| dc.description | West elevation, showing water spout and shower; [The Gropius House was the family residence of noted architect Walter Gropius at 68 Baker Bridge Road, Lincoln, Massachusetts. It is now owned by Historic New England. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2000. Gropius lived there until his death in 1969. All family possessions are still in place, including a remarkable collection of furniture designed by Marcel Breuer and made in the Bauhaus workshops. Artwork includes personal gifts by Josef Albers, Joan Miró, and Henry Moore.] Forced to leave Germany by the rise of the Nazi party, Gropius accepted a position at Harvard. Gropius was soon joined by several former colleagues, including Marcel Breuer and Martin Wagner. When, in 1938, he built his own house at Lincoln, MA, it was more than a desire for stability; it was a proclamation of intent and a statement of faith. The house remains one of his best works, one which integrated modern European design with the traditional techniques of New England timber construction. The rectangular prism of its basic form was enriched by a projecting screen, overhanging canopies and free-standing posts, an outrigging which reduced the old Bauhaus dependence on mass and surface and related more closely to De Stijl Constructivism. The Lincoln house was undoubtedly designed by Gropius, although formally it represented a partnership between himself and Breuer. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/ (accessed 7/13/2010) | en_US |
