United States Department of the Interior National Park ......Private: Public – Local . Public –...

NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018

1

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions.

1. Name of Property Historic name: ________ Redwood House Other names/site number: ______________________________________

Name of related multiple property listing: Mid-Century Modern Architecture in Norwich Vermont (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing) ____________________________________________________________________________

2. Location Street & number: ____ 108 McKenna Road ___________ City or town: ____Norwich________ State: ____Vermont_____ County: ____Windsor_ Not For Publication: Vicinity:

____________________________________________________________________________ 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended,

I hereby certify that this X nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60.

In my opinion, the property _X__ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance:

___national _X__statewide _ local Applicable National Register Criteria:

__X_A ___B __X_C ___D

Signature of certifying official/Title: Date

______________________________________________

State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government

n/a n/a

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Redwood House Windsor County, Vermont

Name of Property County and State

Sections 1-6 page 2

In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria.

Signature of commenting official: Date

Title : State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government

______________________________________________________________________________

4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is:

entered in the National Register

determined eligible for the National Register

determined not eligible for the National Register

removed from the National Register

other (explain:) _____________________

______________________________________________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action

____________________________________________________________________________ 5. Classification

Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.)

Private:

Public – Local

Public – State

Public – Federal

Category of Property (Check only one box.)

Building(s)

X

X



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District

Site

Structure

Object

Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count)

Contributing Noncontributing ____1_________ ____0_________ buildings

____0_________ ____0________ sites ____0_________ ____0________ structures ___ 0__________ ____0________ objects ____1______ ____0________ Total

Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register ___0______

6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.)

DOMESTIC: Single Dwelling ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________

Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.)

DOMESTIC: Single Dwelling ___________________



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7. Description

Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.) Modern Movement ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________

Materials: (enter categories from instructions.)

Principal exterior materials of the property: _Wood, glass, brick

Narrative Description

(Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.)

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Summary Paragraph

The Redwood House is a one-story, Ranch style house with a rectilinear open plan. It is in the town of Norwich, Vermont. Constructed in 1945, it is an early example of Ranch style residential architecture designed by noted architect and urban planner Walter Behrendt. Sited on a hill with view towards the south the house takes advantage of the expansive views across the Connecticut River towards Dartmouth College and the town of Hanover, New Hampshire. With its rectilinear form, emphasis on horizontal lines and open floor plan, the house embodies the tenets of the modern architecture movement. The architect, Walter Behrendt, was influenced by the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, writing extensively



Section 7 page 5

about him in the 1920s. The house retains its historical integrity of location, design, setting, feeling, workmanship, materials, and association.

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Narrative Description

This is a one-story, Ranch style house with a combination gable and hip roof on the main block and a gable roof garage ell. Clad with wide horizontal wood clapboards and an asphalt shingle roof, it rests on a concrete foundation. It has a small setback from McKenna Road and is oriented parallel with the street. The roof eaves are deep along the east and west elevations and shallow along the north and south elevations. A wide brick chimney arises from the hip roof peak. Fenestration consists of 1/1 wood windows and fixed pane windows.

The west (front) elevation presents a closed and private façade to the street and consists primarily of wood siding. The builders applied the California redwood clapboards with copper nails, and used a clear white pine for the trim. There is an off-center wood door that is protected by an extension of the hip roof. To the left (east) are two clerestory windows. To the right (west) is a unit of three closely arranged replacement 1/1 windows. The north elevation consists of one unit of triple 1/1 windows and slender brick chimney.

The gable roof garage extends westward from the southwest corner of the house. The original garage was a smaller, approximately 10’ x 20’, single bay, bathroomflat roofed garage. It was expanded in the late twentieth /early twenty-first century. The roof has a closed pediment. There are two vehicular bays with overhead doors on the north gable end. There is no fenestration on the east and west eaves side of the garage. There is a peaked gable at the northwest junction of the garage and main block. There is a single pedestrian door and a pair of closely arranged 1/1 windows underneath this gable peak.



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A flat roof ell projects from the south elevation of the main block. In his book Der Sieg des neuen Baustils, Behrendt “advocated the flat roof because of the spare, cubic, economic aesthetic that this roof shape naturally created.”1 It has clerestory windows on the north elevation. The west elevation of the projection has a small section of wood siding and a section of brise-soleil, enclosing a covered porch area. The brise-soleil originally covered the entire elevation but was reduced when the owners expaned the interior space in the late twentieth century. Behrendt originnaly designed this area for outdoor eating. There is a pass-through window from the kitchen that simplifies serving of outdoor meals.2 The west elevation of the flat roof section projects to the south of the main block. The south section is open on the south side and clad with wood clapboards on the north section. There is a closely arranged set of windows consisting of one casement and one 1/1

1 Gutschow, Kai Konstanty, Revising the Paradigm: German Modernism as the Search for a National Architecture in the Writings of Walter Curt Behrendt, A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture, Swarthmore College, 1986. 2 “In Norwich Vermont…Walter Curt Behrendt, Architect; John Spaeth, Jr., Associated.” Pencil Points, Progressive Architecture, February 1945.

Figure 1 West Elevation, 1945 (Pencil Points Magazine)



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window. There is no fenestration along the north elevation of the flat roof projection, except for one clerestory window.

The east elevation of the main block features a sliding glass door acessing the open wood deck and a window unit consisting of a single fixed glass window flanked by a 1/1 window on each side. There are wide eaves along the east elevation that “works on the solar principle to exclude sun in summer and admit its warming rays in winter.”3

Projecting to the west from the main block is a one story, hip roof section. It has a bank of five 1/1 windows that wrap around the southwest corner of the projection. There are three windows on the south elevation and two on the west elevation. Projecting from the west elevation of this section is a shed roof addition with two closely arranged, offset casement windows.

Interior

The interior wood trim is western pine, and the floors are oak. The living room walls are 1/4-inch, plywood paneling, and the remaining rooms have plaster walls.

The front door accesses a small entry hallway. Several closets line the entrance hall. Leading to the south is a long hallway leading to the two bedrooms. There is a single bathroom located adjacent to the northeast bedroom. A new bathroom was added off of the

3 Ibid.

Figure 2 Living Room, 1945 (Pencil Points Magazine)



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southeast bedroom in the early twenty-first century. Originally, there was a floor-to-ceiling window in the southeast corner of the southeast bedroom.4 A set of casement windows replaced the corner window. There is a laundry chute at the south end of the room that leads to the basement. There are several closets in the southeast bedroom with one originally arranged with space at the bottom designed to accommodate a sewing machine. The northeast study/guest room was, according to the architect, a satisfactory combination of functions: "I will not work, anyway, when we have a guest in the house."5

The entry hallway leads to a small study and then the great room in the center of the house. There is a set of windows and a sliding glass door along the south wall. The living-dining room has cross light and ventilation. Behrendt installed a wood box near the fireplace with a trap door that accessed firewood storage in the basement space.

The small kitchen, located west of the living room, has wood cabinets and a tile floor. There was a living-dining porch originally located on the southwest corner, accessed by the living room and kitchen. A small bedroom addition replaced a portion of the porch. Behrendt designed a window opening on the south wall of the kitchen so he could pass food for outside dining.

A door in the northwest corner of the kitchen accesses the basement and garage. There is a wood bin the basement. The basement extends only under the living room area.

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8. Statement of Significance

Applicable National Register Criteria

4 “In Norwich Vermont…Walter Curt Behrendt, Architect; John Spaeth, Jr., Associated.” Pencil Points, Progressive Architecture, February 1945. 5 Ibid.



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(Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.)

A. Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution

to the broad patterns of our history.

B. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.

C. Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction.

D. Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.

Criteria Considerations (Mark “x” in all the boxes that apply.)

A. Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes

B. Removed from its original location

C. A birthplace or grave

D. A cemetery

E. A reconstructed building, object, or structure

F. A commemorative property

G. Less than 50 years old or achieving significance within the past 50 years

Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions.) Architecture Community Planning and Development

X

X

X



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Period of Significance 1945__________________

Significant Dates ___________________ ___________________

Significant Person (Complete only if Criterion B is marked above.) Berhendt, Walter Curt

Cultural Affiliation

___________________

___________________

___________________

Architect/Builder Behrendt, Walter Curt ___________________



Sections 9-end page 11

Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph (Provide a summary paragraph that includes level of significance, applicable criteria, justification for the period of significance, and any applicable criteria considerations.)

The Redwood House is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria C at the state level of significance as a notable example of the Modern Movement. It meets the registration requirements of a modern Ranch Style home type as stated in the Mid-Century Modern Residential Architecture in Norwich Multiple Property Documentation Form. 6 The house is an early example of the Ranch Style in Vermont.

The c. 1945 Redwood House possesses significance in the category of Architecture as an innovative residential design exhibiting the fundamental characteristics of the Modern Movement and as an especially early example of the emerging Ranch Style home. It possesses characteristics such as its simple, one-story geometric form, oriented broad side to the street, use of large windows including a picture style window, and asymmetrical fenestration matching the uses of the rooms within, minimal architectural detail, and a floor plan that incorporates the prominent attached garage. The period of significance is 1945, the year the house was built.

The Redwood House is also eligible under Criteria A at the local level of significance for its association with the significant post-World War II and especially post-interstate (mid-1960s) residential expansion of Norwich associated with the nearby economic engines of Dartmouth College and Mary Hitchcock Hospital. It is also eligible under Criteria B at the state level of significance as it is a rare example of the work of Walter Behrendt, a German born architect and urban planner, taught at Dartmouth College.

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Narrative Statement of Significance (Provide at least one paragraph for each area of significance.)

Criterion A: Community Planning and Development

The Redwood House is significant at the local level under Criterion A for its association with the significant post-World War II residential expansion of Norwich by middle and upper middle-class residents. Primarily professionals associated with Dartmouth College and Mary Hitchcock Hospital, these professional “brought urban and international cultural experience and worked with local or other architects developing cutting edge ideas that stood out starkly in the

6 Papazian, Lyssa, Mid-Century Modern Architecture in Norwich Vermont Multiple Property Documentation Form, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, March 18, 2019.




traditional New England countryside.”7 According to the Mid-Century Modern Residential Architecture in Norwich Vermont Multiple Property Documentation Form, Norwich’s population grew 70% between 1940 and 1980, but the number of households went from 400 to over 1000. During the 1970s alone, developers converted more farmland in Norwich to housing than in the previous three decades combined.8

The Redwood House is one of the earliest examples of Mid-Century Modern architecture in Norwich. Over time, Norwich would feature many modernist homes. According to the Mid-Century Modern Residential Architecture in Norwich Vermont Multiple Property Documentation Form, Norwich was an appropriate location for the modernist architecture to thrive:

Norwich has long been influenced by the academic presence first of Norwich University and then of Dartmouth and its Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in nearby Hanover, NH. The mix of residents in Norwich historically has included faculty, academics, professionals, and many who supported the larger college and hospital community in some way. The affluence and cultural sophistication of many residents has contributed to the rich architectural heritage there, including that of the Mid-Century Modern. As a culturally rich area in bucolic Vermont, Norwich has also attracted urban sophisticates – many with a past connection to the area and /or Dartmouth - to build second homes and retirees to relocate. They sometimes brought with them their own architects or tapped the local talent.9

Criterion B: Walter Curt Behrendt

The Redwood House is significant under Criterion B for its association with Walter Curt Behrendt, who both designed and lived in the house. Behrendt, a German-born architect and urban planner, studied the work of Frank Lloyd Wright extensively, publishing several essays on Wright’s architectural philosophy and designs. When he arrived at Dartmouth College, Behrendt incorporated several Wright concepts into his home. While in the United States, Behrendt was a teacher in Buffalo, New York, and Hanover, New Hampshire. During his short tenure in the United States, Behrendt focused primarily on academics and urban planning. He did not practice architecture professionally, and the Redwood House is the only known house designed and built by him. As such, the building is closely associated with Behrendt’s productive life as an architect and planner. Behrendt was a significant person in the

7 Papazian, Lyssa, Mid-Century Modern Architecture in Norwich Vermont Multiple Property Documentation Form, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, March 18, 2019.

9 Papazian, Lyssa, Mid-Century Modern Architecture in Norwich Vermont Multiple Property Documentation Form, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, October 15, 2018.




progressive architectural movement of the 1920s-1940s and was responsible for introducing American critics such as Lewis Mumford to the philospoical and intellectual underpinnings of European modernism.10

Walter Curt Behrendt was born December 16, 1884, in Metz in the Alsace region of Germany. During World War One, he spent two years fighting on the Western Front. Following the war, he worked with Germany’s Ministry for Housing and Town Planning (1919–26) and in the Ministry of Finance (1927–33), “in which positions he promoted the Modern Movement in public building projects in Prussia and throughout the Weimar Republic.”11 He advocated a resettlement project, moving dislocated German refugees into Prussia, developing villages and housing.

Behrendt was the editor of the German Werkbund's journal Die Form from 1925 to 1927. During the 1920s, Behrendt wrote Städtebau und Wohnungswesen in den Vereinigten Staaten (Town Planning and Housing in the United States–1926) and Der Sieg des neuen Baustils (The Victory of the New Architectural Style–1927). In 1928. Behrendt wrote The Victory of the New Building Style where he advocated the new architectural form:

The exterior attributes of the buildings of the new style, which, owing to a number of unmistakable features, stand out against their surroundings so emphatically …they are usually works with a simple, austere form and a clear organization, with smooth, planar walls, and always with a flat roof and straight profiles. The building body is generally articulated by a more or less lively gradation of masses and by the distribution of windows and openings in the wall surfaces. It is also apparent that the openings, the windows, and occasionally, also the balconies (quite contrary to tradition) are placed at the corners of the buildings, where formerly we were accustomed to seeing the load-bearing parts of the building or the solid masonry of corner piers. Further, we notice that these buildings altogether lack the familiar and customary means of decoration. The advocates of the new building attitude seem to have a particularly keen dislike for the column, that popular showpiece of academic architecture, and they are notably cool toward any kind of ornament or decorative detail. Ornament — the decorative accessory, the detail in the old sense — has completely disappeared. They prefer smooth walls and consciously exploit the wall’s planar attributes as an architectural design tool. They compose simple building bodies, which are themselves plastically articulated, and create a powerfully punctuated rhythm of movement by linear accents or occasionally by

10 M. David Samson, “"Unser Newyorker Mitarbeiter": Lewis Mumford, Walter Curt Behrendt, and the Modern Movement in Germany,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 55, no. 2 (1996): 126-139. 11 Rooker, Sarah, MCM Talk Notes, Norwich Historical Society, 2017.




overhanging slabs and deeply shaded projections, which emphasize and strengthen the impression of the corporal, the spatial, and the three-dimensional.12

Following the destruction of World War One, as Germany was rebuilding, he argued that Germany needed “an architecture that unified art and technology, combined rationalism of engineering with the spiritual, creative nature of design.”13

In 1925, Behrendt visited the United States to attend the International City Building Conference in New York. Behrendt toured American construction sites with other German planners, in which “he remarked disappointedly that despite America's technological lead in so many areas, her construction industry seemed hopelessly outdated.”14 Behrendt had

12 Behrendt, Walter Curt, The Victory of the New Building Style, 1928, Los Angeles, California: Getty Publications, 2000. 13 Rooker, Sarah, MCM Talk Notes, Norwich Historical Society, 2017. 14 Gutschow, Kai Konstanty, Revising the Paradigm: German Modernism as the Search for a National Architecture in the Writings of Walter Curt Behrendt, A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the

Figure 3 Outside Dining Area, 1945 (Pencil Points Magazine)




hoped that perhaps America could provide insight in approaching German’s housing crisis, but “the final resolution of the housing problems facing Germany, he felt, would come ‘not from America but instead from the old world,’ especially in Germany.”15 While Behrendt did not find answers to Germany’s housing crisis during his visit, he did meet planner Lewis Mumford and architect Charles Whitaker for the first time, and the three developed a strong friendship from that period onward.

Mumford held Behrendt in high regard, remarking

No modern critic could, perhaps, boast such a combination of fundamental professional training, practical experience, and mature critical judgement, based on the widest sort of humanistic study.16

When Hitler came to power, Behrendt left “a lifetime of service and achievement in his native country to seek freedom and hope in the United States.”17 He settled in the United States in 1934 and became a guest lecturer at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. During the 1930s, the Dartmouth Art Department established its Artist-in-Residence program to bring serious artists to campus for short- and long-term residencies. Over the years, the College welcomed renowned artists and architects such as Alvar Aalto, Buckminster Fuller, Walter Gropius, Lewis Mumford, and Ray Nash. The school awarded Paul Sample a lifetime appointment as Artist-in-Residence with the rank of full professor.18

First meeting in 1925, Lewis Mumford helped Behrendt receive a guest lecturer position at Dartmouth in 1934. The two shared a vision of modern architecture and urban planning. They

Each worked to encourage a new vernacular style, which would use rural values and regional planning to remake the industrial city. The two united in their critique of the unrestricted urban development and industrial standardization, which dominated American culture in the 1920s, and which in Germany was mythologized as Amerikanismus. 19

requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture, Swarthmore College, 1986; Behrendt, Walter Curt, Städtebau und Wohnungswesen in den Vereinigten Staaten. Bericht über eine Studienreise, Berlin, 1927. 15 Ibid. 16Mumford, Lewis, Lewis Mumford, Roots of Contemporary American Architecture, New York, 1952. 17 Walter Curt Behrendt Obituary, Dartmouth College Art Journal, Volume 4, 1945. 18 “Walter Curt Behrendt,” Mid Century Modern Exhibit, Norwich Historical Society, 2018. 19 Samson, M. Davis, "Unser Newyorker Mitarbeiter": Lewis Mumford, Walter Curt Behrendt, and the Modern Movement in Germany, “Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians Vol. 55, No. 2 (Jun., 1996), pp. 126-139.

https://books.google.com/books?id=zYUchmXTDxUC&pg=PA219&lpg=PA219&dq=dartmouth+artist+in+residence+alvar+aalto&source=bl&ots=UVgCirtM4f&sig=rJCJXgxT9WnIWjquFrw_Ds9yVJ0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj6sPu0gY_XAhUr7oMKHf4iD1sQ6AEISjAI#v=onepage&q=dartmouth%20artist%20in%20residence%20alvar%20aalto&f=falsehttps://books.google.com/books?id=zYUchmXTDxUC&pg=PA219&lpg=PA219&dq=dartmouth+artist+in+residence+alvar+aalto&source=bl&ots=UVgCirtM4f&sig=rJCJXgxT9WnIWjquFrw_Ds9yVJ0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj6sPu0gY_XAhUr7oMKHf4iD1sQ6AEISjAI#v=onepage&q=dartmouth%20artist%20in%20residence%20alvar%20aalto&f=false




During his time at Dartmouth, Behrendt took time to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midwest works. His travels manifested in his 1937 book, Modern Building: Its Nature, Problems and its Forms, a textbook on modern architecture that explained: “why old forms of architecture are no longer viable in modern society.”20 Once again, Lewis Mumford assisted Behrendt and “convinced his publisher, Harcourt, Brace, to publish Behrendt’s Building, which grew out of his Dartmouth lectures, as well as earlier theorizing from Germany published in part in Die Form, an important book for the establishment of modernism in the United States.”21

Behrendt was a disciple of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Within the pages of Modern Building: Its Nature, Problems, and its Forms was an entire section dedicated to Wright. Behrendt felt that Wright’s buildings “were built into nature, almost bred into the life-space of their surrounding landscape.”22 Behrendt continued about Wright:

As an artist he really is nature, and a great contribution towards developing this nature, and preserving its originality is certainly made by the great and unique landscape, in which he was brought up and which, as an elemental experience, impregnated his creative instinct.23

Without being guilty of exaggeration, one must justly assert that Frank Lloyd Wright’s work is the first creation in the realm of architecture that can be regarded as an independent contribution of the American spirit to European culture.24

Behrendt continued:

In the projects in which Wright has achieved the maturity of his style, the rooms are arranged around the nucleus of the chimney part, like leaves of a plant around the stem, radiating as if from a power center, they reach out into the garden and the landscape, opening themselves to the light and view on all sides.25

20 Prince, Denise Gail, Kleinhans Music Hall: A Study in Modern Sound, A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University at Buffalo, State University of New York in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. September 1, 2011 21 “Walter Curt Behrendt,” Mid Century Modern Exhibit, Norwich Historical Society, 2018. 22 Behrendt, Walter Curt, Modern Building: Its Nature, Problems and its Forms. Harcourt, Brace and Company: New York, 1937. 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid..




Behrendt moved to Buffalo, New York in 1937 to teach at the University of Buffalo. While at Buffalo, Behrendt, was described as “handsome, inspiring, if overbearing and dogmatic.”26 He had “a long angular face, piercing eyes and was always seen holding a pipe purposefully in hand.”27 While at Buffalo, he also was a lecturer at Wheaton College, where he was a juror for choosing an architecture firm for the new campus art center.

In addition to his duties at the University of Buffalo, Behrendt worked with the Buffalo City Planning Association, “to help them wrestle with the challenges of the automobile and the threat that is posed to the city’s central business district.”28 The growth of Buffalo’s suburbs and the subsequent rise of automobile commuters had created a severe traffic congestion and parking problem in Buffalo’s business center. Serving as the seeds for the University of Buffalo’s architecture program, Behrendt and his students worked at the city’s Planning and Experiment Station and developed a master plan for the city.

26 Goldman, Mark, City on the Edge: Buffalo, New York, 1900 – Present. Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York, 2000. 27 Ibid. 28 Ibid.

Figure 4 Original Floor Plan, 1945 (Pencil Points Magazine)




In 1939, Behrendt presented the Buffalo Master Plan, titled the “Buffalo of Tomorrow.” Behrendt warned that if the plan was not adopted, “the city will become permanently spoiled by unplanned building.”29

Behrendt returned to Dartmouth College to teach in 1941. His wife, Lydia Hoffman-Behrendt, a well-known pianist who fled Germany with Behrendt, also taught at Dartmouth. Behrendt also delivered lectures at Princeton University and Wheaton College. The majority of his lectures covered the development of cities, city planning, regional planning, modern architecture, housing, transportation, and zoning. The lectures covered the history of architecture from antiquity through the 1940s, including Greek, Rome, the Arts and Crafts Movement, the Art Nouveau Movement, and the International Style.30

Criterion C: Architecture

Under Criterion C, the Redwood House embodies several characteristics of the Ranch Style type found in the Mid-Century Modern Architecture in Norwich Multiple Property Documentation Form. It is a one-story building with a broad side gabled form. The interior features open living spaces with large south facing windows which take advantage of the siting on a hill overlooking the Connecticut River. According to the Mid-Century Modern Residential Architecture in Norwich Vermont Multiple Property Documentation Form:

A number of Norwich houses, including the very early Ranch Style Behrendt House (Redwood) were widely published in popular and professional periodicals and may even have reached an international audience and be associated with architects of national stature. Such houses may be judged to have a state or even national level of significance.31

29 Goodman, Julian, Buffalo Times articles, 1939; Goldman, Mark, City on the Edge: Buffalo, New York, 1900 – Present. Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York, 2000. 30 Walter Curt Behrendt papers, 1910-1945, Avery Drawings Collection and Archives, Columbia University, New York, New York. 31 Papazian, Lyssa, Mid-Century Modern Architecture in Norwich Vermont Multiple Property Documentation Form, National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, March 18, 2019.




In June 1941, Behrendt explored the possibility of building a home in Norwich. He contacted Walter H. Trumbull, a builder located in Hanover, New Hampshire. Trumbull provided a preliminary estimate of $9,000. The estimate was for a house with a cellar, using eight-inch-thick cement trench walls, underneath the center section only. Without the 12 x 20 cellar, the projected cost was $8,000. In September 1941, Behrendt provided plans and specifications, and Trumbull gave a quote of $8500. Trumbull had all of the available material on hand, and was confident that “we could give you good service and could build the house in a reasonable length of time.”32

Trumbull started his career building primarily residences, such as the present-day Trumbull House Bed and Breakfast, located on Etna Road in Hanover. He then designed institutional and commercial buildings such as Keene High School, Bellows Falls Town Hall, the Nugget Theater in Hanover, and the Hanover Municipal Building. Following World War II, W.H. Trumbull was innovative:

32 Letter, Trumbull to Behrendt, 1941, Walter Curt Behrendt papers, 1910-1945, Avery Drawings Collection and Archives, Columbia University, New York, New York.

Figure 5 North Elevation, 1945 (Pencil Points Magazine)




They ran their sawmills during the winter to keep employees busy and prepare for the upcoming building season. They invested in war-surplus machinery and used that technology to their advantage. They quickly became successful.33

It was not until 1945 that Behrendt chose a half-acre lot on a ridge above the Connecticut River and began construction of his house. The four-year span between drawing plans and actual construction was most likely due to the construction moratorium during World War II. McKenna Road close to the bridge crossing the Connecticut River and leading to Dartmouth College, in Hanover, N. H. Behrendt liked the location as it was “only 15 to 20 minutes walking distance."34

The site offered views that

open up on every hand—the foothills of the White Mountains to the north, the river valley to the south; toward the east (across the river) the Dartmouth campus, and toward the west, an intimate little valley dotted with old Vermont farmhouses. Although the house is convenient to his work, the architect points out, it is in a wholly rural setting, and "grazing cattle may be seen from almost any window."35

Behrendt sited the house with a minimal setback from McKenna Road

to cut down unnecessary road shoveling in winter and to provide as much space as possible for the lawn and flower garden on the south. Yet a third reason for this location was to eliminate a view of railroad tracks which border the river below.36

In addition to hiring Trumbull, Behrendt collaborated with John Spaeth in designing the house. Spaeth went on to the director of planning for the City of Seattle in 1948. He and his staff created Seattle’s first neighborhood plans for those post-World War II areas that were expanding at a rapid rate. He also focused on planning for the Seattle Central Business District. Following development of the Comprehensive Plan, the Seattle adopted a new Zoning Code based on the Plan. Spaeth retired from City service in 1971.37

Behrendt felt that the new architecture

33 Burch, Kelly, “Over 100 Years, Trumbull-Nelson Has Left Lasting Impact on the Upper Valley,” Enterprise Magazine, September 25, 2017. 34 “In Norwich Vermont…Walter Curt Behrendt, Architect; John Spaeth, Jr., Associated.” Pencil Points, Progressive Architecture, February 1945. 35 Ibid. 36 Ibid. 37 “John D. Spaeth Planning Files, 1950-1969”, Seattle Municipal Archives, Office of the City Clerk, City of Seattle, Washington.




Will be clean, exact, and precise in its lines; it will be clear and tense in its forms; it will have an almost classical purity in its proportions. It will, in addition, be imaginative in an unexpected way, that is, in the immaterial gravity of its suspended constructions of glass and iron, in the purity of its colors, in the cultivated beauty of its materials, and in the resplendent wealth of its natural and artificial light. 38

With the open eating area and the large expanse of glass along the southern elevation, Behrendt incorporated natural light into his design.

The use of glass is a stage in the wall’s transformation from a supporting to a supported element. The relieved opening has now replaced the bearing wall: an event that vividly demonstrates the functional change.39

Following designs of Frank Lloyd Wright, Behrendt also installed a shelf of lights lining the cornice of the living room, incorporating artificial light into his design. There are wide eaves along the east elevation that “works on the solar principle to exclude sun in summer and admit its warming rays in winter.”40

Behrendt designed the living-dining room with “separate functional areas” that “were given careful study.”41 Behrendt placed a sofa beside the fireplace facing the window and views. Behrendt commented, “When a group has formed around the fireplace, newcomers do not cross the area, but enter it from the interior of the room."42

This easy accommodation of guests is an important factor in the Behrendt house, for not only do college students come to call or hold informal discussions, but groups frequently gather to enjoy Mrs. Behrendt's piano playing.43

Behrendt envisioned that the modern house and its occupants wanted to enjoy the outdoors. They disdained “the padded comfort and the somber atmosphere of Victorian parlors.”44

38 Behrendt, Walter Curt, The Victory of the New Building Style, 1928, Los Angeles, California: Getty Publications, 2000. 39 Behrendt, Walter Curt, The Victory of the New Building Style, 1928, Los Angeles, California: Getty Publications, 2000. 40 Ibid. 41 Ibid. 42 Ibid. 43 “In Norwich Vermont…Walter Curt Behrendt, Architect; John Spaeth, Jr., Associated.” Pencil Points, Progressive Architecture, February 1945. 44 Behrendt, Walter Curt, Modern Building: Its Nature, Problems and its Forms. Harcourt, Brace and Company: New York, 1937.




To these demands, the modern house responds with its wide opening windows, its large terraces and roof gardens, generally known as the most characteristic and most popular features of its exterior. 45

Behrendt followed this principle by incorporating an outdoor eating space in the Redwood House. The enclosed area had views towards the south and vertical angled slats protecting views from the street.

In addition to the exterior design, Behrendt also incorporated his beliefs on the interior spaces, outlined in his book Modern Building: Its Nature, Problems, and its Forms. To Behrendt, the interior spaces reflected man’s desire for organic, non-constrained spaces and abandoned the traditional architectural concepts.

In the modern house, as matter of fact, there is no longer to be found the type of architectural space, firmly enclosed and resting in itself: that product of geometric

45 Ibid.

Figure 6 Master Bedroom, 1945 (Pencil Points Magazine)




order the beauty of which consists in the balance and harmony of its proportions. Space has become mobile. Its limits are melting away. Its surrounding walls are blasted asunder. The rooms of the house penetrate each other and interlace in new combinations.46

Behrendt followed this principle by designing an open living space and keeping the bedrooms limited in size and removed from the living areas. He designed pass-throughs connecting the kitchen with the living room.

Behrendt’s house reflected his admiration for Frank Lloyd Wright and

an architecture that was more humanist and inspired by vernacular forms; a style of modernism directly opposed to the more abstract forms of the Bauhaus.47

When complete, “although basically a very humble structure,” the home was “a stimulating contribution to the field of small-house design.”48 The humility in Behrendt’s design was congruent with his belief in simple, unadorned architecture. Behrendt stated, "no disadvantages have been noticed since we have lived in the house." 49

Behrendt also rejected the ornamentation of the Victorian era and earlier styles. His Norwich house was a simple, rectilinear building with little architectural embellishments. Behrendt rejected the grandiose and elaborate homes of the past and stressed a more straightforward home:

We regard the house as an efficient instrument for living a natural life and not, like our forebears, as an ornament for social display to be paid for with no matter how many inconveniences.50

During World War II, Behrendt was active in the Navy V-12 training program, which provided opportunities for young men whose families had suffered during the difficult times of the Great Depression. Following the war, Elizabeth Bauer Mock, a charter apprentice at Taliesin and director of the Department of Architecture and Design at the New York

46 Ibid. 47 “Walter Curt Behrendt,” Mid Century Modern Exhibit, Norwich Historical Society, 2018. 48 “In Norwich Vermont…Walter Curt Behrendt, Architect; John Spaeth, Jr., Associated.” Pencil Points, Progressive Architecture, February 1945. 49 Ibid. 50 Behrendt, Walter Curt, Modern Building: Its Nature, Problems and its Forms. Harcourt, Brace and Company: New York, 1937.




Museum of Modern Art, helped publish Behrendt’s house in the magazine Pencil Points.51 The magazine wrote:

Mannerisms and plagiarisms alike are avoided. The design of the house, planned for a couple who do all their own work, results directly from an honest effort … to develop a scheme that would meet the family's living preferences as simply and fully as possible within a limited budget.52

Conclusion

The Redwood House is an excellent example of an early Ranch Style home in Vermont. It is also the only known home designed by German born architect and urban planner Walter Behrendt. With Behrendt’s strong admiration of Frank Lloyd Wright, the Redwood House represents a blend between Wright’s ideals and Ranch homes. With its 1945 construction date, the Redwood House represents an early example of the architectural style in Vermont. Norwich possesses an impressive collection of Mid Century Modern, especially for such a small sized community.

51 “Walter Curt Behrendt,” Mid Century Modern Exhibit, Norwich Historical Society, 2018. 52 “In Norwich Vermont…Walter Curt Behrendt, Architect; John Spaeth, Jr., Associated.” Pencil Points, Progressive Architecture, February 1945.




_____________________________________________________________________________ 9. Major Bibliographical References

Bibliography (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form.)

Behrendt, Walter Curt, The Victory of the New Building Style, 1928, Los Angeles, California: Getty Publications, 2000. Behrendt, Walter Curt, Modern Building: Its Nature, Problems, and its Forms. Harcourt, Brace, and Company: New York, 1937. Prince, Denise Gail, Kleinhans Music Hall: A Study in Modern Sound, A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University at Buffalo, State University of New York in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. September 1, 2011 Rooker, Sarah, MCM Talk Notes, Norwich Historical Society, 2017. “Walter Curt Behrendt,” Mid Century Modern Exhibit, Norwich Historical Society, 2018. “Walter Curt Behrendt,” Oxford Reference, Oxford University Press, 2018.

___________________________________________________________________________ Previous documentation on file (NPS): ____ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested ____ previously listed in the National Register ____ previously determined eligible by the National Register ____ designated a National Historic Landmark ____ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey #____________ ____ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # __________ ____ recorded by Historic American Landscape Survey # ___________ Primary location of additional data: __X__ State Historic Preservation Office ____ Other State agency ____ Federal agency ____ Local government ____ University _X___ Other




Name of repository: __Norwich Historical Society_______ Historic Resources Survey Number (if assigned): ________________

______________________________________________________________________________

10. Geographical Data

Acreage of Property 0.9445 acre

Use either the UTM system or latitude/longitude coordinates Latitude/Longitude Coordinates Datum if other than WGS84:__________ (enter coordinates to 6 decimal places) Latitude, Longitude: 43.708348, -72.300556

Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property.) The boundaries of the Redwood House are the legal boundaries of lot Town of Norwich Parcel 16-078.000. It is approximately 0.9445 acre located on McKenna Road. Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected.) The boundary of the nominated property includes all land historically associated with the Redwood House.

______________________________________________________________________________

11. Form Prepared By name/title: ___Brian Knight_______ organization: _Brian Knight Research street & number: PO Box 1096 city or town: Manchester__ state: __Vermont___ zip code:_05254_ e-mail: [email protected] telephone:__201-919-3416_______________________ date:_________November 26, 2019




___________________________________________________________________________

Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form:

• Maps: A USGS map or equivalent (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the

property's location. • Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous

resources. Key all photographs to this map. • Additional items: (Check with the SHPO, TPO, or FPO for any additional items.) Photographs Submit clear and descriptive photographs. The size of each image must be 1600x1200 pixels (minimum), 3000x2000 preferred, at 300 ppi (pixels per inch) or larger. Key all photographs to the sketch map. Each photograph must be numbered, and that number must correspond to the photograph number on the photo log. For simplicity, the name of the photographer, photo date, etc. may be listed once on the photograph log and doesn’t need to be labeled on every photograph. Photo Log Name of Property: Redwood House City or Vicinity: McKenna Road County: Windsor State: Vermont Photographer: Brian Knight Date Photographed: November 1, 2018 Description of Photograph(s) and number, include description of view indicating direction of camera: Photograph 1 of 4: View looking southwest: Redwood House, 108 McKenna Road Photograph 2 of 4: View looking north: Redwood House, 108 McKenna Road

Photograph 3 of 4: View looking northwest: Redwood House, 108 McKenna Road Photograph 4 of 4: View looking south: Redwood House, 108 McKenna Road




Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C.460 et seq.).

Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 100 hours per response, including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Office of Planning and Performance Management. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 1849 C. Street, NW, Washington, DC.




United States Department of the InteriorBibliography (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form.)Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected.)

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