“Living Modern in New Canaan: Celebrating and Preserving Our Modern Past” at the CCT Gallery, April – June 2009

In an engaging collection of photos, building materials, architectural models, period magazines and film clips, a new exhibit at the Commission on Culture & Tourism’s Hartford Gallery seeks to make the case for the beauty, fragility, and compelling preservation needs of New Canaan’s world-class collection of Modern style residences. In addition to the gallery show, the Hartford Preservation Alliance will be offering five guided walking tours of Hartford’s Modern architecture landmarks.

            New Canaan, only an hour from New York City, became a center of Modern architecture when a group of Harvard University-related architects—Marcel Breuer, Landis Gores, John Johanson, Eliot Noyes and Philip Johnson—settled in the town in the late 1940s. Later known as the “Harvard Five,” the architects established what would become a center of experimental Modern residential design. Hallmarks of the style included an open plan, generous expanses of glass, and an emphasis on horizontality.

            The completion of Philip Johnson’s Glass House (now a museum owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation) in 1949 caused an immediate nationwide sensation, and the architects capitalized on the attention by participating in a series of Modern House tours that showcased their work. By the end of 1952, more than 30 Modern houses had been constructed throughout New Canaan. The tours attracted a second wave of architects, and by the end of the 1970s more than 100 Modern houses made New Canaan home.

            Threatened by development, McMansions, zoning, and the decay of experimental building materials, the Moderns have been under siege. In 2006, a partnership of five national, state, and local organizations sponsored a comprehensive study of New Canaan’s Moderns. Conducted by the New York City firm of Building Conservation Associates, Inc. (BCA), the survey identified and documented 100 buildings. The exhibit draws on this outstanding scholarship.

“Living Modern in New Canaan: Celebrating and Preserving Our Modern Past,” Commission on Culture & Tourism Gallery, One Constitution Plaza, Hartford, April 23 to June 19, 2009, Monday-Friday 9 am to 4 pm

Opening reception, Thursday, May 7, 5:30-7:30pm

For more information on lectures and guided walking tours, call (860) 256-2800 or log on to CTvisit.com

Co-sponsored by the CCT, New Canaan Historical Society, the Glass House Museum, Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.