BREUER HOUSE EXPERT’S RETREAT 2024

Concept:

After a year of 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.

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.

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.