Virtual Site Tour: The Noyes House

By Brick & Wonder
November 04, 2020
Site Tours

On Tuesday 27th Oct, Brick & Wonder took members and guests on a guided virtual tour of the Noyes house in New Canaan, CT.

During our tour, the Noyes House contained a collection of artwork curated by Blum & Poe, Mendes Wood DM, and Object & Thing. Tour viewers were offered a unique opportunity to experience contemporary art and design in an iconic residential setting.

Matthew Wood of Mendes Wood DM, and Abby Bangser, Founder of Object & Thing, led a tour of the contemporary art collection. Meanwhile, noted architectural photographer and Brick & Wonder member, Michael Biondo was joined by special guest, Frederick Noyes, son of Eliot Noyes, to kick off the session and place the remarkable 1955 home in the context of its life as a family home.

The contemporary art collection brought together just over eighty works from thirty-four international artists and designers, including Lucas Arruda, Lynda Benglis, Heidi Bucher, Sonia Gomes, Green River Project LLC, Mark Grotjahn, Kazunori Hamana, Sheila Hicks, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Antonio Obá, Gaetano Pesce, and Faye Toogood, among others.

Tour Video Recap

Meet the Tour Leaders

Frederick Noyes is the son of Eliot Noyes. Fred has pursued parallel passions of architecture, biology, and education. He trained at Harvard, earning an AB in biology, and his MArch from the Graduate School of Design. He is a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Education from the Boston Architectural College. Fred grew up in New Canaan, in the Noyes House, where he was weaned on the influences of the great modern architects Marcel Breuer, Philip Johnson, and his father. He has run his own architectural firm for over 30 years, designing everything from houses to hospitals, while keeping close to academia both as a student and teacher.

Michael is a New York and Connecticut-based photographer specializing in architecture and design. He studied Photography, Graphic Design, and Art History at the Pratt Institute where he earned a BFA. After twenty years in fashion photography, his work shifted to architecture and design-related subjects. Michael contributed photographs to Rizzoli’s 2014 monograph, Allan Greenberg: Classical Architect; Design Book’s 50 U.S. Architects, published in 2015; and Inventive Minimalism, Monacelli Press, 2017. He co-authored and photographed Mid-Century Houses Today, Monacelli, 2015. His photographs have appeared in Architectural Digest, the Wall Street Journal, Architizer, Dwell, a+u Magazine and other publications.

Previously Deputy Director of Strategic Initiatives, Dia Art Foundation, and Artistic Director for the Americas and Asia for Frieze, Abby Bangser is now the Founder of Object & Thing. Before Frieze, she was the founding head of the Americas Foundation of the Serpentine Galleries, which worked with philanthropists supporting the London-based institution’s initiatives in North and South America as well as Director of Annual Giving at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and worked in various roles at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Matthew Wood, Co-Founder, Mendes Wood DM

Matthew is one of three Co-Founders at the contemporary art gallery, Mendes Wood DM. Launching the gallery in São Paulo in 2010, the three dealers quickly emerged as rising stars in the São Paulo contemporary art scene. Today, Mendes Wood DM is a São Paulo-go-to for edgy and experimental exhibitions and a mix of emerging and established artists—from Tunga, Brazil’s best-known sculptor, to new discoveries like Adriano Costa, and a slew of other up-and-coming names. Mendes Wood DM has now expanded to three locations: São Paulo, Brussels and NYC.