From the newspapers

In today's Newsday, AP writer Stephanie Reitz has the kind of story that we like to see appear fairly frequently to keep the Modern Architecture movement present in the public's awareness. Bite-sized stories like this which include some history and some current issues are so valuable to inform people who don't know of these wonderful expressions of our recent history, and to keep those who appreciate and hope to protect them up-to-date and inspired.

We'd like to mention to her, though, that the status of the Alice Ball house has changed, as we noted Friday in the post below.

And we (well, Tom in particular) would ask her to reconsider the broad assertion that, "While pragmatists may worry about what others see while looking in [the large windows typical of Moderns], a modernist architecture buff focuses solely on the view looking out. That means the landscape is precisely designed, often with a few focal points such as strategically placed birch trees or a fieldstone courtyard illuminated by lights tucked under the roof line's metal fascia." Most of the Moderns we've known and loved and even lived in are designed to exist respectfully and unobtrusively in their landscape. But I know what she's talking about - homeowners like Craig Bassam and Scott Fellows, who she refers to in her story, have been extraordinarily attentive to the landscape around their homes (here's another they own in in New Canaan), as it is an extension the precisely and beautifully restored structures. They understand one of the most moving and important things about a Modern house, as Reitz quotes Craig Bassam, "It's not like living in a regular house because you're really living within the landscape" – GF