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The Alice Ball house in New Canaan, CT: Photo from William Pitt Sotheby'sIn 1953, a single woman named Alice Ball commissioned Philip Johnson to build a minimalist-style home for her. Johnson nestled the rectangular house with its off white facade and long glass walls on 2.2 acres in New Canaan. Johnson called it his little jewel box.
Its design has changed slightly over the years as it went from one owner to the next. Now, the current owner, Cristina Ross is selling the almost 1800 square foot home for $3 million dollars. Ross bought the home almost 3 years ago, saying it was her intent from the beginning to preserve the Johnson house as a pool house for a brand new, larger residence on the property.
"And I went through great lengths to obtain zoning variance to keep it, in what would have become the front lawn of the house and build in the back of the property so that it wouldn't alter the Philip Johnson house in the least."
In 2006, New Canaan's zoning board granted the variance but she also needed a wetlands permit before moving ahead with construction. But this is where her plans ground to a halt. First, the town Environmental Commission denied the wetlands permit. Then, two neighbors sued the town’s Zoning Board, claiming the variance was illegal.
Ross is currently on her second appeal of the wetlands decision while the suit filed by her neighbors awaits a hearing in Superior Court. The time it's taken to fight these challenges has caused Ross to alter her plans.
"One person alone cannot save a house,one person alone cannot save a monument. And it is very heartbreaking to get to the point in seeing that the only way to realize anything in the property is to take the house down."
So, in November Ross applied for a demolition permit. The announcement led to an outcry from the preservation community given the history of other moderns in New Canaan being demolished to make way for bigger, newer homes.
Christy Maclear, Executive Director of the Philip Johnson Glass House says the National Trust for Historic Preservation is doing a survey of the remaining moderns in New Canaan built by Johnson and other prominent architects. She says half of them have been torn down.
"Some of those homes were lost between the ages of the 60's and 70's. And those may be due to increased land value over the value of the house."
Preservationists formally objected to Ross’ application for demolition and the town’s Historical Review Committee imposed a ninety day demolition delay that would provide time for all parties involved to find alternatives. Maclear says the Trust has helped Ross try to find a buyer who's interested in preserving the Alice Ball House. But she says the high price and surrounding wetlands make it difficult.
Ross defends the listing price saying she's invested a lot into restoring the home to fit Johnson's original design.
And despite her ability to obtain a demolition permit, she says the future of the house is not just in her hands.
"The option will be there for anyone who comes to either preserve the
house or take it down and develop it. I have no date right now as to when I will do it but I think it's imminent that unless it's sold that something will happen and the house will come down. "
Greg Farmer of the CT Trust says even if a new owner comes through, there's no guarantee that the home will be preserved. But he says Ross could help with the process.
"One of the options we've mentioned to Ms. Ross is the possibility of putting an easement on the property to ensure the preservation that would prevent the demolition of the house regardless of which owner or type of ownership."
Tomorrow is the first day Ross could start the necessary paperwork for a demolition permit. She says she hasn't made up her mind and the house is still on the market. These two facts have lovers of moderns crossing their fingers that an alternative will be found so Johnson's little jewel box of a house remains intact in New Canaan.
