Walter Gropius, founder of the German design school known as the Bauhaus, was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. He designed Gropius House as his family home when he came to teach architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Modest in scale, the house was revolutionary in impact. It combined traditional elements of New England architecture—wood, brick, and fieldstone—with innovative materials including glass block, acoustical plaster, chrome banisters, and the latest technology in fixtures. It features a significant collection of furniture designed by Marcel Breuer and fabricated in Bauhaus workshops. With the family’s possessions still in place, Gropius House has a sense of immediacy and intimacy. In true Bauhaus style, the house and its landscape exemplify maximum efficiency and simplicity. (Adapted from the website of Historic New England)