Stillman House I (1950)

In 1949, Rufus and Leslie Stillman became acquainted with the work of modern architect Marcel Breuer when they saw his “demonstration house” on display in the courtyard of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The couple hired him to design a modern house for their property at the end of Beecher Lane in Litchfield. The resulting structure, built in 1950 and today known as Stillman House I, brought mid-century modern style to a town town primarily associated with the Colonial Revival. The swimming pool Breuer designed for the house features a mural painted by the architect’s friend, the artist Alexander Calder. The Stillmans later lived in two other houses designed by Breuer, but eventually bought back and again lived in the original Stillman House. The above picture shows the house from the Beecher Lane side, which is not its most dramatic angle. For a more through look at the house, the Smithsonian Archives of American Art have a series of exterior and interior photographs of the house, taken when it was newly built.