2024

Breuer House, Expert’s Retreat

CCMHT is under contract to buy the Wellfleet summer house of Marcel Breuer. We are now in a capital campaign and expect to close in June 2024. Restoration work will begin in July and programming will begin in summer 2025. The large, pristine site, dilapidated but original house and its fascinating contents pose many opportunities and questions.

Concept:

To gather a group of experts to examine the site, house, and contents and discuss options and approaches to:

- The restoration of the building and landscape

• The contents: objects, books, papers and art.

• Future programming on the site

Report-Back on the 2024

Breuer House Expert’s Retreat

Original notes are in black and blue font.

The updates from March 2025 are in red font.

Concept:

After a year or intensive fundraising we felt confident we would succeed in purchasing the Breuer House by summer 2024, so in April 2024 we convened a group of experts to examine the site, the house, and its unique contents. We came together to discuss options and approaches to:

- The restoration of the building and landscape

- Archiving and use of the contents: furniture, books, papers, art and objects.

• Future programming on the site and partnering with other orgs.

Our goal was to gather a variety of perspectives from professionals currently working in the field.

A lot has happened since last April. CCMHT purchased the house in July 2024 and the restoration will be completed by July 2025. The house is also now on the National Register for Historic Places.

The following is a record of: the original brief prepared for the retreat experts with questions on each topic, a summation of the group discussions, and finally an update on how some of these issues have been resolved.

This document will be updated again when the restoration is complete.

Retreat Logistics:

We made our houses available to the participants for the week prior, with formal discussions and events taking place the weekend of April 26/27/28 in the restored Kohlberg House.

After gathering CCMHT Director Peter McMahon gave a powerpoint about the history of the Breuer site followed by a tour of the other restored CCMHT houses. The group then visited the Breuer site, spent time with the books and art from the house and held a series of open-ended conversations.

Below are the topics covered, condensed notes from the discussions and a current update on each area. The notes are reflective of the general flow of conversation, rather than comprehensive minutes, and were compiled from several sets of notes taken by CCMHT staff and retreat participants.

The goal was to raise issues, concerns, approaches, and develop discussion and ideas in advance of the restoration. This could all be thereby kept in mind as we went along in the process. These discussions took place in advance of purchase, so deep explorations of the building were not yet available.

Many thanks to our experts and the CCMHT staff and Board members who attended and facilitated.

Attendees:

Alison Alessi

Principal of A3 Architects in Dennis, MA. She and her team did the as-built and restoration set of drawings for Breuer.

Meghan Gelardi Holmes 

Curator of the Gibson House, and the Colonial Society of MA, Boston.

Peter McMahon

CCMHT Founding Director.

Marla R. Miller

Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts and Distinguished Professor of History, U Mass Amherst.

Jenny Monick

CCMHT Board President and Residency Coordinator.

Tracy Neumann

Former Director of the Public History Program, Wayne State University. (Now CCMHT Board Member and Editor at Historic New England)

David Nordlander

Historian and consultant in historical preservation/interpretation and digital strategies for exhibits, archives, education, and outreach.

Timothy M. Rohan

Department Chair and Associate Professor of American and European Architecture. University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Ken Turino

Manager of Community Partnerships and Resource Development at Historic New England

Rob Warren

Land conservation consultant and CCMHT Board Member.

Ines Zalduendo

Special Collections Curator, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Frances Loeb Library.

* For full bios, see below

* Journalist Emily Conklin covered the event for The Architect's Newspaper and Meghan Marin photographed the proceedings.

The Site

The Brief:

We have very good photos of the site going back to construction. Many of the older large pines have fallen due to storms and some remaining trees pose a threat to the house. Two have fallen on the house in the past without doing much damage. There are also invasive plants taking over previously open areas. The first step would be to remove some of the scores of fallen pines and to make the driveway more passable for vehicles. The site is a very sensitive and critical part of the local water system having frontage on two ponds and the headwaters of the Herring River, which is undergoing an extensive restoration process. The Cape Cod National Seashore has expressed interest in buying a conservation restriction on the land, though funding may be a few years off.

Some questions:

- Should we try to restore the historic view of the ponds?

• Where would be the best location for a second small studio building on the site?

• The ashes of Marcel and Connie Breuer (plus her sister and brother-in-law, Eliz. and Robt. Wolff) are buried under a granite slab in front of the house. The stone has settled and is now tipped. What is the best approach to this monument?

Discussion:

There was general agreement that CCMHT should aim to return a sense of openness to site, which has been lost over the years. This is in keeping with the National Park Service approach to land management within the seashore. Participants suggested pursuing relationships with conservation organizations such as the Audubon Society and considering an easement for Indigenous land uses through existing relationships with the Wampanoag tribe. Conservation work may attract new kinds of audiences (birders, etc.), beyond those interested in the architecture and design of the house. There’s general concern on the Outer Cape that the many fallen trees are potential fuel for wildfires.

Participants discussed the possible construction of a second small building at the top of the hill, which could be used as a visitor center, collections storage, exhibit space, secure office space, and/or programming space. There was general agreement that having an office, collections, or exhibit space in town would be beneficial, but doing so would be costly. Similarly, leasing an additional building from NPS would pose financial and maintenance challenges. Some of the discussion centered on the possibility of not renting the Breuer House out and instead using it solely for programming, exhibits, and administrative purposes, but for the foreseeable CCMHT needs the rental income from Breuer to service the debt it will take on as part of the acquisition.

Update:

- We restored a historic (though over-grown) loop at the top of the driveway which has greatly facilitated access for trucks and deliveries.

- We did remove many of the accumulated fallen Pines as well as some standing ones that were a peril to the house. This will be an ongoing process as more trees fall and age.

- CCMHT has continued to have promising conversations with the Cape Cod National Seashore concerning placing a conservation restriction to protect the site. This could provide some funding for maintenance of the site.

• We are in discussions with the Native Land Conservancy about a possible Cultural Respect Easement.

• The existing shed which housed a well tank and generator has been demolished and removed as it was within the 100 buffer zone to the wetland.

• A new code-compliant septic system is going in now and two old cess pools have been removed and filled. The new system was sized to accommodate a second small building though we have no solid plans to move ahead with that yet.

The House

The Brief:

We have many photos of the interior and exterior from the mid-60s to the 80s. Breuer spent part of every summer in the house and made many changes and additions up until his death in 1981. Some elements, such as the trellis, are missing due to rot and disrepair.

Aside from restoring the house we plan to insulate and introduce a heat/ cooling/ dehumidification system, as well as a new roof, plumbing, wiring,

The suspended screen porch is not well supported, so some serious structural remediation is needed. The doors and windows also need work to be safe and more functional.

Some questions:

- What are the best material to rebuild the outdoor stairs and decks?      

• Should railings be derivative of other Breuer projects or clearly new? The entry deck had no railing, originally, in spite of large drops.

- How can the HVAC system be done in a sensitive way.?

- What is damage and what is patina concerning the interior finishes?

- Are there creative ways to make the house ADA accessible?

• The black stain on the oak floors has worn off in high traffic areas. Should this be re-stained, sealed to memorialize the wear or allowed to wear furthur?

• The kitchen wall (painted blue) has similar issues with chipping, fading and peeling. Same question.

• Aside from the failing support for the screen porch in the main house, the floor is bouncy due to over-long span of floor joists. Should these be reinforced as part of the  structural work?

- What is the best insulation strategy?

Discussion:

Participants discussed a range of issues related to the restoration, reconstruction, and/or rehabilitation of the house itself. CCMHT has basically decided to return the house to its 1981 appearance, because until his death that year, Breuer regularly updated the house and its furnishings. The goal is to faithfully restore many aspects of the house, while making it habitable in three seasons, which requires some alterations. CCMHT plans to install insulation and HVAC, as well as replace or update the existing electrical, plumbing, septic, and well.

The topics below were all subjects of discussion, and participants seemed to be in agreement that CCMHT should establish guidelines with which to make consistent decisions about the restoration/rehabilitation work. Two pressing issues about which there was no final consensus were what type of insulation to use and whether to preserve patina (such as the paint in the kitchen or the worn floors) or restore them to their 1981 appearance. There is also a middle road where some patina is preserved and some damage repaired. One participant quoted Ati Gropius, who said modern buildings were meant to ‘always look new.’

General

- If we are complying with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, repair or replacement should be in kind to the extent feasible and should be reversible. CCMHT has always elected to save and reuse original materials whenever possible.

- Historical sources guiding the restoration: Tom Breuer’s photos and other photography of the house are the primary, but incomplete, sources for tracing furniture/art placement and interior and exterior changes. The Breuer archives in Syracuse contain extensive information on the house. Walter Barron, a Wellfleet boat maker who worked for Ernie Rose, the contractor who built all four of the Breuer Houses in Wellfleet, is a local and available source of knowledge. The Public Archaeology Laboratory (PAL) completed a National Register context study for all of the modern houses within NPS and is presently completing a National Register nomination for the Breuer House.

- There was a discussion of the utility of hiring a consultant to complete a Historic Structure Report (HSR), which is required for some federal grant opportunities and creates a valuable historical record of the building and its evolution. While participants were enthusiastic about an HSR and recommended consultants for the work, subsequent inquiries have led CCMHT to set aside an HSR for now – there is neither time nor financial resources to undertake an HSR before work begins on the house in June. It remains a potential future project.

Interior

- Surfaces and finishes are degraded and continuing to wear. There is a lot of peeling paint (which will soon be tested for lead). Approaches include refinishing surfaces, stabilizing them, and/or allowing them to continue to wear. A key issue is how to determine patina v. damage, and if and when patina adds something.

- Fixtures: CCMHT will salvage any that are usable and possibly try to re-enamel some. The last resort would be finding the same or similar models in salvage yards which we have done in other houses.

- The oak floor was installed probably in the 1950s and stained black (under furniture you can see close the to original color). We could 1. refinish floor, 2. freeze/protect it, or 3. let it keep wearing. Option 2 would preserve the high-traffic visible paths. This was the strategy at the Hatch House.

- For three-season use, the building needs insulation. The question becomes, what kind of insulation to use in the 2x4 wall cavity. At Weidlinger, CCMHT used reservable Roxul rock wool with a moisture-permeable air barrier on the inside, and it has not performed especially well. Closed cell blow-in foam has much better R value and seals all cracks and drafts but it is not reversible and may cause mold. 

- The Homasote wall finishes need to be removed in order to insulate and update the wiring and plumbing. Oversized Homasote sheets are no longer made (only 4’x8’). We could remove it carefully, de-mold, prime, paint and reinstall. Or we could alter the seam patterns. 

- The fireplace in the main house was painted glossy white, which can be seen in archival photos. It is now faded, chipping and missing in places. Consensus from participants was to repaint the chimney glossy. 

- The blue kitchen wall: In a photo in a 1950 LIFE magazine the wall was unpainted pine. It is now peeling blue paint which shows possibly black or dark grey underneath. It may show a different blue over-painted or it may be faded in places. All paint needs to be tested for lead. Several participants thought it should be preserved as-is and encapsulated in a way that preserves the layers of paint. Others thought it should be re-painted the most recent blue. The wall is over the food prep area and needs to be safe. How to get a clear coat that doesn’t alter the color?

- Darkroom: Questions about the darkroom centered on whether or not to keep it intact for its original purpose (will anyone use the enlarger?) or modify it for some other use.

Exterior

- A heat pump system will make the building habitable for three seasons, keep contents dry and mold-free, and can be installed in a way that is both reversible and unobtrusive. Questions center on where the exterior condensers will be located - we could back them up against the chimneys and put an enclosure around and paint a dark color so visually disguised. Or vented pits under the house.

- Railings are required as are smoke alarms for Health and Safety though we are eligible for some historic exemptions for wind and energy codes. 

- The original cedar siding can be power washed and re-oiled. Oil changes the color at least for a time. Untreated siding molds and needs to be power washed more often, which wears the wood. Other owners of Breuer houses in Wellfleet have used a semi-transparent grey stain that looks like weathered cedar but more uniform. Determining how to treat the exterior is an important question that remains unanswered after the retreat. 

- The house needs a new roof, likely rubber, which will not be very visible from the ground.

- Chimneys need to be rebuilt and everything needs to be reflashed. Chimneys are terra-cotta and have cracked due to freeze/thaw. Use terra cotta again? How to avoid freeze/thaw?

- Windows are single pane and often just a piece of glass that slides. Some are missing hardwood frame/pulls which will make them more weathertight. The large frameless sliding glass door to the apartment needs a clear film coating, at least, which would stop it from shattering if broken.

Update:

• The screen porch was found to be sagging significantly which was distorting the shape of the whole building. We introduced steel C channel cantilevered beams which run the width the main house under the floor. These will not be visible when the plywood soffit is installed on the underside of the house. Needless to say the floor is no longer bouncy.

• When we started removing/repairing damaged siding and windows we    discovered extensive rot which required replacement of all siding and re-building the custom windows from scratch.

• We decided on renewing all interior paint and not leaving any peeling or chipped surfaces. This was partly informed by a subsequent visit to the Historic New England’s Gropius House and a tour by its curator Peter Gittlemen. Ati Gropius’ approach has prevailed. As she said in essence- ‘A modern house should look new, no rusty chrome or faded pillows’.

• We are using rock-wool insulation everywhere in walls, ceilings and floors which is removable and less toxic than spray foam. We discovered the entire studio wing was already insulated (with an insulation made from shredded wood) when built, which is helpful. THis allowed up to keep most of the Homasote intact in this whole wing.

• It turned out the very large sheets of Homasote could indeed be removed intact and they will be re-installed after insulation, wiring and plumbing roughs.

• It was decided the darkroom would seldom be used for its original purpose and so will be a workroom with sink and counters. We also decided to install a small skylight to illuminate this room since it had no light or ventilation.

• Lead paint was found on some surfaces. Most woodwork affected has been removed and replaced and the rest encapsulated.

• Only one of the bathtubs was savable so we found two other vintage tubs in good condition. Most of the sinks will be re-installed. Old toilet TBD.

• The hearth in the main house had a steel heat-o-lator fire box which had rusted out. This was replaced with a new firebox made with yellow fire-brick to match the studio hearth. The chimneys have been re-built from above the roof line.

• During install of a new rubber roof we removed the facias and found a smaller original facia which was painted glossy black to match the entry doors and screen doors. We replaced this in kind.

• Some of the door hardware can be re-used and some vintage new entry sets have been sourced on-line. These are Schlage unlaquered brass to match originals.

• HVAC condensers will be placed under the house where they will be least visually intrusive and also protected from weather.

Collections

The Brief:

There are around 40 important artworks which have been stabilized and are being securely stored off-site. These include works by Calder, Klee, Albers and many others who were close friends of the family. These are an important record of friendships and working relationships from the 1920s at the Bauhaus, going forward. Since the house will be occupied by a variety of renters, artists, scholar, tour-goers etc. there are many questions about what should remain on site.

There are examples of Breuer’s manufactured furniture as well as simple, hand-made, lumber and stone pieces he made (or had made) for the house. These have mostly not been published or exhibited.

Tamás (Tom) Breuer took hundreds of rolls of black and white film of the house, landscape and people who passed through over a 20 year period from mid 1960s to mid 1980s. Most of these have been scanned and conserved and are an invaluable record of the place and its social and historical context.

The 200 plus books have also been removed and stabilized off-site.

These include Breuer’s collection on art, design and other topics in a number of languages, many with personal inscriptions from the authors. Included are several Hungarian books of poetry he carried with him since his teens.

There are also many objects: lamps, pieces of jewelry, kitchen equipment (ceramics made by friends) wool blankets, clothing, darkroom equipment etc. to consider.

Some questions include:

- Should replicas be made of valuable pieces and the originals archived?

• How much should be made available to scholars and how?

• Where to store archived materials?

• Should we build a vitrine to secure some items for display?

Discussion:

Participants discussed Breuer’s furniture, art, books, material culture, and ephemera—as well as Tom Breuer’s photographs—included in the Breuer House purchase. Two interns are starting in late May ‘24 and will work on photographing, cataloging, items that have already been removed from the house with Tom Breuer’s permission. Participants agreed that CCMHT should establish a collections policy to help guide decisions about the contents of the house and suggested that organizing the collection could take two or three years. Cataloging should be a low priority for now; the objects need to be efficiently classified, removed, and responsibly stored. Participants also made suggestions about how to structure partnerships with educational institutions, with the goal of bringing students and faculty to Wellfleet to catalog and process the collection. 

Collections Policy 

- Some kind of document that sets out a framework and procedures would be useful and ideally streamline the decision-making process before bringing on interns or volunteers.

- It is also a good idea to create an inventory/cataloging system that happens on site, as volunteers box things up. 

- A collections database could be a helpful tool to keep track of the collections and the different tiers assigned to them, as well as for storing data on Tom’s photographs. Also useful for the photographs - a place to store all that great data CCMHT is collecting on them. Many small institutions rely on PastPerfect, though there are many options (including at least one that is open source). Excel spreadsheets can also do the job at the outset.

- Developing a collections policy for Breuer and the other materials CCMHT has collected could be part of CCMHT’s strategic planning. 

• In terms of how to organize the collection:
  ‘Tiering’ collections is an increasingly common strategy in museums and historic houses, and can be used to determine what to keep, what to get rid of, what can remain in the house, and what should be permanently removed to a more secure location. 
  

Art and Furniture

Conversation centered around the value of the art and furniture, whether or not it should be returned to the house when it becomes a seasonal rental, and if not, what to do with it and whether to put reproductions in the house. The challenge is how to preserve the house and its contents without making it into a museum. Some of the art and furniture is valuable, some is not; some is unique, some is mass produced and can be replaced. Some participants agreed that reproductions detract from the emotional experience of the house. One suggestion was to return objects that can be replaced (Dansk silverware, some of the furniture) and remove the most valuable art and objects that cannot be replaced (Catherine Stillman pottery, Calder and Klee paintings). Another suggestion was to return some of these objects as “Easter eggs”—for instance, put a piece of Stillman’s pottery in a vitrine in the back of a cabinet with a label, to be discovered by renters. Participants agreed that renters would not expect to have original furniture in the house and may not be able to tell the difference between originals and reproductions of mass-produced furniture.

More research is needed to determine when the art was acquired or given to the Breuers, but many of the placements on the walls can be confirmed with photographs. (Some of the art was not part of the sale.) 

Photographs

In terms of processing or cataloging collections materials, Tom’s photos are high priority and will be used to guide the restoration of the house. There are 440 rolls and some contact sheets. Peter needs help inventorying the subjects of each photo—who and what is in them? When were they taken?—and cross-referencing the photos and the contact sheets. The research is time-sensitive, since the community members who might be able to identify people in the photo are aging. Peter has been doing recorded Zoom meetings with some of the

families depicted in the photos. These have been very fruitful and emotional since most photos have never been seen.

Participants discussed a community project and/or crowd-sourcing to help identify the people in the photos, perhaps by having an intern work with the local library or historical society. There are many examples of this in the public history world, so there are models to use and the key will be finding the best partner. Historic Northampton, for example, holds events where people bring photographs and advertise at the library and senior center, and people get engaged. 

Alternatively, CCMHT could donate the photographs and negatives to a larger institution (likely a university, museum, or historical society) which would then process the collection. However, that institution would likely want to own the copyright, and may not process the collection right away unless it came with money to hire a project archivist to do so. 

Books 

Most of the books (200+) have been removed from the house and treated for mold, dampness, and silverfish. Many but not all are inscribed to the Breuers by their authors, and many can be easily and economically replaced with the same edition. Participants recommended a tiered approach here, to determine which books are first edition or have inscriptions and which have less value and return the latter to the house. A discussion ensued about what visitors expect, and participants agreed that renters are looking for a curated experience and would not expect Breuer’s personal library to remain in the house and may prefer contemporary books about Breuer as well. 

Material Culture

Material culture objects related to the Breuer family—Connie’s hats and aprons, housewares, textiles—are also part of the acquisition. She used in the house until her death in 2002 and left many pieces of her own artwork in the house which will be archived and displayed.

Other Materials/Other Repositories

CCMHT also has an archive—primarily digital—of materials related to Peter's book and other research. CCMHT doesn’t own most of the material, this is more of a research collection that they makes available to journalists, authors, and others. This sparked a conversation about how to define the collection (The Breuer House Collection or the CCMHT Collection), whether to treat its various components as distinct collections, and which repositories might be interested in aspects of the collection should CCMHT decide not to keep it. Participants generally agreed the collection should stay in Massachusetts and ideally on the Cape (though Tom Breuer’s photographs may be of interest to some university or independent archives). Locally, the Wellfleet Public Library, Wellfleet Historical Society, and Cape Cod Community College might be institutions to approach.

Update:

- Cataloging of the books has been a fascinating, ongoing process. We are using   CatalogIt  software which has worked well and we plan to employ it for the photo, art and furniture collections as well. We have three people working on books, two volunteer and one paid. One is a curator at a regional craft museum and one just finished her PHD in design history. Some of the books are very rare and valuable while others can be replaced at a nominal cost in the same edition.

• We are de-accessioning some items to the Hungarian Museum of Architecture and Monuments in Budapest. They are building new gallery space which will house a permanent Breuer exhibit. These items include a few pieces of furniture which are too delicate to remain in the house, 20 books which belonged to Breuer and an agreement for use of 100 of Tamás’ photographs for exhibits and publications. We hope this will continue to be a fruitful relationship.

• The Calder painting was kept by the family in the final negociations for the purchase but all other art was retained.

• We have roughly categorized the photos to assist in the restoration and to gather images pertaining to certain families. Oral history interviews with families have continued and we will be using Catalogit to collect all this information, associated with each roll of film. These have been recorded Zoom meetings.

• Following the lead of the Gropius House approach we have made duplicates of some of the art which will be re-pinned to the walls and covered with glass. We plan to build a secure vitrine in the studio for some original pieces.

• We developed a system to categorize books and other items as we packed them. Valuable items were removed to a secure location, items that would be going back in the house and of less value are stored on the site in a locked nesting with security cameras on the house and driveway.

• We have had many consultations with furniture experts in the US and the UK in person and via email. It seems there are two carpets, candlesticks and a side table from the early 1930s designed by Breuer which are considered ‘museum pieces’. These are securely stored. The Isokon-Plus company in London is donating two Breuer designed nesting tables and we are buying a Long Chair from them to replace the original which is going to Budapest. It is too fragile to leave in the house.

Programming

The Brief:

We plan on hosting a fall, residency in the house utilizing the three separate apartments. Artists and scholars could potentially use the primary source materials (as well as the woodland site) for study and inspiration. Since we are a small organization this could possibly mean partnering with one or more institutions which could provide participants and administrative back-up.

Some questions include:

- Would the site act as a ‘field station’ for other schools or institutions?

• What is a financial model for supporting the residency?

• How should we engage with local institutions?

• For the first few years would it make sense to make archiving the focus of the residency?

Discussion:

Participants discussed various frameworks through which faculty and students (likely graduate students) might be engaged to help organize the collection. The scenarios suggested are contingent on interest and commitment from an institutional partner, but a partnership could begin as early as next fall. It might also be possible to fundraise for an annual named internship. Of note: there will be no heat or water December-March and Tom Breuer uses the house the last week of August and first two weeks of September.

- May-mester, in which students and a faculty member work on-site in a month-long course. (University of Delaware is a model for this)

- January term, more common at Massachusetts institutions, might be feasible for off-site work (perhaps with Simmons, for database management, which can happen anywhere)

- Spring Break programs, which did not seem feasible because the duration is too short.

- Field school or mini course, in which students would enroll in a program through one university, but they would not have to be students at that school. A field school could also offer continuing ed for practitioners. CCMHT would provide housing for a faculty member and 6-9 students, and a partner university would collect the tuition money and hire the faculty member. Once the collections are organized, the field school could be redirected toward site interpretation, exhibitions, or site conservation under a different faculty director.

- Fall semester (3 month) program, which would more likely resemble a postdoc or faculty fellowship. 
- Possible institutional partners: UMass, Tufts, Harvard GSD, Simmons, University of Delaware Museum SWAT Program, Thomas Jefferson University Center for the Preservation of Modernism. Past semester-long project partners have included Harvard and Wentworth Institute. A number of our past interns are now in the architecture program at Roger Williams in Rhode Island.

Participants also discussed the possibility of developing digital and/or audio site interpretation, which could be a student project in the future, as well.

Other sites that might be worth looking at as points of comparisons

- Field Farm (Williamstown)

- Olmsted’s studio (Brookline) 

- Brick House at Glass House (CT)

- Gropius House (MA)

- Woods Hole for field school (MA)

Update:

• We are in discussion with an artist who may curate the 2025 residency. He has a long relationship with Breuer’s work and would involve a film maker and writer to participate in a process of interpretive installation on the site. He will visit in March. The proposal involves an ‘occupation’ of the site in fall followed by visits in the winter and spring to document the work. This could be another interesting precedent: sporadic week-long interventions over the off-season. Participants could stay in one of our other winterized houses when Breuer is closed down.

• In the rush to restore the house we have not had much time to pursue relationships with educational partners who could be a pipeline for scholars/residents. We will continue discussions after July.

Thank you

In the last two years the CCMHT Board has heroically navigated the complex process of purchasing the house. In particular I’d like to thank: Our Board President Jenny Monick who kept everyone on track, Treasurer Rick Handman who managed the complex financial matters, Rob Warren who guided us though the legal, land conservation and borrowing rapids, Tracy Neuman who handled grant applications, Ginny Adams who did the National Register nomination, Mandy Robinson and Michele Yeeles for being essential in fundraising and our diligent admin. Caitlin DiGiacomo who handled copious data management. We also greatly benefited from the guidance of fundraising consultant Sarah Shrewsbury.

Thank you to our archiving interns and volunteers, in particular Olivia Horton who did much of the unearthing, sorting and packing of material from the house.

Our Donors

We recieved an outpouring of support from many generous families, individuals and foundations, many with strong Outer Cape connections. Many thanks to these donors who understood well the importance and urgency of preserving the house for the future, and to the town of Wellfleet for their generous Community Preservation Act grant.

As expected we borrowed some funds from Cape Cod 5 Bank and recieved two low interest loans, one from a generous private party, and one from The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts. We also recieved a generous grant of $200,000 from

Bios:

Alison Alessi is a Registered Architect with nearly 20 years of experience with sustainable design on the Cape. She has been a LEED accredited professional since 2007, and Certified Passive House Consultant since 2011. With her firm A3 Architects, she has designed a number of net-energy zero residences, commercial and municipal projects in towns across the Cape. She has collaborated with a number of local environmentally-responsible professionals to refine and improve design elements of specific projects and has experience presenting projects to various local regulatory boards. She received her Masters of Architecture from MIT and has an AB in architecture from Princeton University.

Meghan Gelardi Holmes is the curator of the Gibson House Museum, where she has developed an interpretive program that explores the material world of 19th century Boston through multiple perspectives. She is also the curator of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts and teaches in the Tufts Museum Studies Program. Holmes received her MA in Public History from UMass-Amherst. She has a particular interest in small institutions and has worked with a range of art and history museums to manage and interpret collections in new and creative ways. She recently co-authored an AASLH Technical Leaflet, “Telling Inclusive Stories When Your Collections Are Stuck in the Past.” Holmes currently serves as a Lead Editor for History@Work, the blog for the National Council on Public History, and as a co-facilitator of a NEMA Community of Practice on interpreting histories of enslavement and freedom. 

Jenny Monick has lived in New York City since 1984. She attended Barnard College, spent a year’s study in Nepal, and graduated with a double major in Anthropology and Comparative Religion. She is an alumni of the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture and has an MFA in Art Writing from the School of Visual Arts. As a visual artist, her work has been exhibited in numerous venues. As an educator, visiting artist/faculty positions have included NYU, Hunter College, and SUNY Purchase, as well as four years in Early Childhood arts education and curating children’s art exhibitions.

Marla Miller directed the Public History Program at UMass Amherst for almost twenty years, before shifting to her current role as Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives in the campus' College of Humanities and Fine Arts.  As a public historian she has consulted with dozens of museums and historic sites at the local, statewide, and national level, including the National Park Service.

David J. Nordlander, Ph.D., is a professional historian and consultant who has worked on a variety of historical preservation/interpretation projects as well as large-scale archival initiatives on the web. He has traveled widely throughout all of Europe and has an academic expertise in Russian, East European, and German history, with many publications in scholarly journals. Because of his Russian expertise, he has also worked on a range of Alaskan and Arctic projects. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University, Dr. Nordlander began work at the Library of Congress as an historian on a major web project begun by James Billington, the Librarian of Congress, that ultimately turned into the World Digital Library. He has subsequently worked with the Smithsonian and Dartmouth on a related effort to place archival collections online from a variety of institutional partners with Circumpolar collections. This effort has involved museum and archival partners on Cape Cod and the Islands that contain whaling journals and other records from voyages to Alaska and the Arctic, including Captain Edward Penniman from Eastham. Dr. Nordlander has also worked on the preservation and interpretation of historic structures from the Russian era, primarily at Sitka National Historical Park in Sitka, Alaska. Earlier in his career, he worked as a ranger at the Cape Cod National Seashore. He has furthermore served as a consultant for exhibit production at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate and is currently working as a consultant with the John F. Kennedy Museum in Hyannis on a historical framework for creating a web-based presentation with AR/VR modules for the various residences and sites associated with the Kennedys on Cape Cod and the Islands.

Tracy Neumann, Ph.D., is a Connecticut-based historian, writer, and editor. She is Editorial Content Manager for Historic New England and editor of Historic New England magazine. Previously, she was an Associate Professor of History and director of the public history program at Wayne State University. She is the author of a book and several articles on urban history and co-edits a book series on urban history for Cambridge University Press. She is a member of the National Council on Public History Professional Development Committee, sits on the international advisory board of Urban History, co-directs and is treasurer for the Global Urban History Project, and recently joined the Cape Cod Modern House Trust board. She holds a BA in History and Russian Studies from the University of Michigan, an MA in Historic Preservation Planning from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in History from NYU.

Timothy M. Rohan, PhD is associate professor and chair of the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Tim is the author of The Architecture of Paul Rudolph (Yale, 2014), now in its third edition, and he edited a volume of essays about the architect’s work (Yale, 2017). He has written many articles for journals and edited volumes about post-World War II architecture. Among them are “Breuer's Ancillary Strategy: Signs and Structures along the Highway to Postmodernism,” from Breuer's Architecture for Postwar Institutions, edited by Barry Bergdoll and Jonathan Massey (2018). He is writing a book about Manhattan residential interiors of the 1970s. An excerpt appeared in the March 2024 issue of the Art Bulletin. Tim is a founder of UMass Brut, the advocacy group for the UMass system's modernist architecture. He is active with the Society of Architectural Historians, Docomomo New England, Historic New England, and Cape Cod Modern.

Ken Turino is Manager of Community Partnerships and Resource Development at Historic New England and on the faculty of Tufts University’s Museum Studies Department. Ken is a curator, educator, director, producer, and author. His films have been shown on PBS including the prize-winning film, “Back to School: Lessons from Norwich’s (VT) One-Room Schoolhouses.” Ken is Past President of the House of Seven Gables Settlement Association and currently on Council for the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH). He frequently consults on interpretive planning and community engagement projects at historic sites. These include Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee, James Madison’s Montpelier in Orange, Virginia and Trent House in Trenton, New Jersey and most recently Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling water. Along with Max van Balgooy, Ken published Reinventing the Historic House Museum, New Approaches and Proven Solutions, for Rowman & Littlefield. Last year with Rebecca Beit-Aharon, he authored a Technical Leaflet for AASLH, “Creating Artist-in-Residence Programs at Historic Sites.” He and Max’s newest book Interpreting Christmas at Historic Sites and Museums is due in 2024.

Rob Warren works as an independent land conservation consultant; he serves on the Board of the Cape Cod Modern House Trust. He recently stepped down after eight years as Managing Director of Conservation for The Trustees of Reservations, America’s oldest operating land trust, where he was responsible for all aspects of land conservation and restriction acquisitions stewardship. A graduate of Oberlin College with a focus on plant ecology, Rob worked for a decade as a Boston cabinet and furniture maker, returning to his conservation roots in 1990.  He worked for 10 years with the MA Department of Fish & Game, followed by 14 year with the Massachusetts Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, moving to The Trustees in 2014. He is also spending more time on design/build projects in wood and metal. Identifier: Land conservation consultant; Board of Cape Cod Modern House Trust

Inés Zalduendo is the Special Collections Curator at the Frances Loeb Library of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she is part of the Collections Team. She is an architect and archivist both by education and training. Her work at the GSD focuses on collection development, exhibitions, teaching, and outreach with special collections materials. She has presented papers on architecture and archives at conferences at the Society for Architectural Historians and the Society of American Archivists, as well as at the Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino, and RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects). Inés has a Diploma de Arquitecta from Universidad de Buenos Aires, a Master in Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a Master in Library and Information Science with a concentration in Archives Administration from Simmons University.