ABOUT
AULT BY NOYES shares the story of one of the oldest standing houses designed by Eliot Noyes, the influential mid-century modern architect and industrial designer.
Seventy-five years ago this year, the Ault House was built in New Canaan, Connecticut, for Lee Ault, an avid collector of modern and primitive art and the publisher and principal owner of Art in America. The house shares many design characteristics with other mid-century modern homes, but is distinctive in that it was designed with the impressive Lee Ault art collection as a focal point. It also holds a special place in Noyes’s design evolution, serving as a testing ground for many of the architectural ideas about space and form he would later refine in his own home, Noyes II.
Beyond aesthetic statements, the houses designed by Eliot Noyes were arguments for progress, openness, and simplicity. They stand as reminders of how modernism challenged tradition and shaped the cultural debate and built environment in post–World War II America.
My family bought the Ault House in 2018, when it came to market for the first time in 60 years. It has been a place to find calm in our everyday lives, especially during times of change. It is where we slow down. This project shares what we've discovered in this remarkable space.
“The programme for the design of the house, right from the beginning, was to offer diverse spaces and good lighting for installing this magnificent collection while also providing all the normal needs of a family, and to intermesh art with living. As an architectural problem, this was about an interesting and rewarding assignment that I had ever hoped for” - Eliot Noyes
Through three photo essays, AULT BY NOYES tells the story of the house and its architecture.
Origins looks at the beginnings of the house through its design, construction, and early existence. It includes Eliot Noyes’s original architectural drawings and design considerations. It also showcases the Ault Collection paintings and sculptures for which the house was built.
Renovation shares our family’s efforts to modernize a 70-year-old building while preserving the integrity of its architecture. It shows how we added new spaces to the property and made it a home for our family.
Light and Shadows explores how Noyes’s architecture and design shaped distinct visual experiences for the Ault family in the 1950s and, seven decades later, for my family now. Unique to the property is its relationship with light and its grounds.
By sharing the story of this house, I hope to contribute to the historical record of Noyes’s architectural work and raise public awareness of the legacy of American modernism. As we continue to explore questions of community and the spaces we inhabit together, the story of modernism - a movement that dared to reimagine how we live, work, and relate to one another - remains as relevant as ever.
Contact
This project will continue to evolve. If you have questions or thoughts about collaboration, I would like to hear from you.
Aisha Madsbjerg
United Nations International School, Class of 2027