Projects by Name

Henry and Margareth Chamberlain commissioned a weekend cottage from Gropius and Breuer and requested that Breuer incorporate a screened porch like that found at his own house in Lincoln, MA. Breuer designed a simple, one-story wooden rectangle cantilevered over a low foundation wall of stone. Breuer used an innovative system of three-layers of tongue and groove boarding laid in different orientations which transformed the walls into stiff slabs. He first experimented with this system, which approximated the structural possibilities of reinforced concrete, in the ski lodge for Hans Falkner. The large porch projected from the main volume of the house to the north and was supported by paired columns similar to those used at Breuer's house. On the other side of the building, the entrance staircase was suspended from the landing joists and parapet wall. Breuer organized the interior space around a free-standing stone fireplace and provided room for the storage of a boat in the basement. The clients were very happy with their house, despite a leaky roof that caused the plywood ceiling to disintegrate. They were inundated with curious visitors, and the profile view of the house may have inspired the design of Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House.