During the post-war period, the Harvard Five architects turned a Connecticut suburb into a Modernist testing ground, presenting stylish visions of how the era’s insatiable construction boom could look. This house was Breuer’s first entry into the “Canaan canon,” and it struck quite the chord, literally pushing the boundaries of cantilevered construction. An Architectural Record article from the time gushed that “the irresistible appeal of the cantilever is here developed to the ultimate degree. What Breuer has done, in effect, is to build a small basement story above ground, and then balance a full-size one-story house nearly atop it.” A difficult balancing act, to be sure, but the horizontal structure would show Breuer leaning out and pushing the boundaries. He’d later gain notoriety for a second New Canaan house, and a model he built for display in the gardens next to the Museum of Modern Art was one of the institution’s most popular and influential architectural displays of the 20th century. Photo 6 of 12 in Design Icon: 10 Buildings by Marcel Breuer

Design Icon: 10 Buildings by Marcel Breuer

6 of 12

During the post-war period, the Harvard Five architects turned a Connecticut suburb into a Modernist testing ground, presenting stylish visions of how the era’s insatiable construction boom could look. This house was Breuer’s first entry into the "Canaan canon," and it struck quite the chord, literally pushing the boundaries of cantilevered construction. An Architectural Record article from the time gushed that "the irresistible appeal of the cantilever is here developed to the ultimate degree. What Breuer has done, in effect, is to build a small basement story above ground, and then balance a full-size one-story house nearly atop it." A difficult balancing act, to be sure, but the horizontal structure would show Breuer leaning out and pushing the boundaries. He’d later gain notoriety for a second New Canaan house, and a model he built for display in the gardens next to the Museum of Modern Art was one of the institution’s most popular and influential architectural displays of the 20th century.