Katonah, New York

Katonah, New York

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Katonah, New York

Katonah, New York was named after Chief Katonah the Native American from whom English colonists purchased what would become the Town of Bedford in Westchester County, New York. It is about 50 miles north of New York City.

Founded with the name Whitlockville, the town changed its name, and later was moved to its present site in 1897, when its former site (Old Katonah) was flooded by the construction of the Cross River Reservoir. More than 50 buildings were moved from the old site to New Katonah, were rolled on logs pulled by horses. The move was originally ordered to start in 1894, but litigation delayed the process by almost three years. Katonah was not the only village affected by New York City’s growing demand for water. The villages of Kirbyville and New Castle Corners were also condemned by the city but were never moved.
The Katonah Village Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Primary and secondary schools:
Katonah is a part of the Katonah-Lewisboro School District. It contains Katonah Elementary School, although some residents go to the neighboring “Increase Miller Elementary School” in Goldens Bridge. In 2014, the school district voted to get rid of the Lewisboro Elementary school, moving elementary students around to other institutions within the district. This created huge controversy with parents, as many of them did not believe this change was necessary, and even filed petitions and hosted strikes against this act. Both schools matriculate into John Jay Middle School and John Jay High School. Katonah is also home to two (2) private schools, the co-educational, college preparatory school The Harvey School, and The Montfort Academy, a private, Roman Catholic high school that recently moved to Mount Vernon, New York.

Area
• Total   0.8 sq mi (2.1 km2)
• Land   0.7 sq mi (1.9 km2)
• Water   0.08 sq mi (0.2 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total   1,679
• Density   2,289/sq mi (883.7/km2)

Find out more by visiting Katonah’s official website at: katonahny.com

 

Read what the New York Times September 15, 2002 article has to say about living in Katonah

Pound Ridge, New York

Pound Ridge, New York

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Pound Ridge, New York

Once inhabited by the various Native Americans known as the Wappinger Confederacy. A dispute over taxation, land sales, and hunting rights led to the Pound Ridge Massacre in March of 1644 by a force of 130 soldiers and members of the Dutch West India Company. Between 500 and 700 Native Americans were killed, the single largest massacre on record. It led to the Wappinger Confederacy’s suing for peace at Stamford later that year. European settlers, mostly from the settlement at Stamford, then occupied Pound Ridge. The borders of Pound Ridge were much in dispute over the next 150 years and the area saw much action during the Revolutionary War.

In 1782 Pound Ridge was incorporated officially with a population of slightly over 700. Growth was slow in this rural agricultural community with the 1860 census showing the number had only doubled. A major industry of making shoes began to supplement the agrarian economy.

Today Pound Ridge is an affluent village in Westchester County, New York, near the Connecticut border and not far from Stamford. The population, as of the 2010 census was 5,104. The business district is considered Scotts Corners where markets, antique shops, the local firehouse, and post office are located. Of particular note is the rich architectural diversity Pound Ridge offers. From historic homes to extraordinary Mid-Century Modern and stunning Contemporary buildings set within wooded parcels of spectacular beauty. Pound Ridge is a haven for those who love great architecture.

Primary and secondary schools:
Pound Ridge children are served by the Pound Ridge Elementary Schools (K-5) and then the Fox Lane Campus for middle and high school, part of the Bedford Central School District. ,

Pound Ridge Newsletter:
For more information of Pound Ridge have a look at the newsletter their Historical Society puts out. Go to Newsletter

Area
• Total   23.44 sq mi (60.70 km2)
• Land   22.64 sq mi (58.63 km2)
• Water   0.80 sq mi (2.07 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total     5,104 (estimated in 2016 5,233)
• Density   231.19/sq mi (89.26/km2)
Find out more by visiting Irvington’s official website at: townofpoundridge.com

 

Read what the New York Times has to say about living in Pound Ridge

The Bauhaus, 1919–1933

The Bauhaus, 1919–1933

The Bauhaus, 1919-1933

The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 in the city of Weimar by German architect Walter Gropius (1883–1969). Its core objective was a radical concept: to reimagine the material world to reflect the unity of all the arts. Gropius explained this vision for a union of art and design in the Proclamation of the Bauhaus (1919), which described a utopian craft guild combining architecture, sculpture, and painting into a single creative expression. Gropius developed a craft-based curriculum that would turn out artisans and designers capable of creating useful and beautiful objects appropriate to this new system of living.

The Bauhaus combined elements of both fine arts and design education. The curriculum commenced with a preliminary course that immersed the students, who came from a diverse range of social and educational backgrounds, in the study of materials, color theory, and formal relationships in preparation for more specialized studies. This preliminary course was often taught by visual artists, including Paul Klee, Vasily Kandinsky (1866–1944), and Josef Albers, among others.

Following their immersion in Bauhaus theory, students entered specialized workshops, which included metalworking, cabinetmaking, weaving, pottery, typography, and wall painting. Although Gropius’ initial aim was a unification of the arts through craft, aspects of this approach proved financially impractical. While maintaining the emphasis on craft, he repositioned the goals of the Bauhaus in 1923, stressing the importance of designing for mass production. It was at this time that the school adopted the slogan “Art into Industry.”

In 1925, the Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau, where Gropius designed a new building to house the school. This building contained many features that later became hallmarks of modernist architecture, including steel-frame construction, a glass curtain wall, and an asymmetrical, pinwheel plan, throughout which Gropius distributed studio, classroom, and administrative space for maximum efficiency and spatial logic.

The cabinetmaking workshop was one of the most popular at the Bauhaus. Under the direction of Marcel Breuer from 1924 to 1928, this studio reconceived the very essence of furniture, often seeking to dematerialize conventional forms such as chairs to their minimal existence. Breuer theorized that eventually chairs would become obsolete, replaced by supportive columns or air. Inspired by the extruded steel tubes of his bicycle, he experimented with metal furniture, ultimately creating lightweight, mass-producible metal chairs. Some of these chairs were deployed in the theater of the Dessau building.

The textile workshop, especially under the direction of designer and weaver Gunta Stölzl (1897–1983), created abstract textiles suitable for use in Bauhaus environments. Students studied color theory and design as well as the technical aspects of weaving. Stölzl encouraged experimentation with unorthodox materials, including cellophane, fiberglass, and metal. Fabrics from the weaving workshop were commercially successful, providing vital and much needed funds to the Bauhaus. The studio’s textiles, along with architectural wall painting, adorned the interiors of Bauhaus buildings, providing polychromatic yet abstract visual interest to these somewhat severe spaces. While the weaving studio was primarily comprised of women, this was in part due to the fact that they were discouraged from participating in other areas. The workshop trained a number of prominent textile artists, including Anni Albers (1899–1994), who continued to create and write about modernist textiles throughout her life.

Metalworking was another popular workshop at the Bauhaus and, along with the cabinetmaking studio, was the most successful in developing design prototypes for mass production. In this studio, designers such as Marianne Brandt, Wilhelm Wagenfeld, and Christian Dell (1893–1974) created beautiful, modern items such as lighting fixtures and tableware. Occasionally, these objects were used in the Bauhaus campus itself; light fixtures designed in the metalwork shop illuminated the Bauhaus building and some faculty housing. Brandt was the first woman to attend the metalworking studio, and replaced László Moholy-Nagy as studio director in 1928. Many of her designs became iconic expressions of the Bauhaus aesthetic. Her sculptural and geometric silver and ebony teapot, while never mass-produced, reflects both the influence of her mentor, Moholy-Nagy, and the Bauhaus emphasis on industrial forms. It was designed with careful attention to functionality and ease of use, from the nondrip spout to the heat-resistant ebony handle.

The typography workshop, while not initially a priority of the Bauhaus, became increasingly important under figures like Moholy-Nagy and the graphic designer Herbert Bayer. At the Bauhaus, typography was conceived as both an empirical means of communication and an artistic expression, with visual clarity stressed above all. Concurrently, typography became increasingly connected to corporate identity and advertising. The promotional materials prepared for the Bauhaus at the workshop, with their use of sans serif typefaces and the incorporation of photography as a key graphic element, served as visual symbols of the avant-garde institution.

Gropius stepped down as director of the Bauhaus in 1928, succeeded by the architect Hannes Meyer (1889–1954). Meyer maintained the emphasis on mass-producible design and eliminated parts of the curriculum he felt were overly formalist in nature. Additionally, he stressed the social function of architecture and design, favoring concern for the public good rather than private luxury. Advertising and photography continued to gain prominence under his leadership.

Under pressure from an increasingly right-wing municipal government, Meyer resigned as director of the Bauhaus in 1930. He was replaced by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Mies once again reconfigured the curriculum, with an increased emphasis on architecture. Lily Reich (1885–1947), who collaborated with Mies on a number of his private commissions, assumed control of the new interior design department. Other departments included weaving, photography, the fine arts, and building. The increasingly unstable political situation in Germany, combined with the perilous financial condition of the Bauhaus, caused Mies to relocate the school to Berlin in 1930, where it operated on a reduced scale. He ultimately shuttered the Bauhaus in 1933.

During the turbulent and often dangerous years of World War II, many of the key figures of the Bauhaus emigrated to the United States, where their work and their teaching philosophies influenced generations of young architects and designers. Marcel Breuer and Joseph Albers taught at Yale, Walter Gropius went to Harvard, and Moholy-Nagy established the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937.

— Alexandra Griffith Winton
Independent Scholar

Charles and Ray Eames

Charles and Ray Eames

Charles Eames and Ray Eames

For more than four decades, American designers Charles and Ray Eames helped shape nearly every facet of American life. From their architecture, furniture, and textile designs to their photography and corporate design, the husband-and-wife team exerted a profound influence on the visual character of daily life in America, whether at work or at home. Their pioneering use of new materials and technologies, notably plywood and plastics, transformed the way Americans furnished their homes, introducing functional, affordable, and often highly sculptural objects and furnishings to many middle-class Americans.

Charles Eames (1907–1978) and Ray Kaiser Eames (1912–1988) met while attending the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and they married in 1941. From the beginning of their collaborative partnership, they focused on creating multifunctional modern designs. While at Cranbrook, Charles collaborated with Eero Saarinen on a group of wood furniture designs that won the Museum of Modern Art’s 1940 “Organic Design in Home Furnishings” competition. These designs, which included experimental molded plywood chairs, were conceived of as functional, affordable options for consumers seeking modern yet livable domestic surroundings. These issues proved to be the salient concerns of much of the Eames’ furniture designs of the next three decades.

The pair moved to Los Angeles in 1941, where Charles initially worked in the movie industry, while Ray created cover designs for the influential journal, California Arts and Architecture. They also continued their experiments with molded plywood, which began with Charles’ Cranbrook collaboration with Saarinen. Through the creative use of this industrial material, the Eameses sought a strong, flexible product capable of taking on myriad shapes and forms. These experiments included the construction of a special machine for molding the plywood, dubbed the Kazam! Machine, but it never produced satisfactory results. However, this work led to the Eames’ important contribution to the war effort. They received a contract from the U.S. Navy to develop lightweight, mass-produced molded plywood leg splints for injured servicemen, as well as aircraft components. Access to military technology and materials provided the final step in the Eames’ successful attempt to create stable molded plywood products. The resulting splint was both highly functional and sculptural, and suggests the fluid, biomorphic forms that characterized many of their subsequent furniture designs.

With the technological process for molding plywood resolved, Charles and Ray applied the method to the design of domestic furniture. After an exhaustive program of prototyping and testing, the first product was a simple plywood chair with both the seat and back supports gently curved so as to ergonomically and comfortably accommodate the human body. It was produced by the Herman Miller Company of Zeeland, Michigan, and marketed as an affordable, multifunctional chair suitable for all modern households. Known as the ECW (Eames Chair Wood) model, this chair is still in production today, and has exerted a profound and lasting impact on twentieth-century furniture design in America.

The Eameses eventually expanded the product line to include molded plywood dining chairs, tables, and storage units. Their experimental approach to materials continued through the subsequent decades with the use of molded fiberglass for a series of inexpensive shell chairs, a collapsible sofa, an upholstered, molded lounge chair, a range of aluminum-framed furniture, and many other innovative designs. The furniture designs of the Eameses were quickly adopted for both domestic and commercial use, and many of these extremely popular items are still in production today.

Ray Eames employed her graphic design skills to create a number of textile designs. Some of these fabrics were monochromatic, while others displayed bold color palettes. Most relied on repetitions of abstract, typically geometric forms, often obviously hand-drawn. The resulting effect was characteristic of much of the Eames’ work: it was both modern and humanistic, abstract yet approachable.

Following the success of their modern furniture designs, Charles and Ray turned their attention to domestic architecture to meet the postwar housing demand. The housing shortage predated the Great Depression, but the return of thousands of World War II veterans, combined with shortages in construction materials, created a real crisis. A project sponsored by California Arts and Architecture magazine, called the Case Study Houses, aimed to provide solutions to this problem by engaging young architects to design and build prototype—or case study—homes. The Eames’ contribution to this project, Case Study House #8, was built in 1951 in Pacific Palisades, California, as a family home for themselves. The Eameses employed standard industrial materials wherever possible, in response to the chronic shortages of many building materials: the factory sash windows, commercial doors, and corrugated steel roofing were all readily available, standard industrial building products.

The interior configuration of the house, with its expansive, double-height living room and flexible plan, replaced traditional, fixed room arrangements, and reflected the way the Eames family lived. This adaptable plan comprised of multipurpose spaces became a hallmark of postwar modern architecture. The furniture, art, and objects in the house revealed the Eames’ wide-ranging interests, from international folk art to Native American art to modern art and design. They used their own furniture, manufactured by Herman Miller, throughout the interior, in addition to pieces collected on their numerous trips abroad.In addition to graphic design, architecture, and furniture and product design, the Eameses also created innovative and groundbreaking films. Many of these were produced as corporate communications projects, such as their numerous films for IBM, while others were made at the behest of government organizations. For example, Glimpses of the U.S.A., made for the U.S. Information Service, was shown in Moscow in 1959, as was the exhibition and film, The World of Franklin and Jefferson, created as part of the national Bicentennial celebrations.

— Alexandra Griffith Winton
Independent Scholar

Ardsley, New York

Ardsley, New York

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Ardsley, New York

Ardsley is another of the storied Hudson Valley thriving suburban villages of Westchester County. Located between the Sprain Brook and Saw Mill Rivers, it originally was the hunting ground of the Wickquasgeck Indians. During the Hudson River Valley’s Dutch period, the land was owned (purchased in 1682) by Frederick Philipse and later confiscated after the Revolutionary War and was divided. From some of the portions of land sold to tenant farmers of the original tract, the village of Ashford was formed later to be called Ardsley. With the creation of the Croton Aqueduct in the 1880’s the town experienced somewhat of a population and business boom.

Ardsley public schools consist of Concord Road Elementary, Ardsley Middle School, and Ardsley High School.
Private schools include St James The Apostle School (PK-8), Longview School (PK-12), Hampton Schools (PK-1), and Lyceum Kennedy International School (PK-12).

Ardsley is served by the Bee-Line Bus System connecting it to White Plains, Elmsford, Yonkers, Dobbs Ferry, Larchmont, Scarsdale, and New Rochelle.

The closest Metro-North’s Hudson line enables commuters to be at Grand Central Station in a little more than half an hour with the Ardsley-on-Hudson and Dobbs Ferry stations within minutes of the center of Ardsley. Alternately, Metro-North Railroad’s Harlem Line brings commuters to its Hartsdale and Scarsdale train stations nearby.

Area
• Total     1.3 sq mi (3.4 km2)
• Land     1.3 sq mi (3.4 km2)
• Water     0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation     210 ft (64 m)
Population (2010)
• Total     4,452
• Density     3,400/sq mi (1,300/km2)

Dobbs Ferry, New York

Dobbs Ferry, New York

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Dobbs Ferry, New York

Dobbs Ferry is another of the storied villages along the Hudson River in Westchester County a short distance from the Tappan Zee Bridge and about 20 minutes north of the George Washington Bridge. In 2014 it earned the distinction as being the first New York State village to be certified as a Climate Smart Community.

The town was named for a ferry that crossed to Sneden’s Landing on the west side of the Hudson River. In 1781, during the Revolutionary war, General George Washington and the Continental Army were encamped at Dobbs Ferry. It was then than an intercepted letter caused him to readjust his war strategy and, instead of engaging British forces in Manhattan, the Continental Army marched south 400 miles to Virginia. The war was won soon afterwards.

National Register of Historic Places include the Estherwood House, the South Presbyterian Church, and the Hyatt-Livingston House

Education
• Springhurst Elementary, for grades kindergarten through grade 5;
• The Dobbs Ferry Middle School for grades 6– through 8;
and the Dobbs Ferry High School
• Alcott Montessori School
• The Masters School, for grades 5 through 12, is a private coed boarding school founded in 187is also located in Dobbs Ferry. The historic Estherwood composes part of the school.

• College: Mercy College, a private college offering undergraduate and graduate programs, has its main campus in Dobbs Ferry.

Metro-North Railroad connects Dobbs Ferry to Grand Central in 37 minutes.

Area
• Total     3.2 sq mi (8.2 km2)
• Land     2.4 sq mi (6.3 km2)
• Water     0.7 sq mi (1.9 km2)
Elevation     210 ft (64 m)
Population (2014)
• Total     11,098

Find out more by visiting Dobbs Ferry’s official website at: www.dobbsferry.com

What is a Climate Smart Community?

What is a Climate Smart Community?

What is a Climate Smart Community?

New York State began it’s Climate Smart Community (CSC) program in 2009 as a partnership between the local communities and State. It’s stated goals are the reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save communities money, encourage communities to advance their health and safety, and energy independence goals, and stimulate local economies to improve the quality of life for residents.
This partnership includes six New York State Agencies that jointly sponsored the CSC Program, including the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the Department of State, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Department of Health, the Department of Transportation, and the Public Service Commission.

The CSC Program has established the following goals:
• Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
• Save tax payers money by reducing energy demand and increasing efficiency
• Improve operations and infrastructure to support renewable energy and low-carbon technologies
• Provide a platform for addressing inter-municipal issues with similar assets and issues
• Enable access to tools and resources for best practices in climate protection
• Facilitate Climate Action Planning to define best strategies for each community

To accomplish these goals, local governments adopt the Climate Smart Communities Pledge. This voluntary Pledge is comprised of 10 pledge elements that include climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. The framework guides local governments in the development and implementation of successful local climate action programs.

Climate Smart Communities

CLIMATE SMART COMMUNITIES 10 PLEDGE ELEMENTS

1. Pledge to be a Climate Smart Community
Adopt the CSC pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate. Designate a point person and a Climate Smart Communities task force. Join a regional or national climate campaign focused on reducing GHG emissions or enhancing sustainability.

2. Set Goals, Inventory Emissions, Plan for Climate Action
Gather data about local GHG emission sources. Develop baseline emissions inventories for local government operations and the community. Establish quantifiable GHG emissions reduction targets. Propose emission reduction schedule and financing strategy. Develop a local climate action plan for reducing emissions.

3. Decrease Community Energy Use
Adopt specific energy-reduction goals. Take action to reduce energy demand in existing public facilities, infrastructure, and vehicle fleets, and to maximize energy efficiency. Implement policies and programs to reduce community energy demand through energy conservation and efficiency improvements. Encourage and support action by local government employees to meet energy use and reduction goals.

4. Encourage Community Use of Renewable Energy
Set a goal to maximize the use of renewable energy in local government operations and the community. Implement renewable energy projects such as solar, wind, geothermal, or small hydro. Implement policies and programs to encourage community use of renewable energy sources.

5. Realize Benefits of Recycling and Other Climate Smart Solid Waste Management Practices
Encourage and support waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting of materials community wide. Offer recycling and composting programs, household hazardous waste collections, and waste diversion opportunities that focus on reducing and reusing materials.

6. Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions Through the Use of Climate-Smart Land-Use Tools
Minimize the GHG impact of new development. Update or adopt community plans, land-use policies, building codes, and multi-modal transportation actions to limit sprawl, reduce vehicle miles traveled, and protect open lands, wetlands, and forests.

7. Enhance Community Resilience and Prepare for the Effects of Climate Change
Establish a climate resiliency vision and associated goals, identify vulnerabilities to climate change effects for both government operations and the community, and develop and implement strategies to address those vulnerabilities and increase overall community resilience.

8. Support Development of a Green Innovation Economy
Lead and support the transition to a green economy by incorporating climate action and sustainability into economic development plans. Create demand by offering incentives and support for local green industries and green workforce training.

9. Inform and Inspire the Public
Lead by example. Host events, organize campaigns and support websites and social media outlets that publicize local government commitment to reducing energy use; saving tax payer dollars; reducing, reusing and recycling materials and adapting to a changing climate. Encourage citizens to follow suit.

10. Commit to an Evolving Process of Climate Action
Monitor and report on progress toward achieving goals. Be willing to consider new ideas and adjust existing approaches. Ensure strategies and plans are up to date. Compare successes and cooperate with neighboring communities. Maintain involvement of stakeholders

Farnsworth House

Farnsworth House

Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House

FARNSWORTH HOUSE has come to epitomize the International Stlye in American architecture. Designed in 1945 but not built until 1951, Farnsworth house is Mies van der Rohe’s iconic Mid-Century Modern home. Built in Plano, Illinois along the Fox River, the sleek and streamlined house melds beautifully with the surrounding wooded area. It’s complete wall of glass allows the visitor to feel at one with nature (as well as a bit of an exhibitionist).

The kitchen, bathroom, and storage are all built into the house’s center core with very little of anything else to obstruct the view. Floor to ceiling curtain create some amount of privacy but it is truly a minimalist’s dream house. Populated with classic van der Rohe furnishings – Barcelona chairs, couch, stools, and table, and MR20 dining table and chairs — with travertine floors and minimal solid carpeting.

Often called a glass box, the house was designed as a retreat for Dr. Edith Farnsworth, a wealthy Chicago nephrologist as a one room weekend retreat. Farnsworth met van der Rohe at a dinner party in 1945 and asked him to build an important piece of architecture for her. She instructed him to build it as if he were building it for himself. Mies accepted and finished the design in time for a model to be included in an exhibition of his work at New York’s Museum of Modern in 1947. It was  lauded as a significant modern icon even before it was built.

Construction began in 1950 but was marred by several lawsuits — van der Rohe sued Farnsworth for non payment of invoices and Farnsworth sued van der Rohe for cost overruns. In the end van der Rohe won the suits (overruns had been approved by the client) and Farnsworth was ordered to pay the bills. Mies was never pleased that he personally did not complete such an important commission as the porch screens were finished by an assistant and no new furnishings were designed. Farnsworth continued to use the 1500 square foot house for 21 years as her retreat, often hosting parties for the architectural conoscenti, and sold it in 1972.

The new owner, Peter Palumbo, removed the bronze screens van der Rohe had designed to enclose the porch, extensively re-landscaped the property to accommodate his modern sculpture collection and, most importantly, furnished the house with van der Rohe’s furniture. Palumbo, after living in the house for 31 years, tried to sell it to the State of Illinois to be turned into a museum. The state could not bring itself to spend the $7 million and the house was put up for sale. The Friends of the Farnsworth House, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Landmarks Illinois were jointly able to purchase the property. The house has been restored to its pristine condition and is operated by the National Trust as a house museum.

FLOODING AT FARNSWORTH
The setting on the Fox River is extraordinary but it does come with it’s drawbacks. The floating terrace was not named as such because of local flooding but increased flooding remains a significant problem for the museum. In September of 2008, Hurricane Ike inundated the Fox River causing massive flooding and water rising 18 inches above the Farnsworth House’s travertine floors. Several options for resolving the issue include elevating the house, installing hydraulic lifts to raise the house in times of flood, or relocating the house. The last, being the most drastic, would completely alter this masterpiece.

Visit Farnsworth House’s website for more information on how you can visit.

Mies van der Rohe’s Iconic chairs

Mies van der Rohe’s Iconic chairs

Mies van der Rohe Iconic Chairs

When Modern really was Modern

The world famous architect and designer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, was also a renown furniture designer who’s iconic chairs grace modern buildings from home to office to public spaces. This modern design style is known as the International Style and van der Rohe stands out as one of it’s greatest proponents. He summed up modern design with what is probably the most famous architectural quote of the 20th century: less-is-more. Thus 20-century design, what we call modern, has indeed become an often repeated soundbite.

Deceptively simple, the sleekly styled furniture van der Rohe designed often used expensive materials that put them out of reach of ordinary people. Here are a few of his best know works that have become the foundation on which Mid-Century Modern is based.

Barcelona chair:
Probably Mies van der Rohe’s most important chair is the International Style icon known as the Barcelona chair. As modern a classic as when it was released in 1929, it is found from the mid-century modern home to the modern urban building lobby. Design credit is shared with Lilly Reich for the German Pavilion at the International Expo of 1929, which was held in Barcelona, hence the name. Originally of bolted metal, the chair was redesigned in the mid 1950’s using solid stainless steel construction. The design was sold to Knoll in 1965 and production has never ceased.

MR20 chair:
Designed in 1927 of tubular steel with painted caning, newer versions by Knoll have banded leather seats and back. Again, the cantilevered seat and one-piece construction makes this an icon of the early 20th century. Marcel Breuer, a Bauhaus designer of the same era whose use of leather on his famous Wassily chair inspired van der Rohe. There are also variations on the theme using padded leather strips with arms and as a rocking chair.

Brno Chair:
Again working with Lilly Reich, this 1929/30 was designed for the Tugendhat House in Brno, Czech Republic. It is another classic modern piece with a steel frame whose design was sold to Knoll in the 1950’s. It is comprised of a single piece of metal bent to form the back support, arms, legs, and base. The ingeniously designed cantilevered seat and back were upholstered in leather. Originally of tubular or flat steel, the more popular flat were in stainless steel with later versions favoring chrome plating. It was simply groundbreaking for 1929.

Find out more about Mies van der Rohe on Wikipedia.

Learn more about these chairs by visiting the Museum of Modern Art’s website:

Barcelona chair
Brno chair
Wassily chair by Marcel Breuer

What is Mid-Century Design?

What is Mid-Century Design?

Modern-House_OPT

What is Mid-Century Design?

Fagus_Gropius_OPTMid-Century Modern is an architectural, interior, product and graphic design aesthetic that is characterized by simplicity, openness, and sensitivity to site and nature. Its origins are traced directly from the celebrated German Bauhaus School.

Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius began his ascent to leadership in the modern movement with his 1911 design for a shoe factory. Gropius designed the building on a steel skeleton and included an unusual quantity of glass, creating an open, airy feeling. That innovative design brought him the commissions he needed, and his success was a major factor in the rise of avant garde Modernist ideals.

Gropius believed creativity could be applied in any area, and parlayed his success as an architect  into commissions to design everything from furniture to a sleeping car for the German railway, and even a diesel locomotive. The arc of Mid-Century design eventually encompassed the fields of fine art, furniture, lighting, ceramics, advertising, automobiles, and clothing.

The Bauhaus led the modern movement in Europe and then transplanted its roots in the New World when the school was closed down by the Nazi regime (the anti-Classical ideals of the Bauhaus were considered “decadent” by the Nazis).Gropius brought his genius to America, as did his protégé, Marcel Breuer.

Whitney-Museum_OPTOn the East Coast, Breuer and four of his students at Harvard (Philip Johnson, Landis Gores, Eliot Noyes, and John Johansen) were hugely influential, and were dubbed “The Harvard Five.”

These five built glass, wood, steel, and fieldstone houses in the rural area around New Canaan, Connecticut  during the period from the late 1940s to the late 1960s. Their work was a shock to the local system, totally unlike the staid clapboard New England colonials that were the norm. The quiet little town saw an influx of gawkers and “house tour” participants, and the bold new designs were vilified by locals with descriptions such as “an architecture as gracious as Sunoco service stations,” “cracker boxes,” and “packing boxes.” One unhappy neighbor penned this little verse….

“They’re lousing up the countryside with buildings most alarming,
It isn’t like New Canaan, where everything’s been charming.”

Pure Mid-century home design eventually took a back seat to the “modern” mutations of 1970s suburban tracts, and then to the “McMansions” of  the 1980s and later.  But in more recent years, it has had a roaring comeback.
Some of that surge of interest can probably be attributed to Baby Boomers who have become nostalgic for their childhood environment. However, the Mid-Century cachet seems to be even more attractive to the fast-paced, tech-savvy young people who are now in the process of building, renovating, and buying all the accoutrements associated with home design. The return to favor of the ideals expressed in Mid-Century architecture has brought on a wave of skyrocketing prices for the furnishings and art that were languishing in second-hand shops and attics for years.

Here are a few examples of striking, well-known mid-century homes designed by some of the architects who became “stars” of the period . . .

Glass House: The revolutionary Glass House, New Canaan, CT was designed in 1949 by architect Philip Johnson as his own residence. Interior space is divided by low walnut cabinets and a brick cylinder that contains the bathroom. Glass House is set in a beautiful open landscape.

VDL Studio and Residence:  Architect Richard Neutra originally designed a 1933 research house in Silver Lake, Calif., and named it after his benefactor, Dr. C.H. Van Der Leeuw. After a fire destroyed the original structure, Neutra rebuilt in 1966, calling the updated abode VDL House II.

Farnsworth House: Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, this 1951 house in Plano, Ill., is known for its transparency and simplicity.

Stahl House – Case Study House 22: This spectacular 1960 glass house seems to float above Los Angeles in the Hollywood Hills, was designed by Pierre Koenig.

Much of Frank Lloyd Wright’s genius lay in his ability to be a fearless innovator. His idea of building decentralized, affordable communities in harmony with nature eventually led to his design of the “Usonian” house. There are a number of these houses throughout America, and Westchester County’s Pleasantville is home to an entire community called “Usonia.” Designed and planned by Wright in the late 1940s, the 47-plot site stands as a testament to his belief in “organic” community living. About sixty per cent of the property is forest and meadowland. Wright’s love of the natural was present in all of his work, and he once said that “nature is the only body of God we shall ever see.”

Wright coined the name Usonia as a sort of acronym for “United States of North America,” a tribute to the American way of life and his desire to interpret it for the modern world. He designed large beautiful homes for some wealthy clients, but his fond dream was to allow America’s middle class families to have simple homes of great beauty and style that would offer them a connection to the natural world in their everyday lives.

He short-circuited many building costs to create affordability. Usonian homes were designed to be built on flat slabs (no basement digging required) fitted with radiant heat. The plan followed a compact L-shape with two wings. Wright cut out layers of materials that were in general use….lathe, plaster, paint, wallpaper…. and used wood, concrete and brick in their natural state. He designed built-in furniture, storage and lighting. Wright originated the use of the “carport” to eliminate the cost of building a garage. Usonian houses are sited to make the best use of the particular landscape, and are built largely from materials native to the geographic area.

Wright designed three of the homes at Usonia himself, and the others were designed by architects who followed his style and sensibility. They include Paul Schweikher, Theodore Dixon Bower, Ulrich Franzen, Kaneji Domoto, Aaron Resnick and David Henken (an engineer and Wright apprentice).Until very recent years, these homes rarely changed hands, and original owners would often add to them rather than leave them.

Ironically, Wright’s fame and lasting style and the high cost of housing in Westchester have increased the value of these homes to a level that makes them unattainable for the middle-class buyer. However, his impact on the American mid-century influenced the development of open-flow ranch style homes and even of the attractive pre-fabricated homes marketed today.