Gropius House

…shortly after the Gropius family, also to join the Harvard design faculty. Ms. Helen Storrow provided a plot of land near Breuer where she could show off her design philosophies. Gropius and Breuer helped each other in the construction of their homes, completing their homes in 1938 and 1939 respectively. The Gropius home continues to have many Breuer furniture on display. The house also contains works by Eero Saarinen, Joan Miró and Herbert Bayer which were donated to Walter Gropius.

At the time of the construction of the Gropius House, Walter and Ise's adopted daughter, Ati, was 12 years old. Gropius took great care to make sure that Ati was happy and comfortable, also allowing her a great contribution to the design of her space. Ati chose her color palette in warm tones and much of her furniture, which included a desk that Gropius had designed as part of the Bauhaus in 1922. Ati's room was the largest of the three bedrooms, with its entrance private which included an iron spiral staircase. Although Gropius could not give her the sand floor and glass ceiling that she requested, he gave her a private roof space so she could sleep under the stars.

Located among fields, woods and farmhouses, the Gropius House mixes traditional New England architecture materials (wood, brick and country stone) with industrial materials such as glass blocks, acoustic plaster, welded steel and chrome railings. The house contains a living room that shares an open space with a dining room, kitchen, an office, a sewing room, three bedrooms and four bathrooms. All bathrooms were located in the less prominent northwest corner of the house and all used the same hydraulic column for maximum efficiency. One of the most notable differences between Gropius' house and its adjacent houses was the flat roof. While in much of Europe and even parts of the United States flat roofs were becoming quite common, pointed roofs with gables were the norm in Lincoln and surrounding areas. Gropius modeled his flat roof with a slight slope towards the center where water could flow into a dry well on the property. In 1931, for a forum on architecture, Walter Gropius was asked to write an article describing the ideal small livable house. Gropius outlined the most important aspects of the house project, practically like a real description of Lincoln's home:

"The house should no longer resemble something like a fortress, like a monument of medieval walls and an expensive front intended only for a flashy representation. Instead it must be of light construction, full of daylight and sun, modifiable, which saves time, economic and useful to its occupants of whom it is destined to serve life. "

Gropius went on to describe an ideal layout of such a house, almost literally outlining the composition of Gropius House:

"The ground floor … is a geometric projection of his spatial idea – the organizational plan for moving around inside a house. I elevations are the result of internal distribution and not the starting point … therefore, no artificial symmetry, but a functional and free arrangement of the succession of rooms, short communication passages that save time, a space for children, a clear separation between the living and sleeping areas and the domestic and service parts of the house. Finally, the correct use of the land and above all the exposure of the house. The bedrooms need the morning sun (facing east). living rooms should have light from south to west, and the north side is left with closets, kitchens, stairs and bathrooms. "