Chamberlain Cottage

Breuer and Gropius – Chamberlain Cottage, Wayland, Massachusetts, 1940

The project is by Marcel Breuer and Walter Gropius
The proposal was to design a cabin on a nine-acre plot of land for the Chamberlain family, just outside Wayland, Massachusetts. In the letter Marcel Breuer received to issue the order, Harvard Professor Chamberlain and his wife requested that he include a porch like Breuer’s house in Lincoln. Chamberlain affectionately called his cabin the “shoe house” because of the small size of its floor plan, which consisted of a living room that could accommodate a guest and a library to store 500 to 1000 books, a bedroom, and a small space to store a canoe. Breuer took advantage of the uneven terrain and possible river crossings near the plot by placing a stone box anchored to the ground and positioned over a wooden box with strong overhangs. The cottage has two separate entrances. The lower door is defined by two low stone walls. The ground floor has room to house the canoe and a fireplace that is continuous with the upper floor.

On the stone masonry the cantilevered volume is exposed to the north and west. To the west, the wooden massing is suspended in the air towards the beautiful views, as noted by Breuer in his sketch. To the north, a winter garden is built articulated on both sides by double columns quite similar to those previously used by Breuer in his Lincoln house. This porch is closed with a large window overlooking the landscape and that projects the horizon positioning the inhabitant between architecture and landscape.
The main floor is arranged around the stone fireplace. This is the first time it appears in Breuer's designs as a free element in the interior of the living room. Wood and stone floors are placed side by side near the fireplace.