Philip Johnson's Glass House, New Canaan

Philip Johnson’s Glass House, New Canaan – Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

The town of New Canaan is located in Fairfield County on the Fivemile River and borders New York State. In 1731, Connecticut’s General Assembly established Canaan Parish in northwestern Norwalk and northeastern Stamford, and in 1801 the town was incorporated. Primarily an agricultural community until the Revolutionary War, New Canaan shifted to shoe making as its major industry in the 19th century.  By the late 1800s wealthy New York City residents built summer homes in the area, and many of them stayed year-round. In the 1940s New Canaan became an important center of modern architectural design when the “Harvard Five” built over 80 homes. Today, New Canaan remains a wealthy rural enclave and is still known for its modernist homes of which The Philip Johnson Glass House takes center stage.

More on New Canaan from the CT Digital Archive

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John Rogers, Checkers up at the Farm,1875, painted plaster

John Rogers was a 19th-Century Sculptor for the Common Man

John Rogers was an American sculptor whose style and production methods made his art popular with middle-class art collectors in the 19th century. …[more]

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Places

“New Canaan Historical Society,” 2017. Link.
New Canaan Historical Society. “Rogers Studio & Museum,” 2013. Link.
New Canaan Historical Society. “The Hanford-Silliman House,” 2015. Link.
“The Philip Johnson Glass House,” 2017. Link.
New Canaan Historical Society. “The Tool Museum,” 2015. Link.

Documents

Vogt, C.H. “Map - View of New Canaan, Conn.” Bird’s-eye. New Canaan, CT: O.H. Bailey & Company, 1878. Boston Public Library, Norman B. Leventhal Map Center. Link.
Connecticut State Library Digital Collections. “New Canaan - WPA Architectural Survey,” 2015. Link.
“New Canaan Collection.” Connecticut Digital Archive, n.d. Link.

Books

Hurd, D. Hamilton, ed. History of Fairfield County, Connecticut with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Philadelphia, PA: J.W. Lewis & Company, 1881. Link.
New Canaan Historical Society. Landmarks of New Canaan. New Canaan,  CT: New Canaan Historical Society, 1951.
New Canaan. War Records Committee, and New Canaan Historical Society. New Canaan’s Records of World War II: Honor Roll and Service Records and the Home Front. New Canaan, CT: War Records Committee and the New Canaan Historical Society, 1951.
New Canaan Historical Society, and Mary King. Portrait of New Canaan: The History of a Connecticut Town. New Canaan,  CT: New Canaan Historical Society, 1981.