Marcel Breuer House

House Lift + Renovation + Addition 

breuer deck .jpg

This original Marcel Breuer house was perched on a cliff and in danger of falling into Cape Cod Bay. Ambrose Homes lifted and moved the house 400 feet to its new location, gave it a new foundation and designed an addition with cantilevered decks to accommodate the needs of its owners while referencing Breuer's aesthetic.

 

Original MArcel Breuer Home Built 1953 commissioned by stillman 

Original MArcel Breuer Home Built 1953 commissioned by stillman 

ambrose homes design team envisioned the complimentary addition

ambrose homes design team envisioned the complimentary addition

In the process of moving the building, we retained the 15' x 20' enclosed screen porch on the side. Breuer had incorporated many of the structural components of the porch into the house, so we expended a great deal of effort in keeping all components intact .

We utilized a steel moment frame to allow us to add 8-10 foot cantilevered decks to the structure to allow it to endure its frequent exposure to high winds on the shore of Wellfleet Bay.

Ambrose Homes lifted and moved the house 400 feet 

Ambrose Homes lifted and moved the house 400 feet 

Steel Frame to allow large deck and sustain high winds

Steel Frame to allow large deck and sustain high winds

It was important to our design team not to interfere with, but to complement the original aesthetic of the Breuer-designed home, while at the same time creating an addition within 15 feet of the building to meet the space needs of the owners. To fully understand the designs of Breuer and Gropius, we thoroughly researched their designs of structures in the area. The exterior of the house was restored using as many original components as possible. We even scraped the home's paint down to its original layers, and used spectograph techniques to duplicate and restore the original "atomic colors" (developed in the 1950's) that were used.

 

The result is a cohesive project, safely relocated, that is successfully true to the original design and fully meets the homeowners' needs and desires.

In progress

In progress

In progress new addition

In progress new addition