The Courant is running a good story on the preservation challenges of modernist homes. Most people would recognize that Phillip Johnson’s glass house is iconic, but there are many other homes in the area that represent this period of architecture.
From the Courant:
People are coming looking for these houses, so the tear-downs have slowed down,” said Janet Lindstrom, executive director of the New Canaan Historical Society. “They seem to be much more respected. Many of them are in the process of being refurbished and it could be that maybe five years ago, they would have been torn down and lost to us forever.”
Efforts to preserve the houses, all by noted modernist architects, got another boost recently when the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation provided funds for a $65,000 survey. The survey will focus on houses built by Johnson and four other famous modernist architects and on houses that were built by architects who were influenced by them.
One reason that the survey is important, organizers said, is that no one knows yet how many modernist houses have survived in New Canaan, although estimates put the number somewhere between 80 and 100. The records of tear-downs are also spotty, but historians estimate that as many as 20 have been demolished.
The significance of the survey reaches beyond Connecticut.
“When you look at national preservation standards, there’s verbiage on what makes a Victorian significant or what makes a Georgian home significant, but that language doesn’t exist for modern homes,” said Christy MacLear, executive director of the Phillip Johnson Glass House.
The language developed in the New Canaan survey can be applied across the country to identify significant modernist homes.
“This will highlight moderns in the eyes of our country, signify to the country that these assets are significant,” MacLear said. “When you look at saving a modern home, much of the preservation is reactive, jumping in once a home is threatened. We are working to ensure these assets are highlighted and to put in place protections so they are not threatened in the future.”
source: The Courant, A Trove Of Modernist Homes,
