Visit two important examples of mid-century residential architecture on a one-day study tour of Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, CT and the Breuer House on the grounds of Kykuit + the Pocantico Center in Tarrytown, NY.

The Philip Johnson Glass House, built between 1949 and 1995 by architect Philip Johnson, is a National Trust Historic Site located in New Canaan, Connecticut. The pastoral 49-acre landscape comprises fourteen structures, including the Glass House (1949), and features a permanent collection of 20th-century painting and sculpture, along with temporary exhibitions.

The Breuer House, commissioned in 1948 for an exhibition to be displayed in the Museum of Modern Art’s garden, was architect Marcel Breuer’s vision of how the average American family could live in a well-designed, modern, expandable, and affordable home. His design influenced modern residential architecture with its use of glass, wood and natural stone, as well as by its use of distinct activity zones to define the interior and exterior spaces and the motion and flow of space. At the close of the exhibit, the house, which had been slated for demolition, was purchased by John D. Rockefeller Jr. Mr. Rockefeller had it cut into four sections and driven upstate to Pocantico Hills, where it was reassembled as a guest house. From 1950 until 2007 the house was used by various family members. Today, the Marcel Breuer House at Pocantico is owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, administered and maintained by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and used for the Fund’s philanthropic and educational programs, which include residencies that support artists in their creative process.

Tickets for this program include tours of both sites and boxed lunch. Transportation between sites is not provided.

Program Itinerary

10:30am – 11:00am – Arrive to Glass House Visitor Center (199 Elm Street, New Canaan, CT 08640)
11:00am – Tour begins at the Glass House Visitor Center + group travels to the site via shuttle
1:00pm – Tour of the Glass House concludes
1:00pm – 1:45pm – Travel to Breuer House at Pocantico, Tarrytown, New York
1:45pm – 2:15pm – Lunch at Pocantico Center
2:15 – 3:45pm – Tour of Marcel Breuer House at Pocantico