Mention Connecticut to any Modernist architecture geek and you're likely to have a conversation about New Canaan. That's hardly surprising, as it was essentially the epicenter of Modernist architecture on the East Coast in the Post-War Era. Philip Johnson and other members of the Harvard Five settled in the area, and designed many houses there, as did many other well known architects of the time. But there's also another [much lesser known] city in Connecticut that is equally important for its Modernist architectural heritage: Litchfield.
Like many New England towns, there's a lot of history in Litchfield. The city was first incorporated in 1719, and it has a charming historical town center (although one side of the main street was lost to a devastating fire in 1886). But there are still lots of charming colonial buildings and lots of history. For example, Litchfield is home to America's first law school (Aaron Burr was the school's first student), and is also where Harriet Beecher Stowe (who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin) lived.
Given all this, it seems like an unlikely place to look for Modernist architecture. And yet, it is home to literally dozens of significant Modernist buildings, designed by some of the era's most prominent architects.
Litchfield happens to be near another city called Torrington, which was the headquarters for the Torin Fan Company - one of the largest industrial companies in the region in the post-WW2 period (Torin was later acquired by a British company and relocated to the UK, under the name Torin-Sifan, which exists still today).
Rufus Stillman, the CEO of Torin Fan Company at the time, had a decidedly Modernist aesthetic, and commissioned Marcel Breuer to design his home in nearby Litchfield.
Breuer would eventually design three separate homes for Stillman in Litchfield, plus a version of Breuer's Cape Cod cottages.
Not to be outdone, another senior executive at Torin - Andrew Gagarin and his wife, Jamie - commissioned Breuer to design a large villa for themselves in Litchfield.
This house was clearly designed for entertaining, and you can imagine the large parties that must have taken place here in its heyday.
But with its open kitchen and free-flowing plan, it seems like a really easy house to live in, and relatively intimate by today's McMansion standards.
The defining feature of this house, known as Gagarin I, is the organically formed concrete fireplace in the living room. It's a fascinating bit of flowing, sexy sculpture in what is otherwise a rectilinear structure.
The other nod to free-flowing organic forms is the railing for the staircase.
