Breuer, New Canaan II, Connecticut, 1951

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Marcel Lajos Breuer (22 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist, architect and furniture designer of Jewish descent. One of the masters of Modernism, Breuer extended the sculptural vocabulary he had developed in the carpentry shop at the Bauhaus into a personal architecture that made him one of the world’s most popular architects at the peak of 20th-Century design.

Breuer House II is the second house (hence the name) in New Canaan, which was designed by the Hungarian born architect Marcel Breuer. It also became his own residence for him and his family, after they emigrated from Europe to the United States. Marcel Breuer and his wife acquired the property in 1951 and he was able to complete the main construction by the end of the same year. The gardens and terraces were finished one year later.

Unlike his first house on Sunset Hill Road, Breuer House I, New Canaan, this house was designed to be a flat-roofed, one-story structure clad in fieldstone veneer and glass with a flat-roofed carport. Stone was integrated as a primary building material and is particular to the region. The house was designed around a U-shaped plan enclosing a courtyard with a flagstone terrace. A key feature of this house was the concentration on public living spaces. The master bedroom and a bathroom were positioned at one end. The children’s room, guest rooms and an additional bathroom were at the other, all centrally connected by the kitchen, utility room and heating room. Similarly to Breuer’s first house, the interior integrated a neutral scheme with bold splashes of primary colours accompanied by vibrant pieces of artwork.

In 1975 the Breuer’s sold the property and it was redesigned and renovated by the new owners. The works were completed between 1975 and 1982. The renovations were then featured in Architectural Record Houses in 1981. As part of the redesign, a new one-story children’s wing was added along with a new garage, swimming pool, underground poolhouse and finally a greenhouse.

Biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Breuer

Website links :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Breuer

http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Breuer_House_II.html

http://architectuul.com/architecture/breuer-house-i-new-canaan

Reviewed by:

Rémi Farwati, Elena Giannitsopoulos, Nadir Bouchene, Adela Plasilova, March 2017