THE MODERN HOUSE VI: BREUER HOUSE II
Architect: Marcel Breuer Location: New Canaan, CT Date: 1951-51 Patron: Marcel Breuer
Begun in 1948, Breuer House II was the second private residence designed by Marcel Breuer in New Canaan, CT. In 1951, Breuer assumed ownership of the house, using it as his family’s country house.
The flat roof, extensive glazing, fieldstone veneer and daring cantilevers of Breuer House II influenced the design of countless “modern” suburban houses in the 1950s and ‘60s. The interior of the house today bears little resemblance to Breuer’s original conception, which concentrated the common public rooms of the house at the center of the plan and placed private rooms at the periphery.
Like Palm Springs, New Canaan is a showcase of mid-century modern residential architecture. Many of these houses were designed by the Bauhaus-influenced Harvard Five, a group of architecture professors of which Breuer was a member. Approximately half of the 90 houses built by the Harvard Five in the 1950s and ‘60s have been subsequently torn down. Breuer House II itself was scheduled for demolition in 2005, two architects who not only purchased the house to save it, but removed additions made to the house in the 1970s after the Breuer family sold it. The same owners also commissioned the intrusive expansion wing designed by Toshiko Mori.
Breuer House II was put up for sale in 2013 with an asking price of $5.8 million.
THE MODERN HOUSE
1. Douglas House, Richard Meier 2. Esherick House, Louis Kahn 3. Vanna Venturi House, Robert Venturi 4. House VI, Peter Eisenmann 5. Spiller Residence, Frank Gehry
