We covet his chairs, but Marcel Breuer's summer house in Massachusetts may be doomed—and it's not the only one under threat as Americans go bigger.
Sami Reiss, of Snake, writes a column every month called Legacy. It covers all aspects of design.
The future is bleak for modernist homes—some of the best ones are being demolished at a steady clip to make room for newer and arguably much worse things. Last year the neighbors of a house designed by Marcel Breuer on Long Island bulldozed and installed a tennis courts.
The Wellfleet, Massachusetts, summer home famed modernist designer Marcel Breuer created for his family in 1948 is in contract to be sold to the Cape Cod Modern House Trust by Breuer’s son, Tomas Breuer. The home would be preserved by the trust and used for work-study fellowships if it is secured.
Photo by Raimund Kotch
Breuer’s family summer home, built in Wellfleet Massachusetts in 1948, is now also at risk of disappearing. Built in 1948 in Cape Cod, it’s one of the more significant modernist residences built after the war, and still contains much of its original ephemera and effects. Breuer’s elderly son, Tomas, has agreed to sell the residence to the Cape Cod…
