Interested in stepping into a slice of architectural history this weekend on @NBC? Peter Gittleman, the team leader for the visitor experience at Historic New England, shows #OpenHouseTV viewers around the renowned Gropius House located in Lincoln, Massachusetts. This perfectly preserved family home — and now a national historic landmark museum — was designed by Walter Gropius, the German founder of Bauhaus and an influential figure in modern architecture, during his tenure at Harvard.
Gropius firmly believed that the modern New England home had to reflect modernity, so he used materials such as glass blocks which were not available to colonial New Englanders. He was trying to prove that you could build a contemporary New England house with new technologies available to modern New Englanders while still combining it with traditional, familiar elements — and that revolutionary character is evident throughout the two-story residence. Right when you enter, you find a traditional New England hallway with a staircase and door at the front and a door at the back; but Gropius shook things up by incorporating materials such as chrome bannisters, acoustical plaster, and unique sconces that soften the space. From the study with its ample natural light and glass-block wall that separates it from dining room to the extra-large windows facing privacy in the living room to the 3-section primary bedroom with a dressing room bathroom, and glass wall that features a floating mirror to provide uninterrupted light — and from the tubular steel movable furniture designed by Marcel Breuer to the original pieces of art gifted to the family by their artist friends from around the world to their daughter’s room that included a desk built by her father and a private porch entrance with a wrought-iron spiral staircase to encourage her independence — this flat-roof home is a completely new example of modern New England architecture and teems with game-changing, efficient details and moments that embody simplicity of design.
Enjoy the full episode HERE: https://youtu.be/GwEOTB6FmAU
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