The design of the house was carefully crafted to accommodate this furniture. The living space contains an important collection of furniture made for the family in the German Bauhaus workshops during the ’20s and designed by former Bauhaus teacher, the Hungarian-born Marcel Breuer, who was also a noted architect and designer. In keeping with his Bauhaus philosophy, Gropius carefully planned every aspect of the house and its surrounding landscape for maximum design efficiency and maintenance simplicity. At a time when conventional houses cost $5,000 to $7,000 to build in the late ’30s, total construction costs were around $25,000. Though visually striking, the house was built with economy in mind. Now maintained by Historic New England, the structure’s exquisite setting, open floor plan, and elevated site make for a spectacular tableau. These were combined with the latest available technology in mass-produced fixtures, especially in the bathrooms and the kitchen. The Gropius approach was very innovative for that era: his vision combined what he considered the traditional elements of New England architecture with innovative industrial materials rarely previously used in domestic settings - including glass block, acoustical plaster, steel lighting sconces, and chrome banisters. Modernist structures were not very common in the US during the ’30s - and rare as hen’s teeth in staid New England. Though considered somewhat modest in scale compared to many other houses in the area, the residence’s visual and aesthetic impact was revolutionary at the time, especially in a rather conservative community.

This unlikely Lincoln, Massachusetts, modernist architectural gem was Gropius’s home until his death in 1969. After leaving Germany by way of England to teach at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design in 1937, he designed his new family house, which was completed in 1938. Gropius was also a founding partner of the once flourishing, now defunct architectural firm The Architects Collaborative (TAC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was the visionary founder and first director of the legendary school of design known as the Bauhaus, in Germany (1919), among the leading proponents of what was known as the International Style in 20th-century modernist architecture. Photo courtesy of Historic New EnglandĬonsidered one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, Walter Gropius (1883-1969) was a highly celebrated German architect and master teacher. Homage to a Modernist architectural gem located in the woods of Lincoln, MA Exterior of Gropius House, built 1938.

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