The Michael Graves house – the American postmodernist architect’s own New Jersey home – is possible to visit, but little known; we take a tour and explore its legacy
You can visit many homes of modernist architects; this is not nearly so easy for the postmodernists. There are the Charles Moore houses in Austin and Santa Monica, and Charles Jencks’ Cosmic House in London and… that’s about it. Except for one that’s nearly unknown. The long-time home of Michael Graves (1934-2015), the postmodernist with perhaps the greatest reach – all the way to Walt Disney World and Target shelves – remains in pristine condition in Princeton, New Jersey. It’s owned and preserved by Kean University, and you can visit.
Many architects seek tabula rasa conditions in designing their homes. Graves was different, building his house gradually within a literal self-storage warehouse. Where others once stored surplus belongings in cubes, he saw possibility. Built by Italian stonemasons of hollow clay tile, brick, and stucco, Graves was taken with the warehouse’s look. Karen Nichols, currently principal at Michael Graves and an employee since 1977 (when the firm was Michael Graves & Associates), explains: ‘When he went to the American Academy in Rome, he became enamoured of all things Italian. When he found the house, in around 1974, he was dumbfounded that it was a Tuscan vernacular building in terms of both construction type and its formal characteristics.’
Click here to read the rest of Wallpaper’s feature on Michael Graves’ home in Princeton.
Article written by, Anthony Paletta
