New Canaan is a wealthy suburb that would be easy for anyone to dismiss. Connecticut suburbRalph Lauren Americana is a common sight, as are Ivy League memories and weekend golf. And, depending on where you’re visiting from, maybe that’s part of the draw—to see how the one-percent lives, to saunter down Elm Street as though you, too, own real estate in the 06840. But there’s something unexpectedly enticing about New Canaan’s picture-perfect topography—a creative energy that drew forward thinkers like the Silvermine Art Colony, who gathered in a barn to challenge portrayals of the pastoral, or the Harvard Five, who would turn America’s conception of architecture on its head.
For design enthusiasts, New Canaan is the place to be in the fall, when the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society puts on October4DesignA month-long initiative that celebrates architecture, design, and art. The biennial is a jewel in crown. Modern House Day TourThe 18th October is the date for this year’s event, when midcentury modern private homes will open their doors and welcome visitors. Grace FarmsThe SANAA cultural center will also join in the celebrations, with live music concerts to mark its tenth anniversary. Waveny Park has a variety of trees, including white oaks and red maples. They put on an amazing color show when the seasons change.
How to get there
Take the Metro North New Haven Line to New Canaan, from Grand Central Station in New York City. Direct trains run between 6-9am and 4-6pm, but you can also connect through Stamford. The journey takes about an hour and half and is pleasant, with red seats and wooded scenery. Mad Men The commuters are drinking from brown paper bags. Uber is the best way to get around but you can reach most of the pins on a map within a short distance.
New Canaan: What to Do
Philip Johnson’s estate covers 49 acres, which is enough to spend an entire day there. Glass HouseThe two modernist structures in New Canaan are open for public viewing. Johnson—along with Marcel Breuer, Landis Gores, John Johansen, and Eliot Noyes—was a member of the “Harvard Five,” a group of architects from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design who flocked to New Canaan in the 1940s and introduced the International Style to the United States. The Glass House stands as a prime example of modernist design tenets—flat planes, open floor plans, large windows, etc.—that redefined New Canaan’s built landscape. Take the Glass House + Galleries TourJohnson’s repoussoir, the Brick House as well as surrounding galleries, are all attractions in themselves. It’s a surreal walk-through, imagining figures like Andy Warhol staying as a guest, or the Velvet Underground performing in the field where Johnson liked to put on “happenings”—to the neighbors’ dismay.
Between 1949 and 1973 over 100 modern houses were built in New Canaan, but today only about 80 remain. The goal of the Modern House Day Tour It is important to maintain these remnants of American glamour in the midst of a rising tide McMansions. These renovations attract visitors from Canada to Australia. This year the tour will have five houses rather than four. It includes a recent build that was designed by John Johansen Philip Johnson and William Bimel Kehm. “This tour was started in 1949 to promote these houses, fell off in the 70s, and then was resurrected by a woman named Laura Pla and brought to the Historical Society because she was noticing that the houses were being slated for demolition,” says Nancy Geary, executive director of the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society. We know that at least two homes have been saved by people who were on the tours and then purchased them. Today, I see modern houses as shrines.
