In Connecticut, works by some of the most notable architects of the 20th century are hiding in plain sight. Carol Kino takes the wheel for a high-design sightseeing tour.
Think Connecticut, and the mind conjures up clapboard houses and picket fences. But architecture buffs know the state for glass walls, cement, and dark wood—the signature media of the Modernist architects who once made it their playground.
Connecticut Modernism began taking shape in the 1930s, when Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus design school, fled Germany and took a position at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. His associate Marcel Breuer soon joined him, and together they mentored a generation of architects that included Modernist icons Landis Gores, John M. Johansen, Eliot Noyes, and Philip Johnson.
In the forties, as many of these pioneers began establishing Manhattan firms, they bought homes in Connecticut. Buoyed by the postwar boom, towns like New Canaan and Stamford became creative hot spots full of boldly designed residences, churches, and schools. In the sixties, as urban redevelopment swept the country, Modernist office buildings sprouted up. Today, several of the finest examples of this architectural era are concentrated between Stamford and Hartford— ideally situated for a three-day driving tour.
DAY 1 | Modern New Canaan
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Worth Flying For
The wooden owl’s eyes entranced me.
The France They Loved
Before Julia Child became Julia Child, she and her husband, Paul, a career diplomat, lived from 1948 until 1954 in Paris and Marseille. In addition to his work in the civil service, Paul was an accomplished photographer who continually documented his surroundings. In this exclusive excerpt from France Is a Feast, a book of Paul’s work, out October 24, ALEXPRUD’ HOMME—the Childs’ great nephew—captures the bygone world the couple inhabited.
Return Of The Crillon
After a four-year closure and lavish renovation, Paris’s storied hotel unveils a daringly modern new look.
New England Modern
In Connecticut, works by some of the most notable architects of the 20th century are hiding in plain sight. Carol Kino takes the wheel for a high-design sightseeing tour.
My Photographic Education Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Shoot A Giraffe
The Emakoko, a luxury safari lodge, stands by the Mbagathi River on the edge of Nairobi National Park, in Kenya. Although barely 45 minutes from the airport, it’s a place of serenity and wide-open spaces.
Land Of Pain And Promise
The photographer ANDREW MOORE has spent the past half-decade documenting the wounds, traditions, and haunting beauty of the Deep South. For the author KIESE LAYMON, who was born and raised in the region and recently returned home, this is the emotional landscape that helped make him who he is today.
My City, My Self
In a new portrait project, photographer Joshua Rashaad McFadden explores how places in Atlanta and across America have shaped the lives and worldviews of their black residents.
Giving The World A Human Face
Whether traveling through Ethiopia, North Korea, or any other of the long list of remote countries she has visited, writer and photographer Wendy E. Simmons finds nothing builds bridges quite like the act of taking a picture.
A Day In The Life
Photographer Stephen Wilkes—who shot this month’s cover—documents the passage of time at landmarks around the world in his series “Day to Night,” currently on view.
Le Grand Musée Du Parfum in Paris, France
A new Xanadu for fragrance lovers sits on Paris’s Rue du Faubourg St.-Honoré, across the street from the famed Le Bristol hotel, in an 18th-century hôtel particulier previously owned by Christian Lacroix (and before that, Louis Roederer).
What We're Reading
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