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The Best of New Canaan’s Modern Architecture Tour

October 20 @ 2pm

The Thursday afternoon tour takes visitors on a docent-led tour to three of New Canaan’s finest architectural gems: The Glass House designed by Philip Johnson, SANAA’s Grace Farms, and Eliot Noyes’ home. Tour these architectural masterpieces, learn about the architects and what inspired them, and enjoy a drive through bucolic New Canaan. The event concludes with a wine and cheese reception at a private residence designed by James Evans.  Tickets are $150

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Join us on April 11 @ 6 PM for the Launch of New Canaan Modern by Gwen North Reiss

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We are excited to announce that construction on the Jim and Dede Bartlett Center for New Canaan History is underway! Events will occur as scheduled, but because of the logistical challenges in the main building, the portrait exhibition is available by appointment only. Please contact [email protected].

WE WILL BE CLOSED FOR RESEARCH UNTIL June 4th.

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The next Modern House Day Tour + Symposium will take place in October 2023.

The first Modern House Day was May 14, 1949. The architect Eliot Noyes chaired the committee that organized the event and the $2000 raised benefitted the New Canaan Library. The tour featured homes built between 1947 and 1949 – The Noyes House, The Gores House, The Kniffin House designed by the architects Marcel Breuer and Eliot Noyes, The Breuer House, The Glass House and The Rantoul House designed by Sherwood, Mills & Smith.  The idea was to showcase these fabulous new modern homes.  Following the success of the inaugural tour, members of the New Canaan Community Nursery School ran Modern House Days from 1952 through 1967, and included homes built during those years by many of the originally featured architects. 

The Modern House Day was resurrected as the Modern House Day Tour + Symposium by the New Canaan Historical Society in 2001. By that time, mid-century modern homes were being demolished to make way for larger houses that some considered better suited to the needs of families. The Historical Society’s focus was to educate the public about the importance of these mid-century architectural gems.  The first symposium featured the architects Richard Bergmann and John Johansen, the furniture designer Jens Risom and David Borglum of the builders Borglum & Meek. The public caught on, and in the years that followed, numerous mid-century moderns slated for demolition were purchased and restored. 

The tradition of the biennial Modern House Day Tour + Symposium continues under the direction of the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society. Past symposiums featured Toshiko Mori, John Morris Dixon, Hilary Lewis, Fred Noyes, Stone Hicks, Sean Anderson, Michael Webb, Nader Tehrani and more.

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Every Architecture Lover Should Take This Three-Day Road Trip

In Connecticut, works by some of the most notable architects of the 20th century are hiding in plain sight. Take the wheel for this high-design sightseeing tour.

Think Connecticut , and the mind conjures up clapboard houses and picket fences. But architecture buffs know the state for glass walls, cement, and dark wood — the signature media of the Modernist architects who once made it their playground.

Connecticut Modernism began taking shape in the 1930s, when Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus design school, fled Germany and took a position at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. His associate Marcel Breuer soon joined him, and together they mentored a generation of architects that included Modernist icons Landis Gores, John M. Johansen, Eliot Noyes, and Philip Johnson.

In the forties, as many of these pioneers began establishing Manhattan firms, they bought homes in Connecticut. Buoyed by the postwar boom, towns like New Canaan and Stamford became creative hot spots full of boldly designed residences, churches, and schools. In the sixties, as urban redevelopment swept the country, Modernist office buildings sprouted up. Today, several of the finest examples of this architectural era are concentrated between Stamford and Hartford — ideally situated for a three-day driving tour .

Day 1: Modern New Canaan

11 a.m.: Begin your journey in New Canaan, home of the so-called Harvard Five — Breuer, Gores, Johansen, Noyes, and Johnson. The town is most famous for Johnson's iconic Glass House (open May–November; tours from $25) . The home is otherworldly: an 1,800-square-foot glass box in a vast meadow, it contains a few pieces of Mies van der Rohe Barcelona furniture and a central brick core holding the replace and bathroom. The grounds include other structures — a studio, a pavilion in a pond, a sculpture gallery — but from inside the house, all you can see is green.

2 p.m.: The centerpiece of nearby Irwin Park is the 1960 Gores Pavilion (open May–October) , a onetime poolhouse with floor-to-ceiling windows, a cantilevered roof, and a bold Prairie fireplace — a nod to Frank Lloyd Wright. Preservationists saved the building from demolition in 2005, and it's now fully restored and outfitted with couches by another New Canaan resident: the Danish-American designer Jens Risom.

3 p.m.: Modernist it's not, but Grace Farms , a nonprofit community and spiritual center set on an 80-acre preserve, is an obligatory stop on the New Canaan architecture circuit. It's the site of River, a winding structure designed by Pritzker Prize–winning Japanese firm SANAA, with a sloped roof that connects a series of breezeways and interiors. Just a few minutes down the road is the privately owned Eliot Noyes House, where two glass wings flank a fern- and pine-filled courtyard. It's not usually open to the public, but if you're an architecture fan, it's worth timing your trip to catch one of the special tours offered by the Glass House or the local historical society.

6 p.m.: Finish your day in the bucolic Silvermine area of Norwalk at GrayBarns (doubles from $500) . After a major overhaul, the 19th-century building was reopened this year as a boutique hotel and restaurant.

Day 2: Churches and Cityscapes

10 a.m.: Connecticut's mid-century architects dreamed up plenty of spectacular churches, but Stamford's First Presbyterian , created by Wallace Harrison, who later designed New York's Metropolitan Opera House, tops the list. Dubbed "the Fish Church" for its ichthyic shape, it has windows made of chunky, deeply saturated French dalle de verre stained glass, the first ever used in America. Lit by minimalist chandeliers, the glowing interior feels, as Harrison intended, like the center of a giant sapphire.

11:30 a.m.: On a hilltop in Westport, the Unitarian Church offers a woodsier experience. Designed by Victor Lundy in 1959, the building was inspired by a pair of hands at prayer, with a curved wooden roof bisected by a narrow skylight. Through the chapel's glass walls, churchgoers can look out onto a grove of elms and evergreens.

3 p.m.: On to Hartford, and some of America's first Bauhaus-inspired interiors at the Austin House, part of the vaunted Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (tours three times a month, $25) . Long before the Harvard Five made their mark, the city had A. Everett "Chick" Austin Jr., the museum's director, as its champion of Modernism. The first floor of his 1930 neo-Palladian mansion has Baroque-style décor befitting an 18th-century parlor. But upstairs it's like a different house. Mrs. Austin's dressing room, modeled after one Gropius had designed, feels particularly ahead of its time, with stainless steel, Breuer furniture, and black linoleum floors.

5 p.m.: Check in to the Goodwin (doubles from $249) , a boutique hotel in an ornate 1881 building, which just reopened after a renovation. Then stroll a few blocks east to watch the sun set over the 1963 Phoenix Life Insurance Co. Building (1 American Row) , the world's first office building with two faces, designed by Harrison's business partner Max Abramovitz. Its curved blue sides meet sharply at each end, which earned it the nickname "the Boat Building."

Day 3: New Haven, Beyond the Campus

11 a.m.: The grounds of Yale University are filled with Modernist buildings designed by former faculty members and students, like Eero Saarinen's Ingalls Rink (73 Sachem St.) , whose sinusoidal roof earned it the nickname "the Whale," and Louis Kahn's Yale Art Gallery and Center for British Art . But the surrounding town should not be overlooked. Near the junction of I-91 and I-95 is a ghostly landmark: Breuer's 1968 Armstrong Rubber Co. Building. This classic example of his Brutalist work now stands partially demolished, but still handsome, in the parking lot of an IKEA. Recently, the first floor was opened for a site-specific art installation, Tom Burr/New Haven (by appointment only) . When he was growing up nearby, Burr was always fascinated by the space. His conceptual piece — which mingles salvaged detritus from the building with nods to New Haven's history of political radicalism — offers a great chance to see its raw, rugged interiors.

12:30 p.m.: Before leaving town, stop to take in another Brutalist landmark, the Johansen-designed Dixwell Avenue Congregational United Church of Christ (217 Dixwell Ave.) , just north of campus. Though the church was founded in 1820 by former slaves — and remains the oldest African American UCC church in the world — the current building dates from 1967. With vertical cut-stone slabs and a two-story central tower, the imposing structure is a great demonstration of how the streamlined style that arrived with refugees from Europe evolved into something bold, brash, and truly American.

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The Best of New Canaan’s Modern Architecture Tour

Michael Biondo

New Canaan Museum & Historical Society, 13 Oenoke Ridge, New Canaan, CT 06840

New Canaan Museum & Historical Society

The Glass House

The Thursday afternoon tour takes visitors on a docent-led tour to three of New Canaan’s finest architectural gems: The Glass House designed by Philip Johnson, SANAA’s Grace Farms, and Eliot Noyes’ home. Tour these architectural masterpieces, learn about the architects and what inspired them, and enjoy a drive through bucolic New Canaan. The event concludes with a wine and cheese reception at a private residence designed by James Evans.  Tickets are $150

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New Canaan Modern Architecture Tour

New canaan museum & historical society.

Noyes House

Michael Biondo

This docent-led tour explores three of New Canaan’s finest architectural gems: The Glass House designed by Philip Johnson, SANAA’s Grace Farms, and Eliot Noyes’ home. Visit these architectural masterpieces, learn about the architects and what inspired them, and enjoy a drive through bucolic New Canaan. The event concludes with a wine and cheese reception at a private residence designed by the architect James Evans.

$150 for New Canaan Museum & Historical Society members / $170 for non-members. 

Become a member here.

Transportation will be provided. There is ample parking available at the Museum for those arriving by car.

The Philip Johnson Glass House

Carol M. Highsmith

New Canaan Modern House Tour featuring Homes by Kengo Kuma, Eliot Noyes, John Black Lee, Philip Johnson and more - May 14

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New Canaan Modern House Tour featuring Homes by Kengo Kuma, Eliot Noyes, John Black Lee, Philip Johnson and more – May 14

April 15, 2016 @ 8:30 am - 7:00 pm edt.

The New Canaan Historical Society (NCHS) is proud to announce that its signature event Modern House Day Tour + Symposium, titled Modern: A Way of Thinking , which will take place on Saturday, May 14, 2016, following a tradition that began in 1949 with the first New Canaan, modern house tour which drew more than 3,000 people. This year’s tour will feature homes designed and renovated by Philip Johnson, John Black Lee, Elliot Noyes, Hariri & Hariri, Kengo Kuma, Joeb Moore, Toshiko Mori, Amanda Martocchio and others.

The program begins at 8:30 am with check in and a continental breakfast at Grace Farms , a new center for nature, arts, justice, community and faith. Owned and operated by Grace Farms Foundation, Grace Farms was established as an 80-acre gift of open space. The site incorporates an 83,000-square foot multi-use building called the River, that blends into the surrounding woodlands, wetlands and meadows. Tours of Grace Farms will be offered throughout the day.

“All of us at Grace Farms are excited to be a part of the Historical Society’s Modern House Day, honoring the important legacy of modern architecture in New Canaan,” said Sharon Prince, President of Grace Farms Foundation.

“By living in the midst of so many outstanding modern residences—the greatest concentration of early mid-century moderns in the U.S.—the people of our town have an opportunity to experience firsthand an architecture of minimalist simplicity, which calms the mind and reduces our separation from nature. Our intention with Grace Farms was to create this type of experience, and the architecture was the path to doing so,” adds Prince.

The program kicks off with a Symposium at 9:45 am that includes presentations by Hicks Stone, architect and author of Edward Durell Stone: A Son’s Untold Story of a Legendary Architect; Bill Ryall, LEED, PHIUS and partner at Ryall, Porter, Sheridan. Bill was recently elected as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects for his work integrating the highest world standards of energy-efficiency with high-quality architectural design; and Sharon Prince, who will discuss her work with Tokyo-based, Pritzker Prize-winning firm SANAA who designed Grace Farms. AIA credits will be offered.

Following the Symposium, guests will break into small groups to enjoy a box lunch, take a guided tour of Grace Farms and visit modern homes throughout New Canaan via private tour vans, escorted by an architect or historian of the Modern Movement. The day will conclude back at Grace Farms for a Cocktail Party from 5-7 pm.

Modern House Transformed One of the remarkable homes featured on the tour is a mid-century modern home designed and built in 1956 by John Black Lee, affiliated with New Canaan’s Harvard Five architects. After purchasing the home from Lee in 1990, the owners commissioned NY-based architect Toshiko Mori to make some subtle but impactful changes to the symmetrical home including replacing deteriorating exterior wood posts with stainless steel columns and heightening the center core elevation by increasing the height of the clerestory window by about 18 inches adding additional light.

Later, other changes were made to the house to accommodate the owners’ growing family such as finishing a basement and adding a minimal glass balustrade to define the stairs to the lower level.

But in 2006, when a tree fell on the house causing considerable damage, the owners took the opportunity to envision a major transformation – a master bedroom suite bath, new kitchen and expansive dining room surrounded by walls of glass that cantilevers 17 feet above the ground below creating the sense of being fused with nature.

After a great deal of research, the owners chose Japanese architect Kengo Kuma based on his delicate work, minimalist aesthetic and sensitivity to nature.

“Kengo’s work is so respectful of the landscape… most contemporary architects are not,” says the owner. “He doesn’t want to call attention to the architecture, and that was important to us.”

It didn’t take long for the owner to convince Kuma to take on the massive project, his first in the United States. He was drawn to John Black Lee’s original four-square, symmetrical design, which was itself influenced by Japanese architecture and a sloping, wooded lot, the proposed site for the new pavilion.

One of the first challenges was to connect the original house to the new structure. Kuma conceived a stepped, glass passageway with a wood floor that appears to “float” in midair with a razor-thin roofline that slips unnoticeably under the eave line of each building.

The beautiful glass and wood pavilion features floor-to-ceiling glass panes with a slightly smoke tint that reflect and refract the natural light. Delicate stainless-steel chain panels serve as transparent divisions between rooms and the dark ipe Brazilian hardwood floors flow uninterrupted from inside to the expansive deck that surrounds the entire structure. From a distance, the architecture appears to dissolve into the landscape.

Throughout the project, Kuma continued to refer to the question he posed for himself, “How to make architecture disappear?” He noted that using a transparent material such as glass is not always enough to erase an object. “Many glass buildings are in fact conspicuous objects that thoroughly dominate their environments,” he says, adding, “There should be no separation between the roof and the heavens.”

The project took four years to complete and doubled the size of the original house to approximately 3,600 square feet of interior space and 3,600 of exterior deck space. By working closely with Kuma, and sharing a common vision, the owners were able to maintain the integrity and the spirit of the original house, while respecting the legacy of New Canaan’s mid-century modern movement. Not an easy task.

_______________________

Tickets for the Modern House Day Tour + Symposium can be purchased online at NCHistory.org. $500 – Full day program including Breakfast, Symposium, Lunch, Modern House Tour, Grace Farms Tour, Cocktail Party and Transportation $275 – Breakfast + Symposium

The Modern House Day Tour + Symposium, sponsored by Grace Farms Foundation, William Pitt / Sotheby’s International Realty, Prutting & Company LLC, Rick Sillo Construction and Media Sponsor Moffly Media, will benefit the New Canaan Historical Society, founded in 1889 to promote historic preservation and build an appreciation of the town’s rich past. A portion of the ticket is tax deductible.

For more information or to receive a printed invitation, please contact The New Canaan Historical Society at 203.966.1776. Tickets can also be purchased at http://www.nchistory.org/modern-house-day-tour-symposium-modern-a-way-of-thinking/

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October4Design: Modern House Tour

October 22, 2021 @ 11:30 am - 5:00 pm.

The Friday afternoon kickoff to the Modern House Day Tour takes visitors on a docent-led trip to three of New Canaan’s finest architectural gems: The Glass House designed by Philip Johnson ( as featured on the cover of our 2021 Homes Issue ), SANAA’s Grace Farms ( as featured on the 2020 September/October Issue cover ), and Eliot Noyes’ home. See these masterpieces, learn about the architects and what inspired them, and enjoy a drive through bucolic New Canaan. Lunch is included. Tickets are $125 and are currently sold out . Tour begins at the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society. To put your name on a wait list, email  [email protected]

October4design  is New Canaan, Connecticut’s, month-long celebration of architecture, art, design and the community where it happens. Organized by the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society, New Canaan’s diverse creative community will open its doors to offer a peek into what gives this town its distinct character.

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Community Corner

May is for moderns, modern house tour, nancy helle , local business.

Sunday, May 20th is the date for “May is for Moderns”, the third annual modern house tour celebrating the unique heritage of mid-century moderns in New Canaan and the surrounding area. This year’s tour, from 1 to 5 p.m., features eight homes designed by members of New Canaan’s world famous “Harvard Five” architects, their associates and disciples, as well as Frank Lloyd Wright’s top apprentice/draftsman, John Howe, who worked with him at Taliesin for over 30 years, and another Taliesin apprentice, Allan J. Gelbin. Some of the homes have never before been open to the public. Five are in New Canaan, and the other three are in Darien, Wilton and Weston. Included are a home designed by Philip Johnson and two homes designed by John Johansen, another Harvard Five architect - the famous “Bridge House” which straddles the Rippowam River in New Canaan and a home in Darien, both of which show how Johansen was influenced by the classic symmetry of Palladio. The vision of Eliot Noyes , the first of the Harvard Five to settle in New Canaan in l947, is reflected in the Wilton home designed by Rob Graf of Eliot Noyes Architects. Other architects represented include Victor Christ-Janer who studied architecture at Yale before starting his own New Canaan firm, helping transform the town into an incubator for distinctive Modernist dwellings in the l950’s and James Evans of Wilton who studied with Louis Kahn at the Yale School of Architecture. The homes represent a large diversity of styles, while adhering to modernist principles such as lots of light, glass walls to blend inside and outside and easy flowing, open floor plans. Frank Lloyd Wright’s inspiration is evident in John Howe’s New Canaan home utilizing Wright’s last innovation, the “hemicycle” or semi-circular curve, and his “Usonian” home design has been recreated in Weston by Allan J. Gelbin. All homes have been either restored, updated, renovated or expanded, according to Rita Kirby of William Pitt Sotheby’s in New Canaan, tour sponsor. Some are currently on the market, while others are open to the public only for this tour, thanks to homeowners who are willing to share their part of New Canaan’s modern architectural heritage with others who are interested. Last year’s “May is for Moderns” tour attracted over 300 people.

The tour is free to the public, but space is limited. Reservations may be made with William Pitt Sotheby’s at 203-966-2633, where maps will be available the day of the tour at 26 Cherry Street, New Canaan.

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Modern House Tour: New Canaan Historical Society

May 14, 2016.

Bi-Annual Symposium and Modern House Tour.

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Open for tours april 15 - december 15, 2024, the summer party, save the date saturday, june 8, 2024, brick house restoration, opening may 2, 2024, glass house design store, gifts you won't find anywhere else, all proceeds support the glass house, over 100 videos of conversations, programs and performances.

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Living small

Can You Build a House Out of Paper? Shigeru Ban Says Yes.

A new version of the Pritzker Prize-winning architect’s Paper Log House is on display at the Glass House in New Canaan, Conn.

By Tim McKeough

At the architect Philip Johnson’s former estate in New Canaan, Conn., there has long been a Glass House and a Brick House . Now there’s also a Paper House.

The Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Shigeru Ban’s Paper Log House, to be exact.

An exhibition of this simple, low-cost structure — designed in 1995 to house victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe, Japan — opens this week and runs through Dec. 15, as part of activities marking the 75th anniversary of the Glass House, which Johnson completed in 1949. (The Brick House, also completed in 1949, is scheduled to reopen following restoration work on May 2.)

It’s a small house, to be sure — just one room — and it’s made mostly of paper, but it’s more resilient than it looks.

The house, which was assembled by Cooper Union students, is an updated version of the shelter designed for Kobe: The foundation is made of milk crates, rather than reclaimed Japanese beer crates filled with sandbags. The walls are vertical paper tubes — like those used for mailing documents or spooling carpet — held together with foam tape and threaded rods; the roof is made from more paper tubes fastened with plywood connectors.

Those tubes and their surprising strength are a longstanding fascination for Mr. Ban. Since he graduated from the Cooper Union in New York and started his architecture practice in Tokyo in 1985, he has designed paper-tube homes, bridges, churches, offices and exhibition pavilions, temporary and permanent, as well as an enormous arch that covered the Museum of Modern Art’s sculpture garden in 2000.

And, of course, numerous emergency structures: His paper-tube homes have been used in Rwanda, Turkey, India, Haiti, China and New Zealand. More recently, he has worked on shelters for those who lost their homes in the Maui wildfires and the earthquakes on the Noto Peninsula of Japan.

The paper tube, Mr. Ban said, is ideal for building in disaster situations because “it’s lightweight, it’s inexpensive and it’s available almost anywhere in the world.”

The idea for the current project came together last fall, when Mr. Ban’s partner and former classmate Dean Maltz took him to the Glass House for a tour with the property’s executive director, Kirsten Reoch.

“I mentioned to Kirsten, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice, with the Glass House and the Brick House, to have a paper house?’” Mr. Maltz recalled. “And I could just see lightbulbs.”

D.I.Y.-ers who visit with the idea of building their own backyard paper-tube houses should know it’s not as easy as it looks.

The 39 students who assembled the structure, with supervision from Mr. Maltz and Cooper Union instructor Samuel Anderson, were surprised at how challenging it was — even with simple materials and an Ikea-like instruction manual. Meztli Castro Asmussen, 22, who volunteered for the project, said students had to use a CNC machine to cut the plywood connectors, in addition to troubleshooting unexpected problems. Building your own paper-tube house, he added, will “require some technology and tools that may not be accessible, depending on where you are.”

Last month, as Mr. Maltz watched the students working, his thoughts turned to the property’s late owner.

“Would he accept that on this property? I like to think yes,” he mused. “I wish Philip was here to take a look down the hill and see a Paper Log House.”

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Explore Gothic revivalist architecture of the Green-Meldrim House and St John’s Church

May brings warmer weather and a special double tour to Savannah. Tucked into the tree-covered west side of Madison Square is St. John’s Church and the Green-Meldrim House. Both are independently open for tours, but on Wednesdays in May, visitors will be able to get a special tour of both.

The tour will guide people through both Gothic Revivalist buildings with special attention to the unique architectural details, the history, and the symbolism, followed by refreshments of cheese straws, Benne wafer cookies, lemon blueberry poundcake, and pimento cheese sandwiches.

This is a step in a new direction for the Green-Meldrim House. The historic home was purchased by St. John’s Church in 1943, and while it is used as a parish house and rectory, it was eventually opened as a house museum.

Jamie Credle, who is no stranger to Savannah’s historic house museums, having previously worked with the Davenport House, took over as executive director in July of last year. A few months later, the house museum reached nonprofit status, and Sherry Holtzclaw stepped up as president of the Keepers of Historic Green-Meldrim House.

“I'd say [the idea to start the nonprofit] came out of the vestry, which is the group that runs the church,” said Holtzclaw. “Seeing that our volunteer base was shrinking as people were getting older, more young people are working and don't have the time to volunteer, and it's a lot of upkeep to keep this house heated and cooled and in repair, as well as to lead tours, it was just getting to be a big job that we needed some help with.”

Holtzclaw said she has been a member of St. John’s for around 30 years and has volunteered at the house for approximately 20 years in various roles.

Both Holtzclaw and Credle are excited to expand resident and visitor appreciation of the Green-Meldrim House and St. John’s Church as well as what all the historic house museum can offer.

“It's an evolutionary process,” said Credle. “The Keepers have a wealth of understanding of collections and research, but I think that the whole point was to get in lockstep together with what we think the future can be.”

New docents will be leading the tours

After several months of recruiting and training new docents to build upon the core of docents, Credle said it was the perfect time to try a new tour.

“One of our goals for the year is to be open five days a week. We're open four now, but we also wanted to do something imaginative or different than your typical tour. A lot of people would love to see the church, and we've got our docents so this combo tour seemed like filling a need.”

Credle said she hopes the 75-minute tour will leave people with a new appreciation for Madison Square and gothic revival architecture.

“Though it seems sort of old to us, this was cutting-edge architecturally. We talk about mid-century modern in the 20th century. Well, this was mid-century modern in the 19th century. It was a stunning thing to see both this house and the church together, two different architects, two different functions for spaces, but a cutting-edge square here.”

“Plus, they were being built at the same time,” said Holtzclaw. “Charles Green [the original owner of the Green-Meldrim House] knew some of the people that were in on the planning of the church. So there probably was some interaction and collaboration when all this was happening.”

While the house is stunning from its bright pink exterior to the black, white, and wood-grained interior, Holtzclaw said the church is equally impressive.

“One of the first things you notice when you go in the church, besides the architecture and the steep ceiling, is the stained-glass windows and how beautiful they are. They’re very old. They're from 1886 and made in England. They feature prominently in the church. Also, up at the altar, there are some very interesting pieces up there. We'll talk about not only the architecture but some of the symbolism.”

It’s important to note that, for anyone with mobility issues, there is a ramp into the church, but there is no ramp or elevator in the Green-Meldrim House.

For those who fall in love with the tours and want to help in the future, Credle said they are looking for more docents, front-door greeters, and gift shop volunteers. The museum also has a youth guide program.

“We're training teenagers this summer to be tour guides. It’s a wonderful skill. It could be after their daytime job if they have that.”

Anyone interested need only reach out to the museum through its website.

Tours are each Wednesday in May starting on the first and ending on the 29th. There will be two tours each afternoon at 1 and 2:30 p.m. except on May 8th at 2 and 4 p.m. Entry is $25 per person and will need to be purchased prior to the event at GreenMeldrimHouse.org.

More new things are on the way for the Green-Meldrim House. Credle said the museum is also planning for new tours and a lecture series in the fall. It will be interesting to see the evolution of the museum with the Keepers of Historic Green-Meldrim House and the museum’s new executive director at the helm.

If You Go >>

What: Green-Meldrim House and St. John’s Church combo tours

When: May 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29

Where: 14 W. Macon St.

Tickets: $25

Info: GreenMeldrimHouse.org

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Pasadena Showcase House of Design 2024: Step Inside the English Tudor Revival Manse

By Elizabeth Stamp

Photography by Peter Christiansen Valli

As the Pasadena Showcase House of Design enters its 59th year, it’s returning to a familiar setting. The Potter Daniels Manor, the English Tudor Revival–style residence that hosted the 1975 and 1996 showcase houses, has been reimagined with 30 new interior and exterior spaces for the 2024 edition, which is now open until May 19.

The landmark mansion was built in 1902 by architect Joseph J. Blick for Gertrude Potter Daniels, who paid $15,000 for the shingle-style home. In 1905, Susanna Bransford Emery-Holmes—known as the Silver Queen thanks to the source of her late husband’s fortune—purchased the home and soon made it her own. In 1922, she spent $37,000 to have the Postle Company of Los Angeles, who also built the Pasadena Playhouse, remodel it into an English Tudor Revival–style mansion, giving it the regal exterior that remains today.

Exterior of the Potter Daniels Manor

As one of the country’s oldest house and garden tours, the Pasadena Showcase House of Design benefits the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, an all-volunteer organization that contributes to arts and music nonprofits in Southern California. The event draws more than 25,000 guests each year and offers several dining spaces, including Roe Japanese Fusion, the Tudor Rose Bistro, and Wattle & Daub Tavern. The Shops at the Showcase offer an array of merchants, from handmade jewelry to artisanal chocolates, and are also home to the Shops’s Wine & Cheese Bar.

The designers worked with a color palette of Dunn-Edwards paints, and several chose to highlight the brand’s 2024 Color of the Year , a steely blue called Skipping Stones. Nods to Pasadena’s famous peacocks can be found throughout the designs, and many creators fearlessly brought in statement floors, enveloped their spaces with jewel tones, and added texture to ceilings. Others focused on bringing the beauty of the estate’s gardens and views inside with verdant murals, floral fabrics, and nature-inspired lighting.

Below, tour the inspiring rooms and outdoor spaces of the 2024 Pasadena Showcase House of Design.

Hummingbird Entry Garden by California Waterscapes, Inc.

Visitors are greeted by a soothing waterscape and garden by Chad Morrill of California Waterscapes, Inc.

Foyer of Enchantment by Rachel Scheff Design Studio

Designer Rachel Scheff used the home’s spectacular ceiling, woodwork, and stained glass as the inspirations for her fanciful, flora- and fauna-filled foyer. “It was one of my favorite rooms in the house because it was the one that had the most history preserved, and I wanted to really celebrate that,” she told AD PRO. For her Foyer of Enchantment, Scheff installed a custom mural by Hattas Art Studios, a John Richard chandelier dripping with glass leaves, a silk wall covering by Aux Abris, and organic furniture created with Amorph Studio. “I wanted you to feel like you were transported to another time and place,” Scheff says.

Dining Room by B. David Levine

Opulence is on full display in David Levine’s dining room. “I really feel like the dining room is a forgotten room,” says the designer, who set out to prove how vital the space is to a home. The room is anchored by a Riva 1920 table made with the wood of a 50,000-year-old Kauri tree, which Levine surrounded with seating for 12. Another seating area with views of the garden was designed for more intimate dining, games, or meetings, and it’s illuminated by a Murano glass chandelier. At the far end of the room, Levine installed a lush purple sofa with cocktail tables, creating the perfect spot for drinks, dessert, or relaxing with a cup of coffee.

Sunroom By Billman Designs

Designer Karen Billman made Dunn-Edwards’s Skipping Stones the star of her cheery sunroom. She complimented the vibrant hue with metallic accents, Roman shades in a Morris & Co. fabric, and chairs upholstered in a moss green textile by Wesley Hall Fabrics.

Formal Living Room by Rachel Duarte Design Studio

A palette of whites, deep blues, and gold creates an elegant atmosphere in the formal living room, which was designed by Rachel Duarte. The designer established two seating areas within the space, including a cozy gathering spot with chaise longues that flank the original carved marble fireplace. The room’s coffered ceilings were enhanced with a faux-wood decorative painting by Jhon Ardilla.

Veranda by Cordrey Collection

Bursts of hot pink and apple green energize Steven Cordrey’s design for the home’s veranda. Hand-beaded light fixtures illuminate the seating areas, which feature tables and chairs from Janus et Cie’s Amalfi Coast outdoor collection.

Library Lounge and Curiosity Room by Cozy Stylish Chic

Cozy Stylish Chic Creative Director Jeanne K. Chung and designers Angela Lee and Caroline Meloche brightened the dark wood-paneled library to create a space where residents can unplug. “Our two main goals were to create a space that was comfortable and a little bit updated while also retaining that history and not touching or harming all the really cool features that were innate to the room and came with the house,” Meloche says. Wallpaper was added to the ceiling and the backs of the bookcases, and heavy wood blinds were replaced with soft draperies and Roman shades to make the space feel lighter. The firm used a mix of fabrics and wall coverings by Ralph Lauren Home from Designers Guild throughout the space.

Powder Room Lounge by Blue Brick Design

Designer Lara Hovanessian packed plenty of bold design elements into the powder room and adjacent lounge. A moody House of Hackney floral wall covering lines the dressing area, which leads to a powder room accented with a Kelly Wearstler’s Graffito II from Walnut Wallpaper. A black-and-white triangular mosaic tile floor by Artistic Tile from Mission Tile West puts a contemporary twist on the classic checkered pattern.

Primary Bedroom by Peltier Interiors

Hand-painted floors were the jumping-off point for designer Amy Peltier’s soothing primary bedroom design. “It was my worst and best idea,” Peltier says. “It was so much work, but it turned out beautiful.” The firm wanted the space to feel “light and airy and breezy,” and incorporated fabrics and wall coverings by Thibaut in a soft color palette. Peltier and designer Marina Kelly installed an arch to divide the bedroom from the sitting area, breaking up the large space.

Primary Bath by The Art of Room Design

Maria Videla-Juniel turned the primary bath into a sumptuous retreat with hues of soft blue and brown. Thibaut wall coverings and fabrics were used for the walls and windows, and the elegant shagreen-covered vanities are accented with gleaming fixtures by P.E. Guerin for Kallista. Videla-Juniel and project manager Cheryl Hardy also installed a striking shower clad in herringbone stone tile.

The Media Oasis by AYM Interiors

Designer Ashleigh Miranda focused on juxtaposing technology and earthy elements in her moody media room. “I really wanted to showcase state-of-the-art technology but in a way that was grounded and spoke to our primitive nature.” Cutting-edge tech from Bang & Olufsen, Lutron, and JoshAI is balanced by curvaceous seating and unique art.

The Media Bathroom by JTID Inc.

Jerome Thiebault created a polished and petite bathroom complete with storage and a shower. Troweled cement plaster was applied to the walls, and handcrafted Zia tile adds pattern to the floor.

Romantic Chambers by CS Domains / Carmine Sabatella Designs

For a bedroom off the nursery, Carmine Sabatella wanted to create a jewel-toned escape. “I thought, if somebody’s taking care of the baby, they have a space where they can come and feel like it’s a retreat,” Sabatella says. The designer outfitted a door handcrafted in India with a vintage mirror to create a one of a kind headboard and bathed the space in deep emerald green. The glamorous touches continue in the ensuite bath, where Sabatella added a custom mirror-tiled tub that plays off the vintage French tile floor.

Magical Royal Nursery by Cynthia and Sons

Cynthia Silverman created a nursery fit for a prince or princess, incorporating golden accents and whimsical touches, such as the hot-air balloon light and animal figurines.

Silver Queen Kitchen: Breakfast at Susie’s by Hermogeno Designs

Designer Mark Hermogeno paid tribute to Silver Queen Susanna Bransford Emery-Holmes in the kitchen, butler’s pantry, family room, powder room, and mudroom. “We had thought, What if she actually came back to life and asked us to remodel the space?” Hermogeno says. They brought in plenty of glitz and glamour befitting the Silver Queen. “We wanted to concentrate on polished nickels and polished chromes to get that silver feel back in,” he says of the fixtures, hardware, and lighting by Kohler and Kallista. Hermogeno and designer Lynette Chin brought in a mix of vintage and new furnishings in the family room, incorporating performance fabrics for durability. “[We made] sure that it was a really usable room, that it didn’t just look nice,” Hermogeno says.

Outdoor Kitchen and Patio by Outdoor Elegance

A brick-walled patio became a party-ready outdoor kitchen and dining area thanks to Douglas R. Santicola of Outdoor Elegance. Santicola and Monique Wood installed Caesarstone countertops fabricated by Carlito’s Way Stone to create a functional space for outdoor entertaining.

Potter’s Culinary Garden and Conservatory by Coastal Homestead

Roses from Star Roses and Plants bloom along the entrance to Potter’s Culinary Garden and Conservatory by edible garden consultant and content creator Chi-Ming Ro. The star of the garden is the greenhouse, which Ro customized with wrought iron details that nod to Tudor architecture. “You don’t get a greenhouse like this just to grow plants,” Ro says. “You want to sit in it; you want to enjoy it. I’ve used houseplants to decorate and then really nice chairs from CB2 to frame it, so you can imagine curling up with a book or a coffee.”

Butterfly Gardens by G & A Artistic Landscaping

The Meadow by G & A Artistic Landscaping

Butterfly Gardens and The Meadow by G & A Artistic Landscaping

Graciela Gonzalez of G & A Artistic Landscaping enhanced the Butterfly Garden and The Meadow with ceramic mosaic sculptures by Karen Neuiber.

Arroyo Vista Garden by Studio Pappaterra

Native California wildflowers accent the Arroyo Vista Garden, which was designed with fire safety in mind. Landscape architect Elisa Read Pappaterra filled the center fountain with cascading succulents.

Gatehouse Garden by TimothyJohnLA

“I’m all about gardens connecting the architecture into the landscape,” landscape architect Timothy John Palcic tells AD PRO. He used a limited palette of chartreuse and dark hues that nod to the brick exterior and arranged benches to create intimate seating areas within the larger English-garden-inspired space.

Gatehouse Entry, Stairs, and Landing by The Art of Room Design .

Gatehouse Entry, Stairs, and Landing by The Art of Room Design

Maria Videla-Juniel, who designed the primary bathroom of the main house, also devised a welcoming entry to the Gate House. A Thibault wall covering graces the entry, and a Fibreworks runner leads guests up the stairs.

Gatehouse Living Room by Slesinski Design Group, Inc. and Serena Brosio Design

Designers Frank Slesinski and Serena Brosio collaborated on the charming living room in the Gatehouse. “One of the main things we did was add a window seat, which looks like it should always have been here,” Slesinski says. “Not only does it provide a lot of additional seating for a very small space, but it has a lot of storage underneath.” The designers wrapped the room in a floral wall covering by Thibaut and installed a grass cloth on the ceiling to make the space feel cozier. “Our whole goal with this space was basically to turn the lights on in the room, bring in the garden that’s outside, and kind of have an experience of a breath of fresh air,” Brosio says.

The Tearoom by Samantha Williams Interior Design

Samatha Williams’s Tearoom in the Gatehouse is brimming with vintage charm and elegant accents. Working with Jacqueline Black and Michelle Porreca, Williams brought in a Chinoiserie wall covering to give the space a garden-like atmosphere. They also installed a grass cloth ceiling treatment and sisal rug to add texture.

Gatehouse Kitchen by SH Interiors

Designer Stephanie Hatten updated the Gatehouse Kitchen, turning it into an airy English-country-inspired space. An eye-catching natural stone by Walker Zanger was selected for the counters and backsplash, and the space was outfitted with the latest Monogram appliances.

Gatehouse Primary Suite by Rebecca J. Hansen

“It was inspired by nature and movement,” Rebecca Hansen says of the cozy primary suite she designed in the Gatehouse. Organic, tactile elements, such as the woven Palecek light fixture and wood furnishings, add touches of nature and texture to the petite space. “I was mindful of using small businesses and local artists,” Hansen says. “So pretty much 90% [of the pieces are] things that you can buy here to help the environment and to support other small businesses.”

Spa Lounge by Margaret Lalik Design and Decor

An office space in the Gatehouse is now a soothing spa-inspired lounge designed by Margaret Lalikian. The designer referenced the house’s original name, El Robles—Spanish for oak tree—with a tree-filled landscape mural by Arpy Dabbaghian. “For the wall mural, I had to pick something to bring them into nature and a calming environment,” Lalikian says.

Pony Tales by Shari Tipich Decorative Design & Artistry .

Pony Tales by Shari Tipich Decorative Design & Artistry “A horse girl’s hangout” is how Shari Tipich describes her room, entitled Pony Tales. “This is a tribute of sorts to the wild mustangs in the American West and their spirit, majesty, and resiliency,” Tipich says. The artist painted the murals on canvas and installed them as a wall covering, as well as hand painting the floor and ceiling and crowning the space with a Fortuny pendant.

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