When, in 1966, Robert Graham was fresh out of the army and newly married his grandfather made a proposal. His grandparents had some land and, like they had done for his parents before him, they wanted to give him some and help him build a house for both he and his new bride. Robert knew the property well having spent most of his early years running around it with his brother and chose a bedrock outcropping off a small street in northwestern Stamford.
His grandfather had said that he should find an architect but he had no idea where to start. Then he thought of his schoolmate Lewis Bremer, known to the rest of us as L. Paul Bremer US Ambassador to Iraq under President George W. Bush. Mr. Bremer grew up in New Canaan in a now iconic house designed by one Eliot Noyes in the international style. Graham was not a huge fan of that style with its small living spaces and so decided that maybe he could contact Noyes for guidance in finding an architect that worked in a style more to his liking. So he called.
“Noyes was very nice about it”, Graham said, “and invited me over to his office”.
While he was there, Noyes showed the young non-client around Noyes showed him models of both built and unbuilt projects the firm had in the office. One set caught Graham’s eye. Noyes proposed “Wall Houses”. These were houses where two huge walls formed a center corridor of indoor street and off of which the living spaced cantilevered away from the outside of the street like the buildings in the small towns in Italy.
Graham was hooked and the process began.
“Our budget was around $100k for the house but when the project went out to bid we received bids ranging from $200k to over $600k. That’s it, I thought, we’re done.”
But when discussions moved forward with the contractor who would eventually get the contract the cost was cut to about $150k (approximately $1.03m in 2008 dollars).
“This was done by using the stone from the property’s stone walls. “ Graham said.
They moved forward and what was supposed to be a nine month project turned in to a year and a half project with the bulk of the time going to planning. Graham was there almost every day which is one of the reasons that the house remains in what can only be said to be spectacular condition.
“Since I saw it all go together, I sort of became my own maintenance man. I know how it works and where everything is.”
The house is located on an enormous outcropping of bedrock some forty feet above the Mianus River. The walls themselves are basically “glued” to the rock using concrete and the sheer weight of the structure. There was some initial concern over whether or not it was bedrock or just a really big boulder dumped there during the last ice age. If the later were true then it was conceivable that the weight of the structure could unbalance the rock and it could roll over. A geologic survey put those concerns to rest. It was indeed bedrock.
The rest of the house is cantilevered using large poured concrete beams that are pretensioned using cables embedded in them between the rebar which also adds strength to the beams. Steel was considered instead of concrete but cost prohibited its use.
When you enter the house from the front porch situated between the two walls you are faced with a bright and airy corridor. Tree tops are clearly visible at the end of the hall though the dining room and den windows. Skylights provide wonderful natural light in the space where the owners have an abundance of plants.
Each doorway or stair leading one off the “street” takes you to another wonderful sunlit space with views to die for and, like Noyes 2 in New Canaan, one is surprised by the solitude, the quiet and the tranquility of the space.
Graham has raised three children in the house and some remodeling has been done to update and change a few things. When possible he used people who had worked with and for Noyes including Alan Goldberg who helped open the kitchen up to the eat-in area.
What’s next for the house? In the works is a bid for listing it on the National Register of Historic Places, a task one would assume should not be two difficult given its status an example of one of Noyes favorite themes and one echoed in his own second home in New Canaan.
Unlike “Noyes 2” however, there is nothing one would have to “put up with” in the Graham house. Don’t get me wrong, I love Noyes 2 but I would think that running between bedroom and kitchen outside in February would test one’s mettle. Graham House is just a stunning, reasonably scaled work of art, certainly one of Noyes greatest works if not one of the greatest modernist homes in America.
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