Modernism in Massachusetts

New Modernmass site!!

2011-03-18T16:14:00.001-07:00

Thanks for continuing to check out this blog. However, we have moved everything into a brand new, integrated modernist blog and web site at modernmass.com. All new posts will be there. Please bookmark it.

Mini Doc on Eames

2011-03-16T06:53:00.000-07:00

Marilyn and John Neuhart interview promoting Marilyn's book about Eames and designers behind the scenes.

The Story of Eames Furniture: Marilyn Neuhart with John Neuhart - Interview from Gestalten on Vimeo.

Ben Thompson, Jane Thompson, and Design Research

2011-03-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

Ben Thompson in front of his house on Moon Hill Road.

Ben Thompson was one of the key partners of The Architects Collaborative and one of the founding residents of the Six Moon Hill neighborhood here in Lexington. Then he went on to become a "shaper of cities," including ther evitalization plan for Boston’s old Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, South Street Seaport in Manhattan, and Harborplace in Baltimore. Architecture Boston Magazine has dedicated its current issue to him.

Of particular interest in this issue is the article by Thompson's son, Anthony, declaring his house at 40 Moon Hill Rd., "perhaps the worst building Ben Thompson ever designed. The roof leaked. The house was drafty. There was no privacy. Form did not follow function. I should know. I grew up there."

There will also be this event this week:

March 16 » Boston Public Library’s Rabb Lecture Hall, Copley Square
6:00 pm » Free
JANE THOMPSON AICP: NEW RESEARCH ON DESIGN RESEARCH

A retrospective of the life of the Design Research stores in Cambridge, New York and San Francisco (1953–1978), this presentation by 2010 National Design Award winner Thompson encompasses the larger story of modernism in architecture and everyday objects, evolving from the 1920s German Bauhaus into the midcentury vocabulary of American buildings, interiors, useful objects, textiles and graphics. This lecture is part of the Boston Society of Architects lecture series. You can read more about Design Research in the Spring issue of ArchitectureBoston magazine architectureboston.com.

Boston Globe Coverage of Five Fields and Modernism in Boston's Subutbs

2011-02-24T11:17:00.000-08:00

Nice picture and mention of the 440 Concord. Ave Five Fields house in today's Boston Globe.

And a gallery of more shots here, with other area homes.

Eames Trade

2011-02-20T15:54:00.001-08:00

Great baseball-like trade today. I just happened to check in on Craigslist last night and there was a guy looking to trade an upholstered Eames fiberglass shell armchair for an orange non-upholstered. I happen to have a few of them and the white one matches a white mid-cent. mod coffee table in our basement room. He had the rocker bottom on it, but to get that in return wouldn't have been fair.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Let the Light Shine In! New Five Fields Listing

2011-02-13T13:19:00.000-08:00

(click any image to enlarge, if your browser allows)

New (Feb. 24) mention of this house in the Boston Globe!

For what you would expect to pay for a cape in Lexington (or for even less), you can have style and history. Yes, you erstwhile dreamers and house voyeurs can now buy this brilliant, renovated mid-century modernist house in the historic Five Fields neighborhood. This three-bedroom, two-full-bath house with an open floor plan and over an acre of land is going on the market for $578,000 with Bill Janovitz and John Tse February 17/18, with open houses tentatively scheduled for 2/19 and 2/20. CONTACT Bill or John at janovitz.tse@gmail.com or bjanovitz@hammondre.com for more information. If urgent, you can call Bill 781.856.0992/John 617.851.3532

The current owners have continued to improve the house, most notably with a conversion of the heating fuel from oil to gas, and the upgrade to a high-efficiency boiler and hot water storage system. A sub-par carport was taken down, perhaps allowing for possible expansion on that west side of the house, either with another carport or expansion of the living area. Of course, all such possibilities have to be checked with the town of Lexington. And as is always the case with Five Fields, Moon Hill, Peacock Farm, and other mid-century neighborhoods, there is the expectation that owners will keep improvements and expansions within the existing aesthetic of the neighborhood. The current owners also opened up the floor plan even more graciously and have upgraded electrical to some extent, adding new circuits.

The House

1445 square feet of living area on one level overlooking an acre abutting common/conservation area. Walls of glass bring the outdoors in, with stunning year-round views. The house was designed by The Architects Collaborative (TAC) principal, Richard "Dick" Morehouse and built in 1953 (according to town records).

A large, loft-like open floor plan encompasses the main living area, consisting of living room, dining room, and kitchen. As with most such houses, the construction is simple and sturdy post-and-beam, allowing for flexibility in the floor plan. In fact, both of the last two sets of owners have opened up walls. This main living area is considered the central nucleus of the design, with wings to the easy and the west sides.

In the east wing of the house, there is a full bath and two bedrooms. In the west wing, there is the third bedroom, second full bath, a laundry and storage room, and a separate entrance, perfect for guests, au pair, or an in-law stay.

The 2008 kitchen has a stainless steel gas DCS/Fisher Paykel range with an outside-venting hood, a stainless LG refrigerator, and a stainless Bosch dishwasher. The sellers will include all appliances in the sale, including a front-loading washer and dryer purchased in the last couple of years.

A fireplace in the living room features a new (2010) surround with Heath Ceramics' handmade porcelain tile, (a rare mid-century pottery still in existence today.)

Flooring includes cork tile, natural slate, and ceramic tile (in the bath rooms).

Property abuts the Hardy Stream and the Swommonland Conservation Area (22 acres co-owned by members of Five Fields who
border the property. 440 Concord holds 1 share of 13). Five Fields also owns and maintains Juniper Hill Conservation Area as well as it's common land and swimming pool.

Some improvements by current owners:

* Regraded ground around house and extended lawn
* Installed invisible electric fence for dog (covers over an acre)
* Removed oil tank (and built shed to house heating and water unit)
* New Buderus boiler and water tank
* New gas line to rear of house for heat and BBQ
* Waterproofed storage shed
* Stained and painted exterior
* Removed wall to open up living room
* Installed new entertainment center cabinets
* New electrical circuits for entertainment center, heating system and bedroom
* Finished interior of former boiler room
* Handmade porcelain tile by Heath Ceramics on Fireplace
* Tree Maintenance
* Pest Control Contract

See Lexington GIS map for information on lot, wetlands, etc.

The Neighborhood

The below is taken from our history of Five Fields, which is included in an overview of the modernist communities found in Lexington, here at this page

While the houses of Six Moon Hill were mainly built as a community to house the highly collaborative TAC partners and associates themselves (Gropius built his own famous house out in the nearby town of Lincoln), the architects also conceived of their next such development of spec houses to sell to other home buyers and chose a farm on the southwestern part of town. The old Cutler Farm was purchased by the TAC and the young firm moved forward on their conception of a development that they would control from beginning to end. This became the neighborhood known as Five Fields.

One of the original eight TAC partners, Dick Morehouse, who was a resident of Moon Hill, oversaw the project and even acted as a salesman, showing the new homes to interested buyers. As noted above, Morehouse designed 440 Concord Ave.

The project was conceptualized as 68 house sites, though the initial phase consisted of 20 houses built in 1951, 1952, and 1953, the sales of which would finance the rest of the project. The original price points of these homes—some of which now fetch close to $2 million-- ranged from about $18,000-35,000.

"For twenty years after the establishment of the neighborhood, TAC approval had to be obtained for additions. The restriction expired in the early 1970s. Today, almost all of the houses have been modified or added onto over the years, obscuring what was originally a neighborhood of houses built as variations on a few standard plans." (See link to source, below).

As one of the other original partners, Chip Harkness, explained to the Boston Globe a number of years ago, describing the goals of the TAC when they set out to build Moon Hill, “An initial goal was low-income housing. We were shooting to build homes for under $15,000. That’s quite a bit less than the $1 million one of the houses recently went for.” Like Moon Hill, form followed function in the design of the Five Fields houses, the homes were sited sympathetically into their surroundings and the existing contours of the land, and there was common land set aside and a swimming pool, a playground with playing fields, and a skating pond, for the community. This community spirit carries on today in both Moon Hill and Five Fields.

A boy jumps into the FIve Fields swimming pool, from the commemorative book, Five Fields -- Five Decades: A Community in Progress

More can be read here, at the page for Five Fields on the town of Lexington's Historic Survey site.

Buildblog

2011-01-05T16:02:00.000-08:00

I'm a big fan, big fan. We need some non-custom, spec. developer willing to build some things in this area, in this vein (though, this seems to be all custom as well.) But for those of you in the Seattle area, this is for you. Check out their blog too.

A Sign From Yesteryear to Begin the New Year

2011-01-03T13:04:00.001-08:00

Interesting article in the local Patch for Lexington (quoting John Tse) about a recent discovery of an old sign for sales of Carl Koch's Techbuilt houses in Middle Ridge/Turning Mill, as described in a recent post of mine.

Recent Sale of a "Green Home" in Lexington's Five Fields

2010-12-29T11:39:00.001-08:00

1 Stonewall Road, Lexington. Photo courtesy of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

A common problem for would-be buyers and fans of modern architecture in the Boston area is the paucity of available newly built homes with a modernist sensibility. And when one is located, the price is usually quite high, generally above even higher-end colonial (or, being nice, "eclectic" style) spec homes. Or perhaps the location is somewhat compromised, maybe a subdivided lot somewhere near a highway or in a run-down neighborhood, as available building lots in the 128 belt have mostly been scooped up so that all are left are "tear-downs." If a buyer is lucky, he might stumble across a custom-built modernist home that has had only one owner that needs to relocate.

There is quite a good inventory of mid-range, older homes, even some that creep into the upper price ranges. This page is filled with listings we have marketed and sold that fit this bill. But for someone who does not or can not afford the time and energy -- or the stress of dealing with potential unknowns -- and therefore wants something newly constructed, choices are severely limited. Now, if that same buyer wants an architecturally consistent, or even simpatico neighborhood, well, good luck with that, amigo! Architecturally significant mid-century-modern neighborhoods like Five Fields, Moon Hill, Peacock Farm, Brown's Wood, and Snake Hill were all built, as the term would suggest, way back in the mid-century. Generally, all the lots were sold off and developed.

I was faced with such a dilemma when some buyer clients came to me looking for such a house, at a reasonable price (another relative term, I know). They were ostensibly open to exploring a variety of towns, but as with many people, the town of Lexington made the most sense in terms of location, schools, and town services and amenities. I showed them a few options, including a few choice specimens in some of the aforementioned neighborhoods, but those were older and needed TLC. With their extremely busy schedules, they simply did not have the time for it. So ultimately, the choice was reduced rather quickly to one house, in Five Fields.

"Five Fields? you ask. "Why, Bill, didn't you just spend a few paragraphs long-windily explaining the lack of new construction in 5F and other such MCM areas?"

Yes, dear reader, this very factor, for these buyers, was the primary selling point of this house. By the time they came to me, I was already aware of this new "green" home going up on the bend of Stonewall Road and Barberry Road. Within the past year, the lot beside it on Barberry had been subdivided to allow for this buildable lot, albeit one with strict limitations due to relative proximity to wetlands. Included in these were typical setbacks, limits to landscaping, and a rule that required it to be slab-on-grade, no basement. It was on the market for $1.35 million.

At the time of our first visit, the house was nearing the end of construction but had not yet been ready for broker previews. So I had not yet been inside. We arranged a visit and we all fell in love with the layout, the light, and the siting. Given the thrust of the marketing materials, it seems the main selling point and inspiration for the house was its super green properties and state-of-the-art, LEED-certified construction techniques, materials, and systems. This was certainly all a fantastic bonus to my clients, who were, as I say, primarily motivated by location and style. The fact that the house was highly insulated (R43), with a geothermal HVAC system, with no- VOC finishes, and a lovely, low-impact landscaping plan was all gravy. You can read many of the details here.

We negotiated the price down to $1.29 million. The neighborhoods of Five Fields and Moon Hill (read about them at my history page, here at modernmass.com, and other links on the right of this page) support such a value. Buyers regularly buy modest-sized houses here for $800,000+ and spend hundreds of thousands to renovate them. From the time I began real estate marketing and consulting in 2001, the demand has dramatically increased for these authentic neighborhoods with a true sense of community (common recreation land and swimming pools) and an appreciation for pioneering modern architecture. The turnover when I started over 10 years ago was snail's-pace slow. Many of the original owners were still living in houses that had been built in the 1950s. Many others had seen only one or two sets of buyers over 50 years. So when a house becomes available at a reasonable price, buyers generally pounce. And the past few years has seen a bit more become available. But still, the rarity of a sub-divided lot with a new house that fits the philosophy of the original neighborhood plan -- in fact, pushing it into the future -- was a rare opportunity indeed.

It would be encouraging to see more local builders (I gather they are more common on the West Coast) willing to break out of the "safe" traditional styles taken from plan books or web sites and take more risks, perhaps smaller, more stylish, and efficient homes like this one, which will cost relative pennies compared to mcmansions with tons of wasted space. But hey, until my money is on the line, I guess my opinion isn't worth much.

Postmodern Gingerbread House

2010-12-15T12:56:00.000-08:00

You ever get the feeling that someone is making fun of you? I get the feeling the creators of this ad have read this blog and others like it.

Sale/Listing updates

2010-12-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

Please note the following updates on some of the houses listed in below posts:

Stubbins House, 149 Old Country Rd., Lincoln -- Closed and sold for $850,000. Had been listed at $799,000

7 Moon Hill Rd., Lexington -- Under contract first week. Due to close in February 2011.

19 Demar Rd., Lexington -- Under contract; due to close end of December 2010.

2 Old Conant Rd., Lincoln -- Great Deck House in Lincoln at a very good price, $769,000. Still available.

Groton Deck House - Please note that we are not listing this property. Sellers have asked that we advertise it in case we have any interested readers who would be our buyer clients. House is still available.

Buyers/lookers: I have seen a few stunning mid-century-mod homes in the area recently that are not listed with us. If you're interested in working with a buyer's agent, feel free to contact me at Billjanovitz@hammondre.com for more information.

Lincoln Renovation

2010-11-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

Our friend, Kathryn Corbin, was the designer on this project. I had visited the house in its "before" state and was astounded at my visit after the top-to-bottom renovation. It is a breathtaking home in Lincoln. Read more here, in New England Home Magazine

Gropius (and Breuer!) on the South Shore

2010-11-30T19:23:00.000-08:00

This is a bit old now, but worth posting here. The rarity of modernism on the New England waterfront, except perhaps in the Wellfleet/Truro area, makes this Gropius/Breuer house in Cohasset of particular interest. Read the article here, in Dwell.

Lincoln Deck House Listing

2010-11-09T12:25:00.000-08:00

We are very happy to be back listing another modern house in Lincoln, if for no other reason than to have all our friends from Friends of Modern Architecture/Lincoln (FoMA) come and visit us.

Just up the road from Valley Pond, 2 Old Conant Road is a 1973 Deck House beautifully sited on a wooded lot not far from the juncture of Conant and Old Conant Roads. With the soaring architectural lines and abundant natural light associated with Deck House, the open floor plan flows room living to dining room to kitchen. Cozy up to the fireplace with a hot toddy and enjoy views of pines from each window. Five bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a family/rec room on walk-out lower level. Custom cabinetry; hardwood floors; skylights; gas cooktop; huge garage/barn; and an expansive deck (naturally!) However, as photographer and Deck House resident, David Travers points out, "the name derives from the tongue-and-groove cedar or Douglas Fir decking used on the ceiling/roof/floor construction that basically ties the house together, not really from the almost ever-present outdoor decks."

(Browser allowing, click any image to enlarge)

(See below for more information on Deck House and the neighborhood)

Offered for $769,000. Open house 12:30-2 pm Sunday, November 14. Contact us at Billjanovitz@hammondre.com for more information.

5 bedrooms

2 full baths

2583 square feet of living area

Heated by oil-fired hot water baseboard heat.

Private water and septic (Title V in hand)

80,131 s.f. lot (1.83 acres)

Gas cooktop (propane fired)

Wall ovens

Laundry room

Family room in walk-out lower level

Full deck off of the main living area, accessed by sliders

Large garage/barn with additional storage.

Recent updates: newer roof and skylights; updates air conditioning and heating.

The Neighborhood

There are two main approaches to 2 Old Conant. One is to go pass the classic Dairy Joy stand with unparalleled ice cream and fried foods (be still -- if not healthy -- my heart!) on Rt. 117 and then to take a right up Conant, passing by the pastoral Valley Pond on the left. The other option is to come in from the north, via Trapelo Road, up Laurel Hill to Conant, passing through farms, meadows, and other architectural gems along the way. There, at the juncture of Conant and Old Conant Roads, set back along a long private driveway, is 2 Old Conant.

The house is surrounded by other Deck Houses and modernist homes, within sight of the stunning International-style modernist house that Earl Flansburgh built for himself and his family. Those alt-rocker friends of mine might recognize the surname shared with Earl's son, John, of They Might Be Giants.

About Deckhouse

Acton, MA-based Deck House was recently resuscitated by local businessman, Tom Trudeau, after the recent recession brought the 60+ year-old company to bankruptcy. The roots grew -- pardon the pun - out of Acorn Structures, a trailblazing company founded in 1947 by John Bremis and the legendary Techbuilt and Snake Hill architect Carl Koch (see info here). Acorn developed a very different sort of aesthetic over the intervening decades

Meanwhile, Deck was founded in the 1950s by William Berke, a Gropius disciple out of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Those new to this site can click many of the links to the right to read about Gropius, TAC, his firm, and the various residential projects in Boston's western suburbs. Deck House remained more mid-century modernist in look and principle than Acorn.

To further quote the Boston Globe:

The two companies merged in 1995, and in 2003 Gilrane bought the merged entity through a holding company, renaming it Empyrean. The company estimates over the years it has built more than 20,000 homes, as far away as Israel and South Korea.

Empyrean began its partnership with Dwell magazine in 2005, and the homes they designed and built were more modernist than the other two lines - boxy, more angular, and visually more reminiscent of the kind of homes Gropius's contemporaries and his students turned out in the last century.

But since this article appeared. the company has risen from the ashes and has a third new line, the striking NextHouse.

For a more updated version of the classic Deck House, look no further than my most previous post at a custom-built Deck in Groton, MA.

A note on the price, we feel that this is an exceptional value, particularly given the location within Lincoln. Our last listing in Lincoln, the Stubbins-designed house on Old County Road (not to be confused with this one on Old Conant), had multiple offers immediately and is slated to close for a price considerably over the asking price of $799,000.

Exclusive Offering of a 2002 Deck House

2010-11-04T07:49:00.002-07:00

We are happy to offer this spectacular Massachusetts Deck House to potential buyer clients. This is currently an exclusive offering on which we would act as buyer agents only. It is not currently listed with us or any other agent, but the sellers have asked us to help find a buyer for them. If interested, please contact us at JanoTse@gmail.com for more information.

Good things come in threes: Built in 2002, this is a tri-level, three-bedroom, three-bath, three-car garage Deck House on over three acres in a pastoral New England town. Soaring ceilings with wals of insulated glass and exposed beams in the classic Deck House style. It is an eco-friendly modern home made of wood, glass with abundant natural light, situated atop a hill offering 20 miles of panoramic views and majestic sunsets. Japanese-style landscaped garden, shoji screens between the living room and dining area great for the entertaining. The lower level has its own entrance and a mud room --perfect for a home office. Private, yet conveniently located near the center of town 4600 square feet of living area.

Asking Price (US$): $949,900
Annual Property Tax $11,918
Annual Utility Cost $2,000
Home Area: 4,600 s.f.
Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 3
Total Lot Size: 3.02 acres
Year Built: 2002

Some notable and/or "green" features of the house:

*Passive solar with super insulation
*Healthy indoor air quality
*Oak flooring throughout the house
*Cedar ceilings with exposed Douglas fir beams
*Mahogany windows and trim work throughout
*Mahogany stairs and handcrafted rails
*Motorized sky light and solar tubes
*Walls of glass from floor to ceiling
*Thermal high efficiency windows and doors
*Mahogany deck rails
*Central Vacuum
*Cedar exterior walls

Indoor Air Quality

Heating System Forced Air - Gas
Cooling System Conventional Forced Air - A/C
Ventilation System Part of HVAC
Whole House Filtration Other
Whole House Vacuum yes

Energy & Water

Energy System Municipal Energy
Water System Well
Wastewater System Septic System

Construction Information

Construction Type Wood Framing: 2x4, 2x6, etc.
Exerior Finish Wood
Interior Finish Other
Interior Paint Low VOC
Floor Material Wood - Solid
Roof Material Other
Window Material Other
Insulation Material Other

Garage / Carport

Garage Type Attached
Number of Cars 3
Garage Area 1023 s.f.

All information pertaining to this property provided by seller of home. Hammond Real Estate, Bill Janovitz, and John Tse not responsible for any inaccuracies. We are acting only in a buyer agent capacity regarding this house. We have no agent relationship with the seller.

19 Demar Rd. in Lexington -- Techbuilt Classic

2010-10-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

Designed by Carl Koch, the "Grandfather of Prefab" (Progressive Architecture, 1994), this Techbuilt classic, a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath 2615 s.f. home is a fine example of the pioneering modernism that Koch applied to mid-century homebuilding as returning GIs and a surge in Boston-area technology firms created more demand for housing young families. Bill Janovitz and John Tse are thrilled to offer this property for the listing price of $639,000. It will have an open house 1-3 on Sunday 10/17/20. Please contact me with any questions or to set up a private showing: bjanovitz@hammondre.com.

The House

Set on a wooded 3/4 acre, the siting takes full advantage of the natural beauty of Lexington's Middle Ridge/Turning Mill neighborhood. Vast expanses of glass open up the living area in the rear to meet the large, level, and private backyard. The open floor plan offers a natural flow. From the foyer (an addition consistent with the modernist aesthetic), one is drawn down the stairs of the split entry toward the views from the windows in the main living area. You will be forgiven for being distracted by the view and failing to immediately notice the newly refinished hardwood floors. The flexible first floor layout consists of a dining area, an airy, open main area, and a cozy nook formed in part by the fireplace and exposed chimney. It is easy for one to picture him or herself curled up with a book, perhaps a rare edition of Koch's own At Home with Tomorrow. **

Adjacent to the main living area is a room currently used as a 24X25 family room and spa, also an addition to the original structure. A hot tub is in one corner. One could easily see this room as an office large enough to house a home business, a home gym, a playroom, or as it is currently used. Sliders open up the back wall to a patio.

Flanking the living area in the other direction is a huge (20X16) eat-in kitchen with an island. From the walls of windows, watch family, pets, and/or wild turkeys gamboling (as the "wild" variety of turkeys are wont to do) in the backyard while you prepare dinner or wash the dishes at the sink (no need to actually wash, though; of course there is a dishwasher.)

A large half bathroom and laundry room complete the main living area.

Back up through the foyer, a few steps lead you to the main hallway, which in turn opens to three bedrooms and a full bath. A second full bath is included en suite for the master bedroom. All bedrooms feature the cathedral ceilings afforded by the post-and-beam construction. And one of the bedrooms opens up via sliders to use the top of the family room as a deck of sorts. In fact, the seller informs us that the construction of the below structure was designed to support a future deck (as with all such features, a buyer would be responsible for performing his/her own due diligence to verify).

The house had a new roof put on in 2009. There is a two-car garage with plenty of storage. But if you are a pack rat and still can't find enough room for your "I'll get to it someday" restoration project of broken Eames chairs, or your collections of moldy Dwell magazines, there is an additional storage shed.

(click any image to enlarge, if your browser allows)

The Neighborhood

Most people in Lexington know the area as Turning Mill, but it started out being referred to as Middle Ridge. Though it is now a large area of eight or nine streets, it started down here around Demar, with Techbuilt houses designed by Carl Koch, before growing further north and west and incorporating other modern designs, most notably, the Peacock Farm-style house plan designed by Dan Compton and Walter Pierce, who founded Lexington's Peacock Farm neighborhood on the other side of town. There have also been some Deck Houses built. The expanded part of the area is now referred to as "Upper Turning Mill."

Residents love the area due to its proximity to Estabrook Elementary school (adjacent) and because it offers membership in the Paint Rock swimming pool. It also borders the vast Paint Mine conservation area, with beautiful walking trails. The Lexpress bus runs through. And a quick zip takes you down backroads to Whole Foods, Staples, Super Stop & Shop, Marshalls, and so on in Bedford, or back the other way into the center of Lexington. And it is not far from Route 128.

The Architect

There is an understandable reluctance on the part of everyman to
build his counsel of nuts, bolts, and chromium. The industrial
revolution will help us realize our dreams if we can handle it, but we
haven't handled it too well so far. Although it is pathetic to think
we can escape the pressure of competitive business, the battle of
home-office transportation, and a compulsion to drive ourselves too
far, too fast, too much, by escaping into fantasy in the shape of an
eighteenth-century farmhouse, it is understandable that we try.
______

In our general progression of skills, building somehow lags far behind. Not 50 years behind, perhaps -- but not much less, at that. It goes still by hammer and handsaw -- agonizingly slow, inefficient, and more wasteful of money and people than we can any longer afford. The greatest irony of all is that it is so set about by habit, prejudice, false enthusiasm, and obsolete local constrictions that in a land of free enterprise the look of our urban landscapes is as comfortless, imitative, and repetitive, often, as any dictator could wish.

Carl Koch, preface to At Home With Tomorrow, 1958

Middle Ridge was originally "conceived and designed in 1955 by architect Koch as a neighborhood of Techbuilt homes." Koch had already had successfully designed the first modernist development in the Boston area, Belmont's Snake Hill (1941), Concord's first housing development, Conantum (1951), Weston's Kendal Common (1950).*

Koch came to the region when he attended Harvard School of Design, during "the confusing period between Beaux-Arts Eclectic and all-out Modern."*** It was a period (circa 1937) that overlapped with Gropius' time at the school, but for the most part, it seems Koch regarded his "contemporaries" the school as "leaderless or rudderless." More significant in the development of his own professional philosophy and style was a six-month tenure he spent in Sweden with Sven Markelius (1940-41), "which left him with an enduring admiration for the Scandinavian approach to life, democracy, and architecture."*** Certainly one can easily observe the themes of what is typically regarded as the Scandinavian aesthetic -- simple, clean, and functional design.

The eight-house neighborhood of Snake Hill, it seems, was an experiment in creating inexpensive housing for his own family. It is set on winding road high on a hillside off of Route 60 in Belmont.

A lovely Ezra Stoller shot of a Snake Hill home

In 1947, he designed the Acorn House (later merged with Deck House). His aim was to create well-designed and stylish housing for a good value (i.e. inexpensively) for middle classes by producing a modular construction system, manufactured in a factory controlled environment, which could be transported to a building site and assembled in a few days. However, the Acorn house was met with "resistance from local governments" and building code problems. **** More on Acorn history, by Lloyd Alter here.

(By the way, it seems Mr Alter's piece on the demise of Acorn/Deck/Empyrean (sourced liberally from the Boston Globe article linked at bottom) might have been, well not premature, but new life has been given to the first two brands, with a newly resuscitated Deck/Acorn.)

Far more successful were the Techbuilt houses, which, while certainly progressive architecturally, were more in line with prevailing trends and tastes. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, over 3000 of these houses were built, utilizing six different models. At least three were built in New Canaan, Ct., that other hotbed of Northeastern modernism, but it seems as though Lexington and Concord have the highest concentration and the highest amount of Techbuilt homes still preserved today.

Sources include:

*Lexington's Historic Survey of neighborhoods and housing stock

**Modernism 101

***McCallum, Ian (1959), Architecture U. S. A., New York: Reinhold Pub. Corp., pp. 170–174 via Hathi Trust

****PreservationNation.org

Treehugger

Boston Globe, "Prefab Pioneer Folds" Ted Seifer, December 24 2008

Ezra Stoller Shots

2010-10-12T13:33:00.001-07:00

Thanks for architect, Tim Techler (his link is included on the right), for pointing us toward the Esto.com site, which includes some invaluable shots of Moon Hill taken by Ezra Stoller.

More on Ezra Stoller.

7 Moon Hill Rd. -- The Mann House

2010-10-01T13:50:00.001-07:00

The spirit of exploration and invention, led by philosophy, can be present in an office. Ideas are welcomed from wherever they come. Architectural music is orchestral rather than solo. Every member is involved.

-- Sally Harkness, on the "collaborative" part of The Architects Collaborative (TAC) firm

Sally Harkness was the principal TAC partner behind the design of 7 Moon Hill Road, the Mann House. The original owners were Harold and Muriel Mann.

The house is currently being offered for sale for $995,000 via Hammond Real Estate, with listing agents, Bill Janovitz and John Tse. The first available viewing time is Sunday, October 10, open house 1-3 pm.

One of Moon Hill's finest examples of TAC-designed pioneering modernist homes, the Mann House has renovated and expanded over the years. The open floor plan flows through the living room, family room, kitchen, and dining room. Hardwood floors have been recently refinished. The main hallway leads to five bedrooms, including two suites. A vast sunroom with spa hot tub squares off the floor plan; two-car heated garage with workshop and storage areas, designed by TAC partner, Dick Morehouse. There is approximately 3487 s.f. of living area. Walls of thermal windows overlook the professionally landscaped grounds (7 Moon Hill Road was known informally as "the Garden House.") A rare offering of a special home.

Depending on your browser, all images should enlarge when clicked.

Some of the Notable Features of 7 Moon Hill Road

Living Room/Family Room

-Recently refinished hardwood floors
-Fireplace
-Open floor plan includes large dining area
-Family room/television area, also could work as dining room
-The flexible floor plan is great for entertaining -- large parties and smaller, more intimate dinners alike
-Custom built-in book shelves and other original architectural features
-Glass doors to enclosed three-season porch
-Tree-top views through abundant windows
-Thermal walls of glass with thermal blinds

Kitchen

-Updated in the 1990s
-Subzero Refrigerator installed 2000 (+/-)
-Bosch Dishwasher
-Granite tile
-Custom cabinets
-Large space divided by island
-Abundant cabinets
-Separate entrance from side of house
-Double wall ovens

Master Bedroom

-Walk-in closet
-Built-in dressers
-Second closet
-Built-in desk
-Large shower stall in en suite bath

Guest/Au Pair/In-law/Teen Suite

-En suite full bath
-Walk-in closet
-Separate entrance, glass doors to three-season sunroom/patio
-Direct access to attached greenhouse

Additional Three Bedrooms

-Various built-in desks, dressers, custom closets

Entry Level

-Gracious entry foyer with marble tile, built-in bench and shelves, and large closet
-lexible room with fireplace -- could be a playroom, den, rec room, library, or its current use as a home office. Walls of windows allow plentiful natural light
-Laundry room
-Half bath with marble tile
-Utility room

Systems

-Five zones of radiant and hot water baseboard heat
-Wall-unit air conditioning (two mini-splits and two traditional wall-installed units)
-Water main located in garage
-Propane heat in garage

Miscellaneous

-Original house designed by Sally Harkness, noted partner of The Architects Collaborative (TAC). Additions and expansions also designed by TAC partners
-Windows replaced with insulated glass approximately 10 years ago on all living areas
-Original built-in desks, bureaus, and bookshelves throughout
-Most likely cork-tile floor under carpets in hall/bedrooms
-Master bedroom extended circa 1980s, designed by Norman Fletcher
-Hallway display case
-Motion-sensor exterior lighting

Three-Season Sunroom/Enclosed Patio
-Walls of glass sliding doors with screens
-Year-round hot tub/spa
-Six skylights
-Custom-built free-standing flower boxes.

Exterior

-Rubber roof replaced about 1995, updated around 2000 (all dates approximate)
-Vertical siding
-Perimeter drains installed around rear and sides of house and in front of garage (street side)
-Greenhouse attached, with direct access to bathroom. 7 Moon Hill Rd. was informally known thoughtout Six Moon Hill neighborhood as “The Garden House.”
-Professionally landscaped

Two-Car Garage

-Designed by Dick Morehouse
-Two-car
-Heated, propane
-Workshop area with sink and bench, in rear
-Separate storage room

Here is a shot of the original house, prior to expansions, renovations, and other changes. The viewer will note that the original bookcases seen in this shot are still featured in the current iteration of the house.

More archival Moon Hill shots here.

About Moon Hill and TAC

There are two ways to go -- towards competition or towards collaboration. A contest can be stimulation, but as a way of life competition is wasteful. Time and energy are dissipated in overlapping efforts. The efficiency of collaboration lies in interaction directed towards the solution of a problem. A world that believes only in survival through competition must always be at war. And if the winner is preoccupied with winning, he may find himself on a mountain he never would have chosen to climb. In architecture, rivalry may lead to irrational design; it may put aside a direct solution in favor of a more sensational one.

To fight for conviction is another matter, and this fits in with collaboration. The essence of collaboration is the strength of the individual. When collaboration is operating as it should, a good idea will be carried by conviction, recognized by others without loss of their own prestige.

-- Sally Harkness

In 1947, one young group of forward-thinking architects, The Architects Collaborative (TAC), founded by Bauhaus pioneer, Walter Gropius -- who had fled Germany and joined Harvard University Graduate School of Design -- purchased 20 acres of land on the east-central side of Lexington and formed a non-profit corporation for the community they named Six Moon Hill.

According to personal interviews with some of the partners and residents conducted by Aram Demirjian, the land had been owned since 1908 by a retired automobile dealer, described as "a stubborn and slightly intimidating man... suspicious of TAC's motives for their desire to purchase his land," which was a wooded hill and on the east side of town, and thus convenient to the TAC office in Harvard Square. Ultimately a deal was struck with the former auto dealer, who had held on to six 1920s-era Moon cars in a barn on the property. Appropriately, the development was named Six Moon Hill.

Laid out on a cul-de-sac, they set aside common land to leave as open space, including an area with a swimming pool. They built about 26 houses in the International modernist style: walls of glass, open floor plans, flat or slant roofs, simple and inexpensive materials, austere lines, nestled thoughtfully into the landscape. Though they at first might have seemed out of place—European modernist statements plopped down in the middle of wooded Lexington and adjacent to farms—they actually reflected the old clichés regarding New England Yankee frugality, sensibility, and working with materials at hand. As an article in the Boston Globe pointed out not too long ago, the houses of Moon Hill “remain remarkably unpretentious and livable.” And, when one stops to think about it, what would have been more out of place than Grecian columns on a farmhouse in the middle of a New England field when those originally started appearing? The Moon Hill houses were as unassuming, if not more so, than the good old white-clapboarded colonials dotting the town. Unlike reproductions of that familiar style, the modernist architects saw no need to busy up the facades of their homes with fake shutters, mullioned windows, cupolas and the like. And the use of rubber, tar and gravel, and other new building materials and techniques did away with the need for steeply gabled roofs to dump away the snow, rain and other byproducts of the New England climate.

More photos and information about TAC, Moon Hill, Five Fields, Peacock Farm and more, found here at our Modernism in Massachusetts site.

Six Moon Hill on Wikipedia

New Pictures from the Hugh Stubbins-designed "Boggs House"

2010-09-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

These excellent shots were taken by photographer, David Travers. (Click to enlarge, as with any image on this site).

The house had multiple offers the first weekend listed and is currently under agreement.

New Moon Hill Listing

2010-09-24T18:27:00.001-07:00

Watch this space for an upcoming new listing of a TAC house on Moon Hill Rd. Should be ready by October 8 or so.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Hugh Stubbins-Designed House in Lincoln

2010-09-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

We are proud to be representing the owners of this modernist home, The Baggs House in Lincoln, MA.

The House

A rare offering of a Hugh Stubbins-designed three-bedroom private residence, a mid-century modernist classic thoughtfully sited on a private two-acre lot in a neighborhood of multi-million-dollar estates. Open-concept main floor offers abundant natural light and great flexible flow. Two bedrooms and a studio/office on the main level; newer master suite with fireplace; a recently updated kitchen. Very fun studio/playhouse tower greets visitors. Have you longed to be the artist in a garret?

The Baggs House was commissioned in 1952 by Arthur Baggs, an engineer for Polaroid and his wife. The young architect, Hugh Stubbins, had done some work for the company and that is apparently where he met Baggs.

Mrs. Baggs was an artist. The space currently used as a family room was her studio, and the north-facing skylight, windows and perforated overhang were designed to provide plenty of indirect light for the space. She also did not like direct lighting of interior spaces; visitors will notice that almost all the lighting in house is in coves and soffits, and reflects off the ceilings.

Master Bedroom

The Architect

Despite regular predictions of its imminent demise -- or survival only as an anachronism -- the private house has remained at the core of the American Dream of the good life. Shelter magazines sell more copies than ever and there is probably no building type closer to the architect's heart...

...Houses have frequently been thought of as the architects' design research laboratory, but this approach should be adopted only with caution, lest the clients' needs and desires get lost in search for a new form...

...When I started into practice, I was fortunate. The American house was going through a kind of evolution. Glass walls, open planning, and exposed structural materials all reflected new construction techniques and an increasingly informal lifestyle that has remained with us. Some of my early houses thus still seem, I think, quite contemporary today.

-- Hugh Stubbins, 1976

Hugh Stubbins was a 23 year-old young man from Birmingham, Alabama, newly graduated from Harvard's School of Design, when he was hired by Royal Barry Wills to help provide a modern counterpart to Wills' seminal Cape Cod-style plans. Though the small house plan was hugely popular, Wills' felt pressured by young architects influenced by a more International Style of modernism, specifically, Richard Neutra's 1935 competition winner. The resulting structures took the same philosophy that Wills implemented in his affordable and small, but well-designed, Cape Cods and applied them to more forward-leaning, lighter-weight structures with open-floor plans and cleaner lines. Perhaps the most important architectural element that was continued from the traditional New England structures was the post-and-beam construction of barns, This allows ultimate flexibility in interior wall placement and, subsequently, adaptable and expandable floor plans. Unrestrained from the constrictions of outer load-bearing walls, Stubbins was free to use walls of glass and other modern design techniques. The economy of the modest Royal Barry Wills Cape would now be translated into homes more in tune with their surroundings, with outer garden walls continuing into interior living areas, and the idea of the chimney extending out through the roof, so literally central to the Royal Barry Wills Cape, was taken even further, with fireplaces themselves as part of a wall that could extend beyond the exterior walls.

The first Stubbins/Wills house, Needham, MA

Stubbins' tenure with Wills was brief (three years) but fruitful. He eventually went on to form a short-lived partnership with Marc Peter. Walter Gropius invited him to take a faculty position at Harvard in 1940. He formed friendships with the Bauhaus master, as well as highly notable pioneers like Alvar Aalto and Marcel Breuer. After Gropius' resignation, Stubbins became Chairman of the Department of Architecture at the Harvard School of Design. In 1946, Stubbins built his own modernist house in Lexington, and the town soon became a hotbed for Bauhaus-inspired modernist developments Six Moon Hill and Five Fields -- neighborhoods developed by The Architects Collaborative -- and Peacock Farm, started by young MIT architects, Walter Pierce and Dan Compton. Stubbins started his own firm from a small office in his own house, which saw the likes of some of his former students, then employees, like I.M Pei,and Robert Geddes. Other notable students of his include Philip Johnson, Sarah and Chip Harkness (also Lexingtonians, on Moon Hill), and Paul Rudolph. The firm grew from mostly private residential commissions in the outer-metro suburban rings of Boston and other metropolitan areas, into institutional buildings for the booming world of academia, and eventually designing monumental skyscrapers and urban landmarks like the Citicorp Center in New York City, the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston, and Congress Hall in Berlin. This University of Massachusetts alum is proud to have once lived in a dormitory there in the Southwest residential area designed by Hugh Stubbins and Associates.

Stubbins' family house in Lexington, MA

The Land

When the Baggs bought it, the property was roughly 12 acres, and a farmhouse formerly sat on the original building site. The farmhouse burned down in the '40s. The stone garden walls behind the current house were rebuilt on the farmhouse foundations. The route around the site to the garage is actually an old farm road that led from the back of the old farmhouse to a barn that was on Winter St. (the stone foundation of which, remained until the mid-1990's.) The Baggs' donated four or five acres of wetlands (off Winter St.) to conservation, and sold the roughly two acres (the lot to the north with the house on the rock) to a landscape architect who lived there until about 2000. That left roughly six acres that they lived on and sold eventually.

There was a "no subdivision" covenant on the property when it was sold, which the current owner believes would have expired in the early 2000s. Mrs. Baggs passed away in the mid-90's, the covenant was removed soon after and the property was subdivided into three lots by right. The Stubbins/Baggs house sat only a couple of feet from the new property line, and the lot was being marketed as raw land, assuming that the house would be torn down (because of it proximity to the property line, it became illegal as a result of the subdivision).

The current owners moved the house forward about 100 feet on the site, and maintained its original orientation. The move was a little tricky in that the house had to be raised up high enough so that the front entrance landing and the steel supporting it had to pass over the stone wall. The reason it had to go over the stone wall was because it also had to go around(and under) the locust tree. Pulleys were rigged up in the high branches and weights used to lift up the lower branches. The fireplace in the master bedroom was constructed while the house was in the air, and the original fireplace was lowered down onto it.

Notable Features of 149 Old County Road

*Designed by renowned international architect, Hugh Stubbins
*Post and beam construction
*Moved to current site (on same land) by current owners 1998#
*Recently (2005) built master suite with:
*Walk-in tiled/glass shower
*Double sink vanity
*Walk-in closet with custom-cabinetry
Fireplace
*Hardwood floors
*Artist studio for alternate use as family room or office
*Two additional bedrooms with custom built-ins and lofts
*Full shared bath
*Living room with hardwood floors, cathedral ceilings; plentiful natural light; balcony
*Dining room continues open floor plan from living room
*Renovated (2005) kitchen with ceramic tile; granite counters; stainless steel appliances; Bosch dishwasher
*Lower level storage and additional basement
*Two-car garage with green roof, uses original house foundation
*Separate outbuilding: studio/playroom tower (completed 2005)
*Thoughtfully sited on two-acre lot with great outdoor space, multiple decks and patios
*Seasonal views of Cambridge Reservoir

# all dates approximate

Price $799,000

Available for showings beginning 9/18/10

Contact via email for more info

Sources:

1. Hugh Stubbins and his Associates: The First Fifty Years; Diane M. Ludman, 1986 The Stubbins Associates Inc.

2. Hugh Stubbins: Architecture, The Design Experience; Edited by Susan Braybrooke; 1976 John Wiley & Sons Inc.

3. Current owner.

Snake Hill + "Hipsters in the Woods" -- A great piece by David Fixler

2010-09-16T16:33:00.000-07:00

I just stumbled across this piece by David Fixler, President of the New Englad chapter of DOCOMOMO. Years ago, I read a similar piece by Mr. Fixler in Architecture Boston.

Massachusetts is home to the first (and only prewar) Modern house neighborhoods in this country, of which the earliest and one of the most significant is Snake Hill in Belmont, developed by architect Carl Koch. Progressive Architecture noted in a 1945 article on the expansion of Snake Hill that the five original 1940 Snake Hill houses were “one of the best known and most significant groups of contemporary houses in the world,” by virtue of their planning and architecture, and their success in creating a strong sense of community on what had previously been considered an unbuildable rocky hillside. Snake Hill was as innovative technically as it was in social terms; Koch experimented with new materials and construction techniques that enabled the houses to be built cheaply and quickly, without sacrificing aesthetics or the quality of the interior space. The steep road accessing Snake Hill was even fitted with radiant hot-water pipes to melt snow and ice. The enduring coherence of Snake Hill’s identity is underscored by the relative obscurity of a contemporary development, under-taken by architect Gunnar Peterson in 1941 in Falmouth. This was unfortunately not conceived as a protected community, and has therefore had a considerable number of its houses replaced with mammoth contemporary structures that have severely compromised the character of the neighborhood.

The western suburbs — arcing out from an intellectual heart in Cambridge through Belmont, Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, and Weston — formed the locus of the Modern neighborhood. Each was a place that attracted progressive intellectuals, most of limited means, in search of space and good schools for growing families. A culture receptive to Modernism had already established itself in this area before the war: the first Modern houses in New England were the 1932 Eleanor Raymond House in Belmont, the 1933 Field House in Weston, and several houses including architect Henry Hoover’s own house, in Lincoln — all prior to the arrival of Walter Gropius in 1938.

Read more of the article here (PDF).

Bauhaus in The Burbs

2010-09-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

An excellent article in Design New England from my good buddy, Bruce Irving, who was a longtime producer at the show This Old House.

Peacock Farm 1957

2010-08-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

Here is an old 1957 Citation Award from The American Home magazine. Price range for the houses is listed at $21,000.

Another Interesting Piece from the NYT

2010-08-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

Another great entry from the NYT "Living Rooms" blog series. This one is about the "Guide to Easier Living" handbook from 1950s industrial designers, Mary and Russel Wright.

When Less Was More

2010-07-06T07:56:00.000-07:00

From "Living Rooms," the fine new column in the New York Times, an interesting view on post-war modernism.

Nice Mention on Apartment Therapy Site

2010-06-24T13:13:00.000-07:00

Great article and tour of a Peacock Farm house here. Our blog gets a nice shout-out.

The blog and 10 Moon Hill article in Boston Magazine

2010-05-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

Nice to be able to contribute to a spotlight in Boston Magazine on Moon Hill and our listing at 10 Moon Hill, which is currently under agreement, by the way.

Click to see article:

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/real_estate_modern_history/

42 Peacock Farm Road -- New Listing

2010-04-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

John Tse and I have listed another Peacock Farm classic. (SOLD, closing end of June 2010)

Sunny mid-century modern classic: 5 bedroom, 3 full bath original Peacock Farm house designed by noted architects Walter Pierce and Danforth Compton, updated & well-maintained by the original owners, now offered for the first time in over 50 years. Nestled gently into the 1/3-acre lot with Zen-like moss gardens and bluestone patio. This progressive style won the AIA/Homes for Better Living award in 1957. Recent updates include 1990s kitchen; 2000s boiler/H2O heater; 2-pane windows and storms; and bathrooms. Hardwood floors. Master w/full en suite bath. Corner lot w/cul-de-sac street.

Some features and Notes:

*Updated (1990s) kitchen with ample storage, recessed lighting, and 2009 kitchen floor
*Efficient and comfortable hot water baseboard heat, with recently upgraded Burnham boiler. Three programmable zones.
*2 wall air conditioning units cool house if needed
*Double-pane glass and/or storm windows on each of the 50 windows. Screens.
*Storage shed
*Bluestone patio surrounded by Zen-like moss gardens with a lit bluestone walkway. Lights controllable from both house and *road-side entrance
*Bluestone path around perimeter of house
*Outdoor spaces designed by noted Concord Landscape architect Elizabeth Carlhian shortly after the construction
*Underground water line from house to garden terminal. Separate water meter.
*Wired for FIOS
*Hardwood floors on main living level (under carpet) and bedroom level.
*Newer window blinds
*Utility room/workshop with expanded storage cabinetry
*Crawl space storage with interior access
*Directly across street from egress into Sutherland Woods Conservation area
*Pool membership/fragmentary ownership incluuded in small homeowner association fee.

Price: $699,000

Original layout of Peacock Farm:

From our web site, Modernmass.com:

One of three important planned modernist developments, “Peacock Farm” was just a stone's throw across Pleasant Street from the swimming pool of Six Moon Hill. This community was founded not by an architect associated with Harvard, as TAC was, but by Walter Pierce, from Harvard’s Cambridge rival, MIT. As Laurie Atwater began her article in Lexington’s Colonial Times newspaper,

The cover of the Sunday edition of the New York Times for September 13, 1959 announced: Russians Fire Rocket to the Moon, Expected to Hit Target Today….

Inside the pages, a story from Lexington, Massachusetts: Colony of Contemporary Homes Will Be Repeated Near Boston.

Pierce started his own architecture firm with Danforth Compton after studying at MIT with (amongst others) Carl Koch, a former student of Walter Gropius and a founding father of modern prefab housing in America as the founder of Techbuilt and Acorn Homes (we will recall the House by Mail Craftsman homes from Sears and Roebuck in the early-1900s). Compton and Pierce noticed a "for sale" sign off of Route 2, Peacock Farm Road, a turn off of Watertown Street in Lexington. There was a 45-acre farm filled with wetlands, ledge, and woods. The two architects set out to become the developers of the site, with a plan they referred to as the “Program.” The concept was to build modern, aesthetically progressive homes that would be from a stock design yet looked as if they were custom built for the land.

After initially designing one-floor houses and building a handful of them, Compton suddenly and unexpectedly passed away and Pierce went on to design what is now known as the Peacock Farm House, a modern split-level home that, as Atwater notes in her article, “allowed the home to be ‘of the hill,’ as Frank Lloyd Wright” espoused. The shape of this house style was flexible enough that it could adapt to flat or sloping lots. With some subtle variations, the typical Peacock Farm House had an entrance in the center of the broad side of the structure, a few steps up to a second floor consisting of three bedrooms and a bath or a bath and a half. There is the main floor with a kitchen, dining area and living room with a fireplace and exposed brick chimney. The structure was a basic post-and-beam system with few if any interior load-bearing walls, allowing for great flexibility in the floor plans, and many large windows unobstructed by sashes, mullions, or any unnecessary architectural features. A few steps to a lower level set in various depths of the grading of the site and sometimes a second lower level basement, depending on how much of a slope was present.

The Compton-Pierce team challenged the traditional notion of a house needing to be facing more or less square to the street. Free from this principal, they oriented the homes to be complimentary to the sites, taking advantage of the views and offering the sites the appearance of more space in between the houses. This was also counter to the trends of most modern developments, which seemed to operate from a scorched earth policy, clearing the land and plopping down cookie-cutter houses one after another and then possibly going back to plant saplings after the fact.

Many of these homes have been renovated and expanded over the years, much like those on Moon Hill and Five Fields. They seem very adaptable to such modifications. And most homeowners in these communities have adhered to the mild covenants that the original developers put into place to keep the communities aesthetically consistent. Note that I did not write, “homogeneous.” Modern, that is to say “present day” builders and developers should take note that a mish-mash neighborhood of new neo-colonial-Georgian-Victorians gussied up with various frills and flourishes is a less effective way of distinguishing a group of new houses from each other than the simple approach demonstrated by these forward-looking architects of the mid-century, using one or two plans and adapting them to the contours of the existing land with as little disturbance as possible to the existing conditions of the environment. Though these houses were not, as originally built, the most energy efficient by today’s standards, due to outdated heating systems, relatively little insulation, and large single-paned windows, they are easily retrofitted with updates for all of those components. They were, however, “green” from the get-go in their approach to land use, both in the conserving of the existing flora, with few having traditional lawns even today, minimizing impermeable surfaces (gravel driveways, e.g.), and reasonable lot sizes with larger amounts of common land for all to enjoy.

Which brings us to the socio-political philosophy that underlies these communities’ origins. Not only were these houses extraordinarily “new” in their styles, standing in stark contrast to the traditional New England vernacular via a contemporary European artistic aesthetic, but the founders of these developments also brought an egalitarian approach with attention to developing a community ideal that contrasted the largely politically and socially conservative post-war suburbs. Levittown was about conforming to the new neat and largely homogeneous suburban idea of the American Dream, trimmed lawns hemmed in by squared fences. These Lexington modernist developments tended to encourage responsibility and cooperation in the neighborhood as a whole, with partnerships in the non-profit corporations formed to watch over the common areas and the upholding of the benign covenants.

The layout of the communities has allowed for a natural sort of privacy yet a community spirit was fostered and has continued to flourish in all of them. Peacock Farm celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008. (See more about this and other modernist communities at www.Modernmass.com)

Price change at 10 Moon Hill Rd.

2010-04-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

(SOLD/July 2010)

Huge price drop to $959,000!

Details here: 10MoonHill.com

10 Moon Hill - The Sills House For Sale

2010-03-11T11:38:00.000-08:00

(SOLD July/2010)

In the June 1950 issue of Architectural Forum magazine profile on the homes of Six Moon Hill, the Sills House, 10 Moon Hill Road, is described as, "designed for one of Six Moon Hill's few non-academic couples, this carefully detailed house has reserve space to provide for future family growth... A slate floor throughout the central area contrasts pleasantly with chimney brick and natural plywood panels and ties this space in with the flagstone terrace... Separated from the living area by only a two-way fireplace and a low storage cabinet for records, the dining space may be used for general entertaining."

Click to enlarge:

Well, the cabinet is gone, but then -- perhaps unfortunately -- so are many peoples' record collections. But now the floor plan is even more dazzlingly open, with an updated kitchen flowing into the dining area and, beyond the two-sided fireplace, the living room, which itself seems to flow naturally into the landscape outside the walls of glass. Oral history passed down through the three sets of owners has it that none other than Walter Gropius himself stood in the kitchen admiring this fireplace.

Scroll to see additional 2009 photos of the house below.

Stats for 10 Moon Hill Road

Price: $1,048,888, showings to begin March 10, 2010.

8 rooms

4 bedrooms

2.5 baths

2319 s.f. of living area

2 zones of radiant heat

Oil + propane

Discreet ductless mini-split air conditioning

2007 renovated Master suite with large Duravit soaking tub; multi-jet tiled shower with glass doors; large vanity/dressing area and closets; laundry room; private patio overlooking Japanese-style gardens

Flooring: hardwood; slate; stained concrete with radiant heat.

Finished, above-grade, walk-out lower-level family room, bedroom, and half bath.

Modern, recently (2008) renovated kitchen with stone countertops, 2008 appliances, flooring, and lighting.

Carport with enclosed storage.

Built 1948

26,136 square foot lot, professionally landscaped

Neighborhood association, common land, and swimming pool ($510/year without pool use; $950/year with pool use, approximately)

Prior owners: Sills 48-56; Marion Sheehan 56-02

Additions: Carport (TAC, 1956); Master bedroom suite (Dick Morehouse, 1980)

Floor plans (click):

Town appraisal card

Lexington GIS viewer

The Architects Collaborative partners

Robert McMillan designed the 10 Moon Hill Road house for the Sills family. He later headed the Rome office of TAC before leaving TAC and starting his own firm, remaining in Rome.

The house has been brought up to today's standards of simple luxury. An early renovation designed by TAC created the ground floor living room and a carport with storage. The master bedroom wing, designed by TAC partner Dick Moorhouse, was added in the 1980's.

The entire house has been completely upgraded in the last three years, while scrupulously maintaining the original architectural character of the home. Recent renovations include:

• MBR: Complete gut renovation 2007

• Other Bedrooms, bath: Complete gut renovation 2008

• Kitchen: Complete gut renovation 2008 with all new cabinets, utilities and appliances.

• Lower level family room, bedroom, bath: Complete gut renovation 2009

• Alarm system: New system installed 2008

• Roof membrane: resealed 2007

• Electrical system: almost entire house is brand new.

• House exterior painted 2008.

The original kitchen of 10 Moon Hill Rd. as featured in a 1950s home magazine:

About Moon Hill and TAC

In 1947, one young group of forward-thinking architects, The Architects Collaborative (TAC), founded by Bauhaus pioneer, Walter Gropius -- who had fled Germany and joined Harvard University Graduate School of Design -- purchased 20 acres of land on the east-central side of Lexington and formed a non-profit corporation for the community they named Six Moon Hill.

According to personal interviews with some of the partners and residents conducted by Aram Demirjian, the land had been owned since 1908 by a retired automobile dealer, described as "a stubborn and slightly intimidating man... suspicious of TAC's motives for their desire to purchase his land," which was a wooded hill and on the east side of town, and thus convenient to the TAC office in Harvard Square. Ultimately a deal was struck with the former auto dealer, who had held on to six 1920s-era Moon cars in a barn on the property. Appropriately, the development was named Six Moon Hill.

Laid out on a cul-de-sac, they set aside common land to leave as open space, including an area with a swimming pool. They built about 26 houses in the International modernist style: walls of glass, open floor plans, flat or slant roofs, simple and inexpensive materials, austere lines, nestled thoughtfully into the landscape. Though they at first might have seemed out of place—European modernist statements plopped down in the middle of wooded Lexington and adjacent to farms—they actually reflected the old clichés regarding New England Yankee frugality, sensibility, and working with materials at hand. As an article in the Boston Globe pointed out not too long ago, the houses of Moon Hill “remain remarkably unpretentious and livable.” And, when one stops to think about it, what would have been more out of place than Grecian columns on a farmhouse in the middle of a New England field when those originally started appearing? The Moon Hill houses were as unassuming, if not more so, than the good old white-clapboarded colonials dotting the town. Unlike reproductions of that familiar style, the modernist architects saw no need to busy up the facades of their homes with fake shutters, mullioned windows, cupolas and the like. And the use of rubber, tar and gravel, and other new building materials and techniques did away with the need for steeply gabled roofs to dump away the snow, rain and other byproducts of the New England climate.

More photos and information about TAC, Moon Hill, Five Fields, Peacock Farm and more, found here at our Modernism in Massachusetts site.

Six Moon Hill on Wikipedia

Moon Hill

2010-03-03T07:30:00.001-08:00

My Scorcese one-shot iPhone video tour.

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Our New Peacock Farm Listing

2010-02-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

We are pleased to present this new listing, coming on the market via MLS on February 24. Contact Bill at 781-856-0992 or bjanovitz@hammondre.com to arrange a showing. Price $748,988.

It is an expanded and updated five-bedroom Peacock Farm house. The original Walter Pierce design of this now-modern-classic style has been expanded in the front, on the side, and in the rear. The kitchen in particular, benefits with the bump-out and feels much larger than most Peacock Farm kitchens. And the front addition adds a foyer. As the viewer steps into the living room, the eye is carried through the open-concept living and dining area, flowing through to the outside via walls of sliding glass doors. The viewer is drawn out to an expansive 30-foot deck overlooking the large level lot.

The house has 2203 square feet of living area on three split levels. There are two full baths and five bedrooms, three of which are on the uppermost floor. If a buyer wanted a large open family room on the lower level, one could open up the two bedrooms on the walk-out, above-grade lower level.

The kitchen has been bumped out with an addition and has Staron (like Corian) counters and a large stainless steel range.

One of the great features of 52 Peacock Farm Rd. is that the original windows have been replaced by Pella insulated windows.

There is a two-car carport designed by Walter Pierce in 1994.

Neighborhood swimming pool.

Floor plans (click for larger):

Original layout of Peacock Farm:

From our web site, Modernmass.com:

One of three important planned modernist developments, “Peacock Farm” was just a stone's throw across Pleasant Street from the swimming pool of Six Moon Hill. This community was founded not by an architect associated with Harvard, as TAC was, but by Walter Pierce, from Harvard’s Cambridge rival, MIT. As Laurie Atwater began her article in Lexington’s Colonial Times newspaper,

The cover of the Sunday edition of the New York Times for September 13, 1959 announced: Russians Fire Rocket to the Moon, Expected to Hit Target Today….

Inside the pages, a story from Lexington, Massachusetts: Colony of Contemporary Homes Will Be Repeated Near Boston.

Pierce started his own architecture firm with Danforth Compton after studying at MIT with (amongst others) Carl Koch, a former student of Walter Gropius and a founding father of modern prefab housing in America as the founder of Techbuilt and Acorn Homes (we will recall the House by Mail Craftsman homes from Sears and Roebuck in the early-1900s). Compton and Pierce noticed a "for sale" sign off of Route 2, Peacock Farm Road, a turn off of Watertown Street in Lexington. There was a 45-acre farm filled with wetlands, ledge, and woods. The two architects set out to become the developers of the site, with a plan they referred to as the “Program.” The concept was to build modern, aesthetically progressive homes that would be from a stock design yet looked as if they were custom built for the land.

After initially designing one-floor houses and building a handful of them, Compton suddenly and unexpectedly passed away and Pierce went on to design what is now known as the Peacock Farm House, a modern split-level home that, as Atwater notes in her article, “allowed the home to be ‘of the hill,’ as Frank Lloyd Wright” espoused. The shape of this house style was flexible enough that it could adapt to flat or sloping lots. With some subtle variations, the typical Peacock Farm House had an entrance in the center of the broad side of the structure, a few steps up to a second floor consisting of three bedrooms and a bath or a bath and a half. There is the main floor with a kitchen, dining area and living room with a fireplace and exposed brick chimney. The structure was a basic post-and-beam system with few if any interior load-bearing walls, allowing for great flexibility in the floor plans, and many large windows unobstructed by sashes, mullions, or any unnecessary architectural features. A few steps to a lower level set in various depths of the grading of the site and sometimes a second lower level basement, depending on how much of a slope was present.

The Compton-Pierce team challenged the traditional notion of a house needing to be facing more or less square to the street. Free from this principal, they oriented the homes to be complimentary to the sites, taking advantage of the views and offering the sites the appearance of more space in between the houses. This was also counter to the trends of most modern developments, which seemed to operate from a scorched earth policy, clearing the land and plopping down cookie-cutter houses one after another and then possibly going back to plant saplings after the fact.

Many of these homes have been renovated and expanded over the years, much like those on Moon Hill and Five Fields. They seem very adaptable to such modifications. And most homeowners in these communities have adhered to the mild covenants that the original developers put into place to keep the communities aesthetically consistent. Note that I did not write, “homogeneous.” Modern, that is to say “present day” builders and developers should take note that a mish-mash neighborhood of new neo-colonial-Georgian-Victorians gussied up with various frills and flourishes is a less effective way of distinguishing a group of new houses from each other than the simple approach demonstrated by these forward-looking architects of the mid-century, using one or two plans and adapting them to the contours of the existing land with as little disturbance as possible to the existing conditions of the environment. Though these houses were not, as originally built, the most energy efficient by today’s standards, due to outdated heating systems, relatively little insulation, and large single-paned windows, they are easily retrofitted with updates for all of those components. They were, however, “green” from the get-go in their approach to land use, both in the conserving of the existing flora, with few having traditional lawns even today, minimizing impermeable surfaces (gravel driveways, e.g.), and reasonable lot sizes with larger amounts of common land for all to enjoy.

Which brings us to the socio-political philosophy that underlies these communities’ origins. Not only were these houses extraordinarily “new” in their styles, standing in stark contrast to the traditional New England vernacular via a contemporary European artistic aesthetic, but the founders of these developments also brought an egalitarian approach with attention to developing a community ideal that contrasted the largely politically and socially conservative post-war suburbs. Levittown was about conforming to the new neat and largely homogeneous suburban idea of the American Dream, trimmed lawns hemmed in by squared fences. These Lexington modernist developments tended to encourage responsibility and cooperation in the neighborhood as a whole, with partnerships in the non-profit corporations formed to watch over the common areas and the upholding of the benign covenants.

The layout of the communities has allowed for a natural sort of privacy yet a community spirit was fostered and has continued to flourish in all of them. Peacock Farm celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008. (See more about this and other modernist communities at www.Modernmass.com)

Stay Tuned to This Space

2010-02-18T20:27:00.000-08:00

We have 2 listings coming on in the next few weeks, one in Peacock Farm, and one in Six Moon Hill.

Arlington

2010-02-18T20:25:00.000-08:00

An interesting house on the market in Arlington, re-designed by Single Speed Design.

Ha!

2010-02-08T16:27:00.000-08:00

A few people have sent this to me over the past week or two:

http://unhappyhipsters.com/

Satire for the self-aware of the Dwell-ers.

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More Breuer Residencies in Massachusetts

2010-02-03T16:26:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of the very good site, GreatBuildings.com

Breuer House I in Lincoln, MA (very close to Gropius House)

This is the J. Ford House in Lincoln, MA.

Chamberlain Cottage

2010-02-03T16:20:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to more information on the Marcel Breuer/Walter Gropius Chamberlain Cottage in Wayland, MA

Check Modernmass.com

2010-01-12T11:49:00.000-08:00

Some updates going in today, photos and materials.

Modernmass.com

Peacock Farm Listing

2010-01-12T11:03:00.000-08:00

Jodi Winchester in our office brought this one on this past weekend. Word on the street is that it is already under agreement. Asing price is $765,000. We have some listings coming on in a couple of Lexington's historic modernist neighborhoods. Contact me for info.

Six Moon Hill Article

2010-01-03T18:07:00.000-08:00

From Architects.org:

Link Here

And another (from Harvard Magazine) regarding preservation of modernists homes, pointing out a brief history that predates Walter Gropius' arrival at Harvard. Henry Hoover is discussed.

Links

2009-12-23T06:52:00.000-08:00

Just added some links on the right, there. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Techbuilt Offered for Sale

2009-12-23T05:55:00.000-08:00

There's a nice expanded and renovated Techbuilt house for sale in Lexington's Turning Mill/Paint Rock neighborhood. See the listing information and photos here. I would be glad to arrange a showing.

New (original old) Platner Knoll Chairs

2009-12-18T10:22:00.001-08:00

I inherited up some classic Platner chairs

Bauhaus Piece

2009-12-18T10:18:00.000-08:00

Great piece on the Bauahus movement and MoMA exhibit on NPR's "Fresh Air." LINK HERE

Welcome

2009-12-11T12:07:00.001-08:00

Thanks for checking out the site. This will be for more dynamic content updates than its sister site, modernmass.com. The latter site will continue to serve as an overall history of the significant modernist neighborhoods in the western suburbs of Boston. Check this blog for events (like the one above), new listings, and random updated content and news about modernist homes and furnishings.