The Harvard Five in New Canaan: Mid-century Modern Houses by Marcel Breuer, Landis Gores, John Johansen, Philip Johnson, Eliot Noyes, and Others

William D. Earls

Praise for The Harvard Five in New Canaan:

“The book's substance is in the photos. . . . Comments from the period, pro and con, from professional and amateur critics and some of the architects, add spice and insight. . . . Recommended.”
—Choice

“[A]n excellent example of the multifaceted components in any major restoration. . . . Highly recommended.”
—Choice

“[P]rovides a fascinating tour of the influential and beautiful strctures.”
—Ready Made

“For all the talk and attention paid to the history of Modern homes in New Canaan, one might think there were at least a few books dedicated to the subject..Until now, there was no such book.”
—New Canaan News-Review

“[A] wonderful house tour….amazing photographs….[T]his is your chance to step inside some of the most important homes created in the United States in the last 60 years.”
—FiftyPlus

“The coverage is exemplary, with vintage photography and floor plans.”
—Interior Design

"What is a house? Most Americans, given this apparently easy question, would probably draw a picture-white clapboards, peaked shingled roof, red brick chimney, flagstone walk and green shutters-and announce comfortably, ’There. That’s a house.’ But the residents of New Canaan, Connecticut, a 300-year-old Colonial village with an extremely high percentage of white clapboard and green shutter houses, would not be so positive...Because New Canaan, to its considerable surprise, has become an architects’ battleground, and everyone talks houses."
—Holiday Magazine, 1952

“At last! An entire book about the mid-century Modern houses of New Canaan, CT….[A] valuable contribution to the literature of Modern architecture, one that documents in one place for the first time a key and fascinating chapter in the history of Modern residential architecture in America.”
—DOCOMOMO

“[E]nthusiasts from around the world search out these icons of modern design nestled in the Connecticut countryside amidst its traditional colonial houses….[O]f interest to anyone with a love of mid-century modern houses and their architects.”
—New England Antiques Journal

Overview

Take a virtual tour of thirty-five landmark houses, 1947-1966, built in a quiet New England community. Since the fifties, "the Harvard Five" has been the catchphrase for the five architects featured in this book who all built houses for themselves and for clients in New Canaan, Connecticut. Other architects, well known (Frank Lloyd Wright, for example) and not so well known, also contributed significant modern houses that elicited strong reactions from nearly everyone who saw them and are still astonishing today. Even today, enthusiasts from around the world search out these icons of modern design nestled in the Connecticut countryside amidst its traditional colonial houses.

An introductory essay by Jean Ely, "New Canaan Modern" (reprinted by permission of the New Canaan Historical Society) recounts the history of the area and how New Canaan came to be the locus of the modern movement’s experimentation in material, construction methods, space, and form. The book is arranged as a "house tour" in chronological order, with photographs and floor plans.

About the Author

William D. Earls is an architect who lives in Connecticut.

ISBN 10: 0-393-73183-9
ISBN 13: 978-0-393-73183-5
2006 / 224 pages / 32 pages color
200 duotone illus / hardcover