Centerbrook Architects Lecture Series

Centerbrook Architects Lecture Series Presents: The Harvard Five: Mid-century Modern In New Canaan with Architect William Earls

Since the fifties, “the Harvard Five” has been the catchphrase for the five architects- Marcel Breuer, Landis Gores, John Johansen, Philip Johnson and Eliot Noyes who all built houses for themselves and for clients in New Canaan, Connecticut. Other architects, well known (Frank Lloyd Wright, for example) and not so well known, also contributed significant modern houses that elicited strong reactions from nearly everyone who saw them and are still astonishing today. On Friday, April 12 at 7 p.m. in The Cube at Centerbrook Architects, architect William Earls will discuss the significance of the architecture that was built in New Canaan between 1949 and 1960 and place the work in its historical context between early modernism of the 1930’s and postmodernism of the 1970’s. It appears that New Canaan was not just another suburban enclave of modern houses. This talk will illuminate why and what these architects did to usher in a new era of architecture.

William D. Earls is the author of “The Harvard Five in New Canaan: Mid-Century Modern Houses by Marcel Breuer, Landis Gores, John Johansen, Philip Johnson Eliot Noyes” published by W. W. Norton and Co. 2006. He has lectured and written numerous articles on modern architecture.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information or to register, please call the Essex Library at 860-767-1560. The Cube is located in Centerbrook Architects’ offices at 67 Main St. in Centerbrook.