Modern

Across the street from Philip Johnson‘s own residence, the famous Glass House, is the home he designed, with Landis Gores, for Richard and Geraldine Hodgson. Richard Hodgson was an engineer who was important in developing America’s high-trch sector. When the house was built, he worked at Chromatic Television Laboratories and was later president and CEO of Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation, where he established the Semiconductor Division. Since the Hodgson’s had difficulty getting a mortgage for a Modern house, it was built in two stages: the main house was built in 1950-1951 and the bedroom wing in 1956-1957.

New Canaan is famed for its mid-century modern houses, many designed by the group of architects called the Harvard Five, one whom, Philip Johnson, designed the Alice Ball House on Oenoke Road. This relatively small residence was built in 1953 as a one-story, two-bedroom home. Johnson was influenced by Mies van de Rohe‘s courtyard homes and his unbuilt Resor House. The minimalist Ball House was altered somewhat by later owners over the years. In recent years, the house that Johnson called his ‘little jewel’ was in danger of demolition, after the current owner’s plan to adapt it as a pool house for a much larger home on the property fell through. It was eventually decided to sell the house, which has remained on the market for several years.

2019 Update: Current plans are to join the house to a new home, called Wall House, designed by Postmodernist designer Reja Bakh.