Tuesday, August 27, 2019

T Stands for Gropius House: The First Floor


Last week, I had a play date with my friend, Teague. Usually our play dates include a cemetery sighting, but thunderstorms were predicted for the afternoon. We were hanging out in Teague's sun room when she asked, "So, do you want to go to the Gropius House?"

"You mean like the Bauhaus?"

"Yeah, Gropius built his home in Lincoln, Massachusetts. It's one of the properties of Historic New England and I have a membership."

So off we went.


Gropius House is on the National Historic Landmark for Walter Gropius' was one of the most influential architects of the 20th. century. Gropius was the founder of the German design school known as Bauhaus.


In the mid-1930s with tensions building in Germany, Gropius accepted a position to teach architecture at Harvard University. He was allowed to leave Germany with his possessions, but his bank accounts and assets were frozen.

Helen Storrow, a philanthropist, (and if you're from Boston, Storrow Drive was named for her husband, James) heard that Gropius wanted to build a home in the country. She offered to lease him 5 acres of land from her property in Lincoln, Massachusetts which he could select the site he wanted. Construction of the house started in 1938 and Gropius, his wife, Ise, and daughter, Ati (12 years old at the time) moved into the house in 1939.

The house has sleek, clean lines. Utilizes native materials and sits in harmony with the land its build on. It was Gropius' interpretation of a typical New England colonial home with a modern twist. which included building materials such as glass blocks, cork flooring.

What's astonishing is this house is 81 years old and it looks very modern in style.


 A flagstone walkway leads to the main entrance of the house

The front entrance leads into a foyer. The innovative glass blocks provide privacy, but also allow light and the view of the front yard.


At the back of the foyer, the circular stairwell to the second floor with a view of the coat closet. It was designed to be open so that the color and texture of the clothing could be seen.

The color palette of the house is neutral with white/off-white, and grey with pops of color from artwork, textiles like wall coverings, bedspreads, towels



From the foyer, a peek into Gropius' office and a look into the living room beyond.


The cork floor. Acoustic wall covering and the cork floor make the house very quiet. Guests have to wear paper booties to protect the flooring. 


The double desk was designed by Marcel Breuer. Gropius wanted to share the office space with his wife, Ise. Her space is on the left and his on the right. A large window overlooks the front lawn.


View from the living room. Gropius was innovative with passive solar, placing the house in such a way to take advantage of the sunlight for lighting and heating. A special system of heating ducts to prevent the large, plate glass windows from fogging or condensation was installed. Those are the vents behind the radio antenna.


The fireplace. Gropius was friends with many artists of his day. Many when they came to visit, brought artwork as a gift. Some of the guests included Alexander Calder, Joan Miro, Henry Moore and Frank Lloyd Wright



More furniture designed by Breuer.


I liked the telephone and the old telephone number: Clearwater 9-8098


From the living room into the small, intimate dining room. 


Since I took too many pictures for one post, my drink reference is the coffee cups on top of the dishwasher in  clean up side of the pantry.


Opposite the clean up side is the serving side. The house is efficient. Lots of built-ins with clean lines. The cabinets he selected came from a medical supply catalog. A place for everything and everything in its place.


The galley style kitchen.


Besides teaching, Gropius also had an architectural business. In the corner of his office, he had a separate entrance for clients so they wouldn't have to go through the house. 

Next week, we'll visit the second floor of the house.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

41 comments:

  1. How cool. I think those lines are so classic so they still work. Less is more sometimes. I really enjoyed this visit and I can't wait to see next week's photos. I didn't know that this Gropius house was here in New England. happy T day. Hugs-Erika

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    1. I didn't know about the house either, right in our own backyard 😊

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  2. Very interesting post thank you I was not familiar with Gropius. I guess I am old we had one of those phones growing up and a short number like that as well haha
    Happy T Kathy

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    1. I'm old too. The phone number at my parents' house was Olympic 3-5346 and our phone was tethered to the wall.

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    2. yep we had one on the wall too my Grandma on the farm had one of those party lines-Grandpa would catch her listening in haha

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  3. That was a great place to visit. I love the Bauhaus style, and we have quite a lot of Bauhaus buildings here. But as a lot of rich people live in them they don't like people who take photos! Happy T Day, Valerie

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    1. 😺 I bet Walter loves people taking pictures of the home he built.

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  4. That's an amazingly beautiful house. I can understand why Frank Lloyd Wright would visit. What worries me is the flat roof and the amount of snow you get every winter. Somehow I don't understand, since I've seen flat industrial roofs cave in with just a few inches of snow on their roofs. Still, it's a beautiful place and, like you say, quite modern in a mid-century sort of way. Still way ahead of his time style-wise.

    Thanks for sharing the beauty of this house and the kitchen and cups you shared for T this Tuesday. I love those cabinets, but am not fond of galley kitchens.

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    1. Good question. The roof isn't really flat. It's slightly bowed like a U. Rain and melt off ran down into a special drain system.

      Since the Gropius' used the dining room as their main eating area, there was no need to have a large, eat in kitchen. The house is rather small, but extremely efficient and functional. I like the galley kitchen as I don't like people around me when I'm trying to cook. 😺

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  5. Nice, clean design never goes out of style. You don't need a lot of space if it's designed well. Thanks for the tour. :D

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    1. I need someone to come in and organize my little space 😺

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  6. Oh what a beautiful, clean looking home! I love this even though our home is more Victorian in style and uh, filled :):)Thanks for sharing and happy T day!

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    1. I have traditional furniture in the Dollhouse, but I do like all the built-in storage and clean lines

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  7. What a wonderful spontaneous trip. The house is beautiful and I love the modern touches. It very much reminds me of a Frank Lloyd Wright home. I am very much looking forward to seeing the second floor next week.
    Happy Tea Day,
    Kate

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    1. The house is a beautiful property both inside and the yard and garden.

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  8. Somebody should be building things styled like this instead of the hideous McMansions I see. This house is quite livable as is, and I'd love something smaller but with the same eye to efficiency. Thx for the photos. I look forward to more :)

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    1. Until people stop demanding the McMansions, smaller homes won't be built. Either that or when all the young people get old and then want a smaller home instead of their McMansion

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  9. I'm so surprised at how modern it looks and i love the interior so much!! I always learn cool stuff when I come here. I had never known of him before.

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    1. I was amazed by the fact a house from 1938 could look like such a home from the future.

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  10. Wow, what an amazing place! I loved visiting with you to see the house and read all about it - fascinating 😁. Happy T Day! Hugs, Jo x

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  11. Thank you for sharing these photos of your visit, I love seeing inside older buildings and how the folk who owned them furnished the interior .
    Look forward to see the upstairs rooms.
    Happy T day wishes
    Yvonne xx

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  12. Such an interesting place. I love touring vintage homes such as that.
    Happy T day!

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  13. A man definitely ahead of his time. Not too sure I like the open closet idea though:) I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have opened it up to mine, unless he wanted to trip over shoes;)
    There's a lot of Frank Lloyd Wright homes in WI.
    Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed the tour.

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    1. I didn't like the open closet, either. There's such a thing as too much texture and color 😺

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  14. What an interestingly designed house. It does look like a modern house, so he was ahead of his time. I never heard of using cork for flooring. Happy T-Day! (Sorry for being late.)

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    1. I never heard of cork flooring either. The guide said it helped absorb sound and was easy to clean.

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  15. Love seeing your photos of this amazing house. I am a Frank Lloyd Wright fan, myself. I had never heard of this architect, before. I look forward to seeing the 2nd floor next week. Thanks for sharing, and Have a great week, as t day has come and gone! LOL

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  16. This was fascinating, a very interesting post thank you :)

    All the best Jan

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  17. I loved this tour of the 1st floor of the Gropius house and look forward the seeing the 2nd floor. He was definitely ahead of his time.

    Happy T-day! Eileen xx

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  18. I love the house! What an amazing place to visit! It looks so modern!! Wow! You can tell where the designs of today, have came from! Big Hugs!

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  19. Wow! What a beautiful house! I love architecture, especially modern. Gropius was lucky to have been able to get out of Germany in time. He certainly was a visionary. That house would be perfectly livable now in the 21st century. And the phone would be displayed as an antique though. I remember those phones. We had one when I was a child. I still remember my old telephone number from those days. It only had 6 figures and ours was easy to remember. I use it as access code for my bank account these days.
    That house is quite a treasure. Thanks for sharing it.
    Oh,
    I forgot to say that the metal grids on our windows and doors are pure tradition. Our crime rate is very low. The gates on the carport will have panels on them to shield the car from the hot sun. In summer the car gets so hot, it takes a few minutes of running with the airco before i can get in it. Besides it's not good for the paintwork and the seals around the windows plus the tires will dry out.
    Happy belated T-Day,
    Hugs,
    Lisca

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    1. 😱It gets hot here, but not that hot even if the car isn't under a carport or in a garage. The ironwork is very beautiful.

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  20. Woowww this house is really wonderful CJ !! Thanks so much for sharing the beautiful photographs with us.The style isalmost modern, I love this fabulous design. Everything is on place, I like to see the details.
    I wish you a very nice weekend,
    Big hugss, Caty

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    1. The house was so modern during the late 30s, some of Gropius' neighbors didn't like the house and complained it was an eye sore.

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