New England Modernism: 
Revolutionary Architecture in the 20th Century

The story of New England Modernism is one of imagination, creativity and industriousness. It is a story that film producers Jake Gorst and Tracey Rennie Gorst, with project consultant Hicks Stone, seek to tell through a six-part documentary series presented by Mainspring Narrative Films, for which they are raising funds with a GoFundMe campaign. 

Watch the trailer:

From the 1930s through the 1970s, the United States saw a revolution in popular architectural style. American Modernism, originally influenced by the work of European masters including Le Corbusier and Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, began to establish footing in New England in early 1930-32 with the construction of the Field House in New Hartford by William Lescaze and the Ralph-Barbarin House in the city of Stamford, designed by Le Corbusier protégé Albert Frey.

By the 1940s, the region was a hotbed of modernism, led by a group of architects known as the “Harvard Five” who settled in New Canaan and included Marcel Breuer, Landis Gores, John Johansen, Philip Johnson and Eliot Noyes. Other architects who designed notable midcentury modern structures in in Southern New England included Victor Christ-Janer, Andrew Geller, Alan Goldberg, Carl Koch, John Black Lee, Hugh Smallen and Edward Durell Stone. The work produced by this pool of talent had international and permanent influence.

New England Modernism: Revolutionary Architecture in the 20th Century will tell this story - with your help. Support the GoFundMe campaign today and help bring this project to life. 

New England Modernism: Revolutionary Architecture in the 20th Century is a 6-part educational film series being developed by producers Jake Gorst and Tracey Rennie Gorst for global distribution through television and theatrical venues. Underwriters to this project derive a tax benefit, while helping to bring this important cultural story to the forefront.

Mainspring Narrative Films is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to the production of educational documentaries. For more information visit www.mainspringnarrative.org or e-mail Jake Gorst at info@mainspringnarrative.org.