COVER STORY
Bauhaus in our backyard
Gropius House, Lincoln
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MORE INFORMATION
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Gropius House, on Baker Bridge Road off Route 126 south (near Walden Pond), is open Wednesday-Sunday through Oct. 15; weekends Oct. 16-May 31. Tours at 11, noon, 1, 2, 3, and 4 p.m. Admission $5, $4.50 senior citizens, $2.50 students and children 6 to 12; SPNE members and Lincoln residents free. Special evening events focus on the lighting of the house. 781-259-8098 or visit www.spnea.org. (Get directions).
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Even today the ultra-modern house stands out amid the traditional New England visage of pastoral, upscale Lincoln.
Imagine the reaction back in 1938 when Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus school of modern architecture, built it as his family home after moving from Germany to teach at Harvard's Graduate School of Design.
The interior was no less startling to visitors. At the entrance hall, some visitors clucked at a door-less closet designed as a "moving sculpture."
Gropius lived here until his death in 1969, and the house is now one of 35 historic properties operated by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. The 2,300 square-foot house set on four acres is still a marvel of innovation and practicality. It's also fun to visit because of its comfortable, lived-in look. The family's furniture and possessions remain; the hi-fi set in the living room plays classical music during the guided tour, and the coats of Walter's wife, Ise, hang on a rack in that open closet.
Visitors are asked to place protective coverings over their shoes before entering. The hallway is made of corked tile, which absorbs sounds, as does the acoustical plaster ceiling. A study doubles as a passageway to the living room. The view from its long, two-seat desk is of treetops, meadow, and sky; Gropius designed the windows in such a way as to keep the road out of the picture.
Indirect lighting was used throughout the house. "Dinners were very dramatic here at night," our tour guide tells us as we gather in the dining room around a plain Formica table with four chrome and canvas chairs. The table would be softly lit from above while the guests were kept, literally, in the dark. The adjacent outdoor area, separated by glass, would be illuminated to create the effect of dining al fresco.
The house was designed to harmonize with the landscape. By the end of the tour the setting doesn't seem incongruous at all.
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