Modern
New Canaan

The first Modern House Day was on May 14, 1949. The architect Eliot Noyes chaired the committee that organized the event and the $2000 raised benefitted the New Canaan Library. The tour featured homes built between 1947 and 1949: Noyes House 1 (later demolished), The Gores House (now on the National Register), the Kniffin House (a collaboration between architects Marcel Breuer and Eliot Noyes), Breuer House 1, the Glass House, and The Rantoul House, designed by Sherwood, Mills & Smith. The idea was to showcase these fabulous new modern homes. Following the success of this inaugural tour, members of the New Canaan Community Nursery School ran Modern House Day from 1952 through 1967, and included homes built during those years by many of the originally featured architects.

The Modern House Day was resurrected in 2001 as the Modern House Day Tour + Symposium by Laura Pla for the benefit of the New Canaan Historical Society. Laura worked with Janet Lindstrom, then Executive Director. By that time, mid-century modern homes were being demolished to make way for larger houses that some considered better suited to the needs of families. Laura’s and Janet’s focus was to educate the public about the importance of these mid-century architectural gems. The first symposium featured architects Richard Bergmann and John Johansen, the furniture designer Jens Risom, and David Borglum of the builders Borglum & Meek. The public caught on, and in the years that followed, numerous mid-century moderns slated for demolition were purchased and restored