with which they were built.”
Johnson’s Glass House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, along with 15 others in New Canaan, including the Landis Gores House, the Richard and Geraldine Hodgson House and the Noyes House. Frank Lloyd Wright also built a home in New Canaan.
Changing Needs
There are many reasons that the homes have been transformed over the years. The midcentury homes were smaller (less than 2,000 square feet) than today’s standards. Goldberg remembers planning a dining room by determining the number of people who would eat there and adding on a bit more for chairs. “Remember, right after the war there was a great shortage of materials. People didn’t have a lot of money. These houses were built to a person’s needs,” he says.
Many were also built using cheap materials. Goldberg recalls one home in which the builder used a table tennis tabletop for siding. The homes also lacked sufficient insulation, and their radiant-heat floors eventually gave out. “To heat and cool a house that had no [double-paned] windows and insulation was really not practical,” Lindstrom says.
“I guess this is all inevitable,” Earls says. “If they don’t change, then they are stuck as museum pieces, and I don’t believe that was the intention or spirit with which they were built.”
Johnson’s Glass House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, along with 15 others in New Canaan, including the Landis Gores House, the Richard and Geraldine Hodgson House and the Noyes House. Frank Lloyd Wright also built a home in New Canaan.
Homes on the 2016 Tour
1. Lee House 2, 1956
Architect: John Black Lee
Updated by: Toshiko Mori and Kengo Kuma
John Black Lee’s Lee House 2 has been renovated at least twice since it was built. The current ownerspurchased the home in 1990, and hired architect Toshiko Mori to renovate it and to design a new studio-garage. They raised the roof 18 inches, replaced rotting wood columns with stainless steel posts and replaced the original sliding doors with stainless steel ones. They also widened the bedroom windows and updated the bathrooms and kitchens. Then, when a tree fell through the roof in 2006, the owners hired architect Kengo Kuma, who designed a new glass pavilion containing a kitchen, dining room and master bedroom suite. They removed the original kitchen and left the central area of the home as an open space.
Photo by Robert Gregson
1. Lee House 2, 1956
Architect: John Black Lee
Updated by: Toshiko Mori and Kengo Kuma
John Black Lee’s Lee House 2 has been renovated at least twice since it was built. The current ownerspurchased the home in 1990, and hired architect Toshiko Mori to renovate it and to design a new studio-garage. They raised the roof 18 inches, replaced rotting wood columns with stainless steel posts and replaced the original sliding doors with stainless steel ones. They also widened the bedroom windows and updated the bathrooms and kitchens. Then, when a tree fell through the roof in 2006, the owners hired architect Kengo Kuma, who designed a new glass pavilion containing a kitchen, dining room and master bedroom suite. They removed the original kitchen and left the central area of the home as an open space.
Photo by Robert Gregson
2. Wiley Speculative House, 1954
Architect: Philip Johnson
Philip Johnson designed this home for the Wiley Development Corp. of New Canaan as a model for a home that could be easily replicated. The one-story house is post-and-beam construction on a concrete foundation. One goal was privacy, which Johnson addressed with an L-shaped plan that hid a terrace and a separate garage entrance. The Wiley Development Corp. offered to replicate the home anywhere in Fairfield County for $45,000, but no one took the offer.
In 1963, new owners built two additions to the garage, which turned the plan from L-shaped to U-shaped.
Photo by Bryan Haeffele
Architect: Philip Johnson
Philip Johnson designed this home for the Wiley Development Corp. of New Canaan as a model for a home that could be easily replicated. The one-story house is post-and-beam construction on a concrete foundation. One goal was privacy, which Johnson addressed with an L-shaped plan that hid a terrace and a separate garage entrance. The Wiley Development Corp. offered to replicate the home anywhere in Fairfield County for $45,000, but no one took the offer.
In 1963, new owners built two additions to the garage, which turned the plan from L-shaped to U-shaped.
Photo by Bryan Haeffele
3. Prutting House, 2009
Architect: Joeb Moore
This home, seen in the two photos above, is a new construction that takes its cues from the modern lines of the past.
First photo by Michael Biondo; second photo by Robert Gregson
Architect: Joeb Moore
This home, seen in the two photos above, is a new construction that takes its cues from the modern lines of the past.
First photo by Michael Biondo; second photo by Robert Gregson
4. Hariri & Hariri House, 1991
Architect: Hariri & Hariri
This 1991 house has been updated with the addition of an artist’s studio.
Photo by John M. Hall
Architect: Hariri & Hariri
This 1991 house has been updated with the addition of an artist’s studio.
Photo by John M. Hall
5. Brown House, 1950
Architect: Eliot Noyes
Updated by: Architect Joeb Moore and builder David Prutting
This midcentury home designed by Eliot Noyes in 1950 and built the same year has been changed multiple times. In 1962, Noyes added a pool and a pool house. Architect Alan Goldberg designed a guesthouse for the home in 1986. And the house was thoroughly renovated in 2003, changing Noyes’ design so much that today it looks like a different home. It was recently listed for sale at $7.995 million.
Photo by Michael Biondo
Also on the tour: Grace Farms River Building, 2015
Architect: SANAA
The Modern House Day Tour and Symposium begins and ends at Grace Farms, closing with a cocktail party. Pictured here is the River Building, which winds down the sloping landscape.
Photo from Grace Farms
More
Design Calendar: Where to Go and What to See in May
10 Must-Know Modern Homes
Roots of Style: Midcentury Modern Design
Explore the Modern Architecture section on Houzz
Architect: SANAA
The Modern House Day Tour and Symposium begins and ends at Grace Farms, closing with a cocktail party. Pictured here is the River Building, which winds down the sloping landscape.
Photo from Grace Farms
More
Design Calendar: Where to Go and What to See in May
10 Must-Know Modern Homes
Roots of Style: Midcentury Modern Design
Explore the Modern Architecture section on Houzz
Modern House Day Tour and Symposium
Where: New Canaan, Connecticut
When: Saturday, May 14, 2016
Info: The tour includes talks by architects, van transportation and a cocktail party. Of the $500 price tag, $300 is a charitable donation to the New Canaan Historical Society. More info
In the middle of the last century, New Canaan was a hotbed of experimental architecture, of a style that we now call midcentury modern. Philip Johnson’s iconic Glass House, now a museum, is the most famous example.
Though the homes on this year’s tour take cues from this history, many of their design choices have decidedly left the past century behind. “These homes have been renovated and come into the new era,” says Janet Lindstrom, the executive director of the New Canaan Historical Society, which organizes the home tour. “Most of the houses have been brought up to the expectations of a homeowner today.”
It’s a bit of an ironic turn for a town that launched its modern-home tours first to celebrate, then later to save, the town’s architectural legacy. Below are some of the original midcentury homes (not on this year’s tour) that have helped to distinguish New Canaan, followed by four homes that are part of this year’s event.