Tipping Point

Restored by Cape Cod Modern House Trust, Marcel Breuer's onetime summer house in the woods of Wellfleet finds its balance once more

- SAM COCHRAN

A SIDE VIEW OF MARCEL BREUER'S WELLFLEET, MASSACHUSETTS, SUMMER HOUSE, NOW RESTORED THANKS TO CAPE COD MODERN HOUSE TRUST.

In 1949, Marcel Breuer exhibited a two-bedroom home in the sculpture garden of New York's Museum of Modern Art. Distinguished by its butterfly roof and glass walls, the iconic design offered an affordable solution to America's suburban housing boom. Around the same time, however, the legendary architect was modeling a more personal vision of midcentury domesticity in the woods of Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Here, on the outer reaches of Cape Cod, Breuer completed his own beach retreat, now newly restored thanks to Cape Cod Modern House Trust (CCMHT).

IN WHAT WAS THE ARCHITECT'S BEDROOM, A WALL IS REPAINTED IN ITS FORMER SHADE OF BROWN.

The Bauhaus-trained architect first came to Wellfleet in the early 1940s to visit his friend and professional peer Serge Chermayeff, who had built a home for his family on a sylvan plot not far from the National Seashore. Breuer quickly fell in love with the area's placid swimming holes, sandy terrain, and scraggly pines. Purchasing 24 acres overlooking Williams Pond, he set about designing a version of his so-called Long House: a lean hybrid of New England vernacular buildings and contemporary European white-box ideals. Never mind that there wasn't a proper drive to reach it. Breuer carved out his own among the trees, later scratching up his sports car on the branches.

JUTTING OFF THE REAR FAÇADE, THE PORCH OVERLOOKS THE WOODS AND WILLIAMS POND.