The Harvard Five was a group of architects that settled in New Canaan, Connecticut

New Canaan, Connecticut

New Canaan is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, northeast of Stamford, on the Fivemile River. The population was 19,738 according to the 2010 census.The town is one of the most affluent communities in the United States...

 in the 1940s: John M. Johansen

John M. Johansen

John MacLane Johansen is an architect and member of the Harvard Five. Johansen took an active role in the modern movement.- Early life :Johansen was born to two accomplished painters in New York in 1916...

, Marcel Breuer

Marcel Breuer

Marcel Lajos Breuer , was a Hungarian-born modernist, architect and furniture designer of Jewish descent. One of the masters of Modernism, Breuer displayed interest in modular construction and simple forms.- Life and work :Known to his friends and associates as Lajkó, Breuer studied and taught at...

, Landis Gores

Landis Gores

Landis Gores was an American architect, native to Cincinnati, Ohio. Landis was known for his modernist Gores Pavilion, the Gores Family House, and the House for All Seasons.-Early life:...

, Philip Johnson

Philip Johnson

Philip Cortelyou Johnson was an influential American architect.In 1930, he founded the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and later , as a trustee, he was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the first Pritzker Architecture...

 and Eliot Noyes

Eliot Noyes

Eliot Fette Noyes was a Harvard-trained American architect and industrial designer, who worked on projects for IBM, most famously the IBM Selectric typewriter and the IBM Aerospace Research Center in Los Angeles, California...

. Marcel Breuer was an instructor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design

Harvard Graduate School of Design

The Harvard Graduate School of Design is a graduate school at Harvard University offering degrees in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and Design.-History:...

, while Gores, Johansen, Johnson and Noyes were students there.

They were all influenced by Walter Gropius

Walter Gropius

Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture....

, a leader in the Bauhaus

Bauhaus

', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...

 movement and the head of the architecture program at Harvard.

The small town of New Canaan is nationally recognized for its many examples of modern architecture

Modern architecture

Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...

. Approximately 100 modern homes were built in town, including Johnson's Glass House

Glass House

The Glass House or Johnson house, built in 1949 in New Canaan, Connecticut, was designed by Philip Johnson as his own residence and is a masterpiece in the use of glass. It was an important and influential project for Johnson and for modern architecture. The building is an essay in minimal...

 and the Landis Gores House

Landis Gores House

The Landis Gores House is an International Style house in New Canaan, Connecticut that was built in 1948. It was designed by architects Landis Gores and John C. Smith and was Gores' home....

, and about 20 have been torn down. Four are now listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

: the Landis Gores House

Landis Gores House

The Landis Gores House is an International Style house in New Canaan, Connecticut that was built in 1948. It was designed by architects Landis Gores and John C. Smith and was Gores' home....

, the Richard and Geraldine Hodgson House

Richard and Geraldine Hodgson House

The Richard and Geraldine Hodgson House in New Canaan, Connecticut is an International Style house that was built in 1951. It was designed by Philip C. Johnson and Landis Gores. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005....

, the Philip Johnson Glass House, and the Noyes House

Noyes House (New Canaan, Connecticut)

The Noyes House in New Canaan, Connecticut is an International Style architecture house built in 1955. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Included in the NRHP listing are two contributing buildings and two other contributing structures. Design and/or building...

.

Other notable architects lived in New Canaan and designed residences for themselves and clients there, including John Black Lee

John Black Lee

John Black Lee is one of the few living modern architects in New Canaan, Connecticut. His inspiration comes from Marcel Breuer and Philip C. Johnson. Lee has designed multiple homes in New Canaan and beyond. One of his most famous is the Desilver house, built in 1961...

, Hugh Smallen

Hugh Smallen

Hugh Smallen was part of the second wave of modernist architects to live and practice in New Canaan, Connecticut, and was born May 6, 1919 in New York City. He decided to pursue a major in architecture at Yale University against his father’s will...

, Victor Christ-Janer

Victor Christ-Janer

Victor F. Christ-Janer was an American modernist architect.Victor Christ-Janer was born in Elysian, Minnesota on March 27, 1915 and raised in nearby Waterville. Mr. Christ-Janer trained in liberal arts, sculpting, painting, and architecture at St. Olaf College from the years 1933-1935...

, Alan Goldberg

Alan Goldberg

Alan Goldberg is an American architect, best known for his gas station designs and his extensive participation in the field of hydrogen gas. He lives in New Canaan, Connecticut, with his wife. Goldberg graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in architecture in 1954...

, and Carl Koch

Carl Koch (architect)

Carl Koch was a noted American architect. He was most associated with the design of prefabricated homes and development of the Techcrete building system.-Education:...

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