National Register of Historic Places

Lee, John Black, House I

New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut
Listed
September 15, 2010
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
10000568

About this property

The John Black Lee House I is a historic house at 729 Laurel Road in New Canaan, Connecticut. It was designed by architect John Black Lee and built in 1952, and was the first of several houses he designed for his family's use. The house is an excellent expression of minimalist Bauhaus style Modern architecture, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. The John Black Lee House I is located in a rural-residential area in northern New Canaan, on a 3-acre (1.2 ha) on the east side of Laurel Road just south of its junction with North Wilton Road. The house is set on a high ridge which runs parallel to the roadway. It is a single-story structure, with a unique post-and-beam construction that incorporates metal rods to anchor the structure to the underlying granite. The exterior is finished in glass and wood, and is covered by a flat roof. The west-facing front is largely windowless, with only a recessed entry area. The more private south side is mainly an expanse of floor-to-ceiling glass. John Black Lee moved to New Canaan in 1951, joining the architectural practice of Eliot Noyes, one of the Harvard Five who had been building Modernist houses in New Canaan. Lee's first house was built for his family the following year by Ernest Rau, a local building contractor who went on to build many more of Lee's designs in the town. He sold this house in 1954, building a second home for the family on Chichester Road. Subsequent owners of the property include Donald Swisher of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who carefully preserved Lee's architectural legacy.

Location

729 Laurel Rd
New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut
41.18966, -73.49926

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

Murphy, Charles and Peggy House
Industrial
0.3 mi
Chivvis, Arthur and Lyn, House
Industrial
0.6 mi
Gores, Landis, House
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0.6 mi
Comstock, Abijah, House
Pre Contact
0.8 mi
Hoyt-Burwell-Morse House
Industrial
1.6 mi

Nearby Battles

Skirmish at Ridgefield
1777Revolutionary War
6.4 mi

Questions about this property

When was Lee, John Black, House I listed on the National Register?

Lee, John Black, House I was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 15, 2010.

What type of historic resource is Lee, John Black, House I?

Lee, John Black, House I is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Lee, John Black, House I?

The period of significance for Lee, John Black, House I is recorded as the industrial era.

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