‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli, Dawn Sterner and Pam Stutz.
Many of us enjoyed the recent screenings of Devon Chivvis’ long-awaited film The Harvard Five, about the talented group of architects from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design who, with their professor Marcel Breuer, settled in New Canaan and built the innovative midcentury modern houses for which this Town is now famous. The film is a must-see. And while all of these architects went on to have illustrious careers, Philip Johnson is arguably the most famous of all.
In 1906, Johnson was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a wealthy and educated family. He studied at Harvard and, as an undergraduate, traveled through Europe, spending time at The Bauhaus. After graduate school at GSD, he served in the army in World War II. When the war ended, Johnson settled in New Canaan. Why? There were lenient zoning laws, cheaper land, interesting topography, and Connecticut did not require architects to first apprentice, making it much easier for architects to pursue their projects. Plus, his professor Breuer and fellow architect friends were already here.
Johnson purchased his first plot of land in New Canaan in 1946 and completed the main structure in 1949 – The Glass House. As a glass, rectangular, one-story structure integrated into the landscape, it is designed for viewing the natural surroundings. Although there are no walls within the house, the floor plan reveals a traditional living space, replicating a colonial house. When it was built, it was unlike anything else in New Canaan. Johnson took influence from his friend Mies Van Der Rohe, with whom he designed the Seagram building in New York City, and Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye in Poissy, France. These leading structures in modern architecture and the international style influenced Johnson and other like-minded architects to reimagine New Canaan’s built landscape.
Contrasting the transparency of The Glass House is the Brick House, which was completed within the same year. Johnson described it as “the anchor”, saying it is “a repoussoir that points you toward The Glass House and anchors the hillside that rises behind it.” [cite] From another view, this is merely the guest house, containing bedrooms, restrooms, and the system for The Glass House. The only light that permeates the house comes through skylights and large circular windows on the rear of the structure – reminiscent of Brunelleschi’s Duomo in Florence. Finally, by 1995, Johnson owned 49 acres comprised of 14 structures, and parts of his collection of 20th century paintings and sculptures. It remained his home with his David Whitney and a salon for artists until his death in 2005. Now, it is a National Trust historic site and the second Landmark building in New Canaan.
Johnson’s architecture didn’t just pertain to New Canaan, he worked in New York City, where he worked on a wide array of projects: Pre-Columbian Pavilion at Dumbarton Oaks (1963), the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (1964), the New York State Pavilion for the World’s Fair of 1964-65, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at The Museum of Modern Art (1953), and many other civic, museum, commercial and residential projects over the decades. Beginning in 1932, he became the founding director of the MoMA’s architecture department and served as a trustee from 1957 until his death.
In recent years, he has been criticized for the pro-Nazi and fascist sympathies he expressed during WWII. But his house remains, 70 years later, as a jewel in New Canaan’s rich architectural history.
As a young child in the 50’s, I lived on Cascade Road in North Stamford. One bright morning, a few friends and I went exploring in the hill of woods across the street. Imagine our surprise and wonder when we came upon a clearing and discovered a house made of glass. It was like finding a flying saucer. We opened the unlocked door and walked all around, marveling at this incredible home. Years later, when I was in college, I saw a TV interview with Mr. Johnson in which he explained that he never locked his door, “because what could anybody steal that would be harder to replace than a wall?” In recent years, I’ve been disappointed to learn of Mr. Johnson’s hate-filled beliefs, because although I never met him I was always grateful for the gift of adventure he gave me and my buddies that day in the woods.