New Canaan's Glass House a Must Visit Place This Fall
A California blogger dreams of a trip to New Canaan's architectural gem.
Architecture
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Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
About Town
Legendary Photographer Returns to New Canaan
Noted photographer Pedro Guerrero returns to The Glass House to share his memories of the famous 20th century figures and buildings he photographed, and to reminisce about raising a family in New Canaan.
"Come on in, let's see what you can do." With those words the architectural titan Frank Lloyd Wright greeted a young Pedro Guerrero. At 93, as Guerrero looks back on a distinguished career as a photographer, he credits that moment, and man, as having made all that followed since that 1939 meeting possible. Although Guerrero had not finished school when he met "Mr. Wright," as he always called him, Guerrero impressed the architect with his ability to capture the architect's work on film. So began a 20 year collaboration, which led to a career that included photographing the work of sculptor Alexander Calder, artist Louise Nevelson and numerous assignments for House & Garden, Vogue, Bazaar, House Beautiful and other well-known magazines. The…
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Monday, June 7, 2010
Maintaining Downtown New Canaan's Village Character
P&Z Invites Public Comment on Proposed Village District Design Guidelines
Would Philip Johnson be permitted to build a "Glass Store" in downtown New Canaan if draft Village District design guidelines are adopted by the Planning & Zoning Commission? The answer is: Perhaps yes, perhaps no. P&Z is holding a special meeting on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall to hear from residents, business owners and its own members about whether to adopt the guidelines, which have been under consideration since August. The draft guidelines would impose a framework of voluntary standards for new redevelopment and redesign in the downtown area with the goal of maintaining the unique character and charm of the retail and business zones designated as a "Village District" in the zoning regulations, as well as promoting a "green …
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Thursday, June 3, 2010
The Neighborhood Files
In Pictures: For the Love of the Glass House
Ten New Canaan residents and tour guides share their favorite spots on Philip Johnson's famous estate.
Six days a week (except Tuesdays) from May through November a motley crew leads visitors through Philip Johnson's estate. Ten of the 19 guides are New Canaanites. Some are transplants, others are life-long New Canaan residents, some studied and worked in architecture, others in the financial industry. All of them love this place. Johnson called the site his "50-year diary". New Canaan resident and tour guide Peggy Dannemann tells her tours it was his "50-year laboratory". "He tried out different ideas and different concepts, constantly changing things, because he was curious about what was new," she explains inside his study. The study was his "monk's cell", a small Greek-style building that was once painted white, but which he, in the …
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010
New Canaan: A Design Destination
New Canaan's where it's at when it comes to home décor.
At the crossroads of tradition and modernism, over the last decade or so New Canaan has grown a reputation as a destination for home design, décor, and style. Designers, retailers, and shoppers will be out to celebrate Thursday night with the second annual Design District event. Three new stores—Comina, Mason and Boxwood Home & Interiors—have recently joined the downtown district, boosting the total number of design shops to about a dozen and injecting the local industry with a new boost of energy. "We've had wonderful design stores come into New Canaan despite the fact that it's been a very challenging time," said Rita Kirby a member of the New Canaan Alliance for Business Professionals and a realtor with William Pitt Sotheby's. "This is …
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Sunday, August 2, 2009
Laurie Cantillo: Please Don't Throw Stones
Columnist Laurie Cantillo lives happily in a glass house.
I live in a glass house. It's virtually all glass—give or take the master bedroom closets and a few corner supports. The floor-to-ceiling windows soar 22 feet in two opposing corners. The house also sports an eye-catching canary yellow front door that features a peephole, which—considering there's glass on either side—is clearly architect James Evans' clever idea of a joke. Evans designed and built the house for himself in 1960 during New Canaan's modernist building boom. The modernist history here is a big part of what drew me to this town. My home isn't just a place to eat and sleep; it's a work of art. There are more than 100 moderns in New Canaan, most built in the late '50s and '60s by a group of progressive architects. Philip Johnson…
