Breuer Cottage

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Breuer Cottage

Credit

Raimund Koch

Site overview

In the early 1940s Marcel Breuer drove to Wellfleet with his wife Connie and son Tom to visit his friend, architect Serge Chermayeff, who had settled just above the pristine and remote Slough Pond. Soon after Breuer purchased land just across the road, where he planned a colony of experimental modern homes for artists and designers in his circle. Inspired by rustic New England cabins, wharfs and perhaps the oyster shacks that were still found in Wellfleet Harbor, Breuer conceived what was to become one of his two main house types. At the time, Breuer and his colleagues were experimenting with prototype houses that could be easily planned, sold and constructed for reasonable cost across the country. Breuer designed his ‘Long House’ prototype for this purpose and used it to build his own Wellfleet cottage as well as commissioned houses in New Canaan and Litchfield CT, and others in Wellfleet, one a mirror image of the Breuer Cottage. 

Source: Cape Cod Modern House Trust and The Trustees of Reservations

Breuer Cottage

Site overview

In the early 1940s Marcel Breuer drove to Wellfleet with his wife Connie and son Tom to visit his friend, architect Serge Chermayeff, who had settled just above the pristine and remote Slough Pond. Soon after Breuer purchased land just across the road, where he planned a colony of experimental modern homes for artists and designers in his circle. Inspired by rustic New England cabins, wharfs and perhaps the oyster shacks that were still found in Wellfleet Harbor, Breuer conceived what was to become one of his two main house types. At the time, Breuer and his colleagues were experimenting with prototype houses that could be easily planned, sold and constructed for reasonable cost across the country. Breuer designed his ‘Long House’ prototype for this purpose and used it to build his own Wellfleet cottage as well as commissioned houses in New Canaan and Litchfield CT, and others in Wellfleet, one a mirror image of the Breuer Cottage. 

Source: Cape Cod Modern House Trust and The Trustees of Reservations

Breuer Cottage

Site overview

In the early 1940s Marcel Breuer drove to Wellfleet with his wife Connie and son Tom to visit his friend, architect Serge Chermayeff, who had settled just above the pristine and remote Slough Pond. Soon after Breuer purchased land just across the road, where he planned a colony of experimental modern homes for artists and designers in his circle. Inspired by rustic New England cabins, wharfs and perhaps the oyster shacks that were still found in Wellfleet Harbor, Breuer conceived what was to become one of his two main house types. At the time, Breuer and his colleagues were experimenting with prototype houses that could be easily planned, sold and constructed for reasonable cost across the country. Breuer designed his ‘Long House’ prototype for this purpose and used it to build his own Wellfleet cottage as well as commissioned houses in New Canaan and Litchfield CT, and others in Wellfleet, one a mirror image of the Breuer Cottage. 

Source: Cape Cod Modern House Trust and The Trustees of Reservations

Breuer Cottage

Site overview

In the early 1940s Marcel Breuer drove to Wellfleet with his wife Connie and son Tom to visit his friend, architect Serge Chermayeff, who had settled just above the pristine and remote Slough Pond. Soon after Breuer purchased land just across the road, where he planned a colony of experimental modern homes for artists and designers in his circle. Inspired by rustic New England cabins, wharfs and perhaps the oyster shacks that were still found in Wellfleet Harbor, Breuer conceived what was to become one of his two main house types. At the time, Breuer and his colleagues were experimenting with prototype houses that could be easily planned, sold and constructed for reasonable cost across the country. Breuer designed his ‘Long House’ prototype for this purpose and used it to build his own Wellfleet cottage as well as commissioned houses in New Canaan and Litchfield CT, and others in Wellfleet, one a mirror image of the Breuer Cottage. 

Source: Cape Cod Modern House Trust and The Trustees of Reservations

Awards

Advocacy

Award of Excellence

An Advocacy Award of Excellence is given to the Cape Cod Modern House Trust (CCMHT), led by Peter McMahon, for the monumental preservation victory of rescuing the Marcel Breuer-designed cottage in Wellfleet, MA. Completed in 1949, this iconic “long-house” merges Modernist principles with the natural landscape of Cape Cod. As Breuer’s personal summer escape, the cottage holds immense historical and cultural significance, as it was obtained directly from the Breuer family and for having hosted a slew of the 20th century’s most influential artists and designers. The Cottage suffered from deferred maintenance and the high risk associated with the real estate market on the Outer Cape. Recognizing this, CCMHT launched an ambitious fundraising campaign, raising $1.4 million in cash. Using all options available, they also secured $200,000 in municipal funds, a total of $400,000 in low-interest loans and borrowed the remainder to purchase the property for $2 million, with $400,000 set aside for restoration. As the new owner, CCMHT will ensure that the Cottage, along with Breuer’s collection of art and archives, remain accessible to scholars and the public. This exemplary advocacy effort preserves an irreplaceable piece of Cape Cod’s cultural and architectural history. 

“So many times when a home is threatened, we hear people suggest ‘just buy it,’ but it’s not that easy. This accomplishment is nothing to sneeze at.”
- Eugenia Woo, Docomomo US Advocacy Committee Member

“It was a potential loss of not just the house but also the landscape. This was a courageous effort; one we haven’t seen in other examples.”
- Todd Grover, FAIA, Docomomo US Board of Directors, Advocacy Committee Chair 

“A bonus for us is that the home will be used and occupied. Over time, CCMHT will offer artist residencies, an education component and people will be able to stay there activating the original spirit and purpose of this summer home. It will be so much more than a house museum.”

- Liz Waytkus, Docomomo US Executive Director
Restoration Team

Peter McMahon, CCMHT Founding Director (Team Leader); Rob Warren, CCMHT Board Member (Land Conservation Consultant, Fund Raising and Financial Analyst); Jenny Monick, CCMHT Board President (Lead for Fundraising and Donor Outreach); Rick Handman, CCMHT Board Treasurer (Financial Manager);  Tracy Neuman, CCMHT Board Member (Lead Grant Writer); Virginia Adams, CCMHT Board Member (National Register Nomination Consultant); Caitlin DiGiacomo, CCMHT Administrator (Data Manager); Melissa Yeaw, CCMHT Administrator; Sarah Shrewsbury, Principal, Vineyard Consulting (Lead Fundraising Consultant); Brook Valerino, Endeavor Consulting Group (Grant Researcher / Writer)

Location

Slough Pond Rd
Wellfleet, MA, 02667
Credit:

Raimund Koch

Designer(s)

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Commission

1948

Completion

1968

Original Brief

In 1948 Breuer built the the main residential structure of the Wellfleet cottage, which followed this long house plan, for a total budget of under $5,000. The ‘long-house’ is an extruded wooden box with a gently pitched shed roof and suspended screen porch elevated on posts, as Breuer put it “like a camera on a tripod.” From its hilltop site the suspended porch hangs over a steep drop, commanding a view of three ponds. Breuer used the house as laboratory for new ideas, experimenting with materials and finishes. In 1961 he added a studio connected by an open, trellised, elevated walkway and in the late 1960s, a small apartment and darkroom were added at the far end of the studio for his son Tom. 

Though the colony never materialized, Breuer constructed two versions of the long-house in 1948, one for his family, and one for his close friend, artist, Gyorgy Kepes, on Long Pond. Subsequently he built two more in Wellfleet: the Wise house on Indian Neck and the Stillman House on Griffon Island. All four houses were constructed by local builder Ernie Rose.


Many of the most influential artists and designers of the 20th century were frequent house guests. The Saarinen family, Alexander Calder, Saul Steinberg, Florence Knoll, Xanti Schawinsky, Bernard Rudovsky and many others were part of this community of creators and thinkers who inhabited the Wellfleet woods in the summers of the mid-20th century. The Cottage is also Breuer’s final resting place. A granite block he brought back from travels in Japan mark where his ashes are buried, as well as those of his wife Constance and her sister and brother-in-law.


Current Condition

The house has had many years of deferred maintenance but the repairs needed are mostly cosmetic. It is completely intact and original, without loss of critical features through remodeling.