National Register of Historic Places

Durisol House

New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut
Listed
September 15, 2010
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
10000566

About this property

The Durisol House, also known as the Jens Risom House, is a historic house at 43 Marshall Ridge Road in New Canaan, Connecticut. Built in 1949, this Mid-Century Modern house was built to showcase cement-bonded wood fiber, a newly developed material marketed under the brand name Durisol. The house was bought soon after its construction by designer Jens Risom, and is also known as the Jens Risom House. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. The Durisol House is located in a residential area, southwest of the village center of New Canaan, on the west side of Marshall Ridge Road near its junction with Sunrise Avenue. It is a single-story structure, with a steel frame and low-pitch side-gable roof. Its exterior walls are built out of blocks of the eponymous Durisol, essentially an aggregate mixture of wood fibers and Portland cement, and finished in stucco. The roof is sheathed in panels of the same material, covered with tar and gravel. The house has two rectangular components under its roof: the original house to the left, and a former garage which is separated from the main block by a former porch. Both the porch and garage have been integrated into the living space, and a gable-roofed carport now extends in front of the former garage. The interior retains many original features and finishes, include Durisol ceiling tiles. The house was built in 1949 to a design by Sherwood, Mills & Smith for Robert Jahn as a speculative venture. It was the third demonstration house to be built using Durisol, and the first to employ the material in block form for its exterior walls. The first two houses were built in New York the previous year. The house was purchased in 1950 by Danish furniture designer Jens Risom for use by his family. The house appeared in several design magazines in the 1950s which featured his work. His family remained in the house until 1959, when they moved to larger house elsewhere in New Canaan. National Register of Historic Places listings in Fairfield County, Connecticut

Location

43 Marshall Ridge Rd
New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut
41.13982, -73.50065

Categories

TRANSPORTATIONARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Perkins, Maxwell E., House
Industrial
0.6 mi
Rogers, John, Studio
Industrial
0.8 mi
Hampton Inn
Industrial
1 mi
Swallen, James, House
Industrial
1.1 mi
Mills, Beaven W., House
Industrial
1.1 mi

Nearby Battles

Burning of Norwalk (1779)
1779Revolutionary War
5 mi
Battle of Ridgefield — Compo Hill Landing
1777Revolutionary War
6.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was Durisol House listed on the National Register?

Durisol House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 15, 2010.

What type of historic resource is Durisol House?

Durisol House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Durisol House?

The period of significance for Durisol House is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Durisol House?

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