Marcel Breuer’s summer house added to US National Register of Historic Places

Marcel Breuer’s “floating” summer home in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, built in 1948 Photo: Raimund Koch
The architect Marcel Breuer’s summer home near Wellfleet, Massachusetts, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The news comes via the Cape Cod Modern House Trust (CCMHT), which bought the property from Breuer’s son in July with the intent to restore it and eventually host residencies for artists, architects and scholars there. Breuer’s is among 100 or so Modernist houses in the area, several of which had already been listed on the National Register—a programme of the US National Park Service.
“This prestigious recognition by the National Park Service celebrates the property’s unique historic and architectural significance, both for its association with Breuer and its connection to the outstanding Mid-century Modern houses on outer Cape Cod,” a representative for the CCMHT said in a statement, noting that the designation will help the trust “seek support for the preservation and maintenance of the property… as well as for future programming. After a year-long fundraising campaign, the listing is a great step towards returning the house to the vibrant cultural nexus it was in Breuer’s lifetime.”
The house, completed in 1949, hosted Breuer and his family for numerous summers as well as illustrious guests like the architects Eero Saarinen and Florence Knoll and the artists Alexander Calder and Saul Steinberg. Breuer designed the building “like a camera on a tripod” overlooking three ponds; it has remained largely unchanged since his death in 1981 (Breuer and his second wife are buried next to its driveway). The house still has original furniture that the architect designed specifically for the space, as well as a trove of books and art by the likes of Calder, Paul Klee and Josef Albers.
As the Breuer expert Barry Bergdoll told The Art Newspaper last year, “The house reflects his architectural inventiveness. It’s a brilliant building and a prototype of Breuer’s vision of how he could marry the ethos of the Bauhaus with the traditions of the American summer cottage.”
Work has already begun on Breuer’s summer home, including clearing the space and sorting, storing and archiving its contents in preparation for its restoration. The architect and carpenter Peter McMahon, who founded the CCMHT in 2007, says he has already found some “unexpected treasures”, like a Herbert Bayer lithograph and rare and one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture.
“This is quite a fascinating egg hunt,” McMahon says. “I’m corresponding with Modern furniture experts and owners of some of the companies that originally manufactured them. One expert is Christopher Wilk, who wrote the definitive book on Breuer furniture. And Isokon, which made the original Long Chair lounger in the house, is donating a set of companion nesting tables.”
McMahon is working on the house himself—as he has done with four other Modernist homes in the area, all of which were listed on the National Register in 2014. As for how the interior will look in the future, “the space looks great empty”, McMahon says, “and I’m inclined to not over-furnish”.

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