Projects by Name

In 1953, Robert Snower asked Breuer to design a house in a new residential neighborhood in Kansas City, KS. The community preferred traditional architectural styles, but Breuer successfully managed to build within the restrictive guidelines imposed by the development. The long, rectangular upper story was clad with vertical and diagonal cedar siding and cantilevered beyond the smaller, partially submerged lower floor constructed of white-painted concrete blocks. An exterior staircase and the white projection of the flat roof on one side of the house alleviated the planar expanse of the entrance façade. Breuer also inserted some red asbestos cement board panels below sliding windows on the entrance and side elevations. The lower level contained a garage, bedroom and playroom. The upper floor contained bedrooms at one end and a large, open plan living-dining room at the other. A bamboo screen separated the entry and dining room, while the hearth helped define the living and dining spaces. An open porch could be accessed from the dining room or by an exterior staircase. This project was one of the first on which Robert Gatje, one of Breuer's eventual partners, remembers working.