Saving Historic Modern Homes

CCMHT is about to embark on the restoration of its forth historic modern house –The Kohlberg House. Once restored our homes become platforms for new creative work. When completed, this house will be made available to supporters for weekly stays, for tours and as a location for our annual artist/scholar residencies.

The house, which is now eligible for the National Registry of Historic Places, was the home of Lawrence Kohlberg the prominent Harvard professor who pioneered a theory of the moral development of children. He did much of his writing in the house surrounded by many other prominent thinkers and academics who lived nearby, many of them in modern houses built around the same time.

About the Modern Architecture Movement on Cape Cod:

Starting in the late 1930s, the Outer Cape attracted Bauhaus luminaries and prime movers of modern architecture who believed in the power of design to improve the human condition. They applied these principles to their homes in the secluded pinewoods of Wellfleet, Truro and Provincetown.

The architects included Marcel Breuer, Serge Chermayeff, Olav Hammarstrom and engineer Paul Weidlinger, who built houses for themselves, friends and clients. They attracted a vibrant community of summer renters and house guests, including Walter Gropius, the Saarinen family and Florence and Hans Knoll, Gyogy Kepes and Saul Steinberg.

Some of these houses were eventually abandoned and are now owned by the Park Service. In 2007, Peter McMahon founded The Cape Cod Modern House Trust to archive, restore and celebrate the Outer Cape’s outstanding modern architecture and the creative culture that surrounded it. Since then CCMHT has restored several of these homes.

Beginning in October, they will be restoring The Kohlberg House, built in 1960 by local designer/builder Luther Crowell. It sits on top of a very high dune looking out to the Atlantic near Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet. It’s been empty for approximately 18 years and is in an advanced state of decay. Restoration is expected to begin in October and finish by July 2019.

Other homes restored by CCMHT include the Kugel Kips House, the Hatch House and the Weidlinger House. The Image attached is of The Hatch House.