Historic New England protects the Breuer-Robeck House
For immediate release
March 2011
The Breuer-Robeck House (1947) in New Canaan, Connecticut, is the latest privately owned historic property protected through a preservation easement held by Historic New England in its Stewardship Program.
In 1946, influential Modern architect and furniture designer Marcel Breuer (1902-1981) moved from Lincoln, Massachusetts, to New York City to open an architectural practice. In 1947, he purchased land in New Canaan, Connecticut, and built the Breuer-Robeck House as a weekend home for his family. This was the first house he built in New Canaan, a town that now has one of the most significant collections of mid-century Modern houses in the United States.
Breuer loved to experiment with material and design and used his family’s house as a testing ground. The house was notable at its time for its recessed concrete-block base, cantilevered wood-frame main block, and cable-suspended sun porch. In October 1948, it was featured in Architectural Record: “The irresistible appeal of the cantilever is here developed to the ultimate degree. What Breuer has done, in effect, is to build a small basement story above ground, and then balance a full-size one-story house nearly atop it, cantilevered on all sides, with really long cantilevers at the ends.” Soon after construction, however, the porch began to sag, and Breuer removed the suspension cables and supported the porch from underneath with a fieldstone wall. Later, the cantilevered ends of the house also sagged and were ultimately supported by round steel columns.
The Breuers occupied the house for six years before selling it to Russell Roberts, an opera singer for the Vienna Opera, who in turn sold it to Peter and Gertrude Robeck in 1964. In 1985, the Robecks hired architect Herbert Beckhard (an associate and partner of Breuer) to replace the exterior support columns with fieldstone support walls, and enlarge the house with an addition attached to the rear, which is not visible from the building’s primary façade. The Robecks owned the house until 1993 when it was purchased by current owner John P. Horgan.
Horgan, long concerned about the trend to tear down Modern buildings, worked with Historic New England to ensure that the property is protected. The preservation easement on the Breuer-Robeck House protects exterior elevations of the main house and addition; interior features of the main house including its fireplace, flagstone flooring and wood ceilings; and the driveway as it was designed by Breuer. The easement also prevents subdivision of the existing 2.7 acre lot and limits new additions and additional structures.
This is the eightieth property protected by a preservation easement held by Historic New England in its Stewardship Program. It is the third Modern property in the program along with the Flansburgh House (1963) and the Hoover House (1937), both in Lincoln, Massachusetts.
