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Top Attractions in New Canaan

Waveny Park

Waveny Park (also known as Waveny House) is a park in New Canaan, Connecticut. The park's centerpiece is "the castle" built in 1912 and surrounded by 300 acres (1.2 km2) of fields, ponds and trails. The architect for the structure was William Tubby. Landscape design for the original residence was by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. The house was used for exterior shots for the fictional 'Cortlandt Manor' on the soap opera All My Children for many years; exteriors of the estate were also used in the 2004 remake film The Stepford Wives. The park is bordered by Farm Road to the North, the Merritt Parkway to the South, South Avenue to the East and Lapham Avenue to the West. Over the years, numerous additional town structures have been built on parts of the property including New Canaan High School, Waveny LifeCare Network , an aquatic center, two public water supply towers, as well as paddle tennis courts. To be able to use some of these facilities, a nominal annual fee is charged. The Parks recreations are enjoyed by many people from all around Fairfield County. Lewis Lapham, one of the founders of Texaco and the man who built Waveny House, spent summers there with his family for many years. The Lapham family gave the Town of New Canaan most of the estate land in 1967 and sold Waveny House and its surrounding 300 acres (1.2 km2) to the Town for $1,500,000.

Glass House

The Glass House or Johnson house, is a historic house museum at 798-856 Ponus Ridge Road in New Canaan, Connecticut. Built in 1949, it was designed by Philip Johnson as his own residence, and "universally viewed as having been derived from" the Farnsworth House design, according to Alice T. Friedman. Johnson curated an exhibit of Mies van der Rohe work at the Museum of Modern Art in 1947, featuring a model of the glass Farnsworth House. It was an important and influential project for Johnson and for modern architecture. The building is an essay in minimal structure, geometry, proportion, and the effects of transparency and reflection. The estate includes other buildings designed by Johnson that span his career. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997. It is now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and is open to the public for guided tours, which begin at a visitors center at 199 Elm Street in New Canaan. The house is an example of early use of industrial materials such as glass and steel in home design. Johnson lived at the weekend retreat for 58 years, and since 1960 with his longtime companion, David Whitney, an art critic and curator who helped design the landscaping and largely collected the art displayed there.

John Rogers Studio

The John Rogers Studio and Museum is the preserved studio of sculptor John Rogers, a popular American artist called "the peoples sculptor" in the latter 19th century. It is located at 13 Oenoke Ridge in New Canaan, Connecticut. Run as a museum by the New Canaan Historical Society, the studio houses a collection of "Rogers Groups"—plaster statuettes often depicting two or more people. The display area has been reconfigured to reflect the feeling of the artists studio. Rogers Groups often depicted people interacting with each other in a sentimental scene. According to the National Historic Landmarks Program of the National Park Service, the museums collection is "one of the finest collections of Rogers groups in the nation". The studio is a Gothic-Victorian gable-roofed building built in 1878. John Rogerss popularity stemmed from the way his statuary groups created scenes of everyday life with a sentimental feel that has been compared to the much later Norman Rockwell. Instead of working in bronze and marble, he sculpted in more affordable plaster, painted the color of putty to hide dust. Rogers was prolific as well of popular. During his 33-year career he produced almost 80,000 plaster copies of his 86 "Rogers Groups." His statuettes decorated Victorian parlors throughout the United States. Sculpture on display includes "The Traveling Magician", showing a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat for two children, and "The Neighboring Pews", depicting a moment among people in church. "Union Refugees" depicts a scene from the Civil War. The studio was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965. In 2003 a $95,000 matching grant under the Save Americas Treasures program included financing for a climate-control and air-filtration system to ensure long-term preservation of both the building and the collection. The museums location in downtown New Canaan is listed as being at 13 Oenoke Ridge .

New Canaan Nature Center

The New Canaan Nature Center is a botanical garden, arboretum and nature preserve located at 144 Oenoke Ridge, Route 124, about .25 miles north of the center of New Canaan, Connecticut. The nature center includes wet and dry meadows, two ponds, wet and dry woodlands, dense thickets, an old orchard, and a cattail marsh, as well as a 4,000-square-foot greenhouse. Landscaped areas of the site include a wildflower garden, a herb garden and a perennial border. About 90% of the plant specimens in the wildflower garden are native species, including bloodroot, columbine, mayapple, jack-in-the-pulpit, wild geranium, Solomons plume, starflower, and trillium. Shade-loving perennials include bleeding heart, crested iris, Jacobs ladder, hepatica, European ginger and Virginia bluebells. Azaleas, rhododendrons and a stand of mountain laurel also feature. The center also contains a small arboretum of Sciadopitys verticillata, Chamaecyparis pisifera Squarrosa, Chamaecyparis pisifera Plumosa, Pinus densiflora ‘Umbraculifera’, Fagus sylvatica ‘Atropunicea’, Fagus sylvatica ‘Pendula’, Cercis canandensis, Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum-Pendula’, Pinus cembra and Picea apies ‘Repens’ . New Canaan Nature Center features many nature programs throughout the year, including the Fall Fair every October, and maple sugaring celebrations in early spring.

Maxwell E. Perkins House

Maxwell E. Perkins House is a historic house at 63 Park Street in New Canaan, Connecticut. The Greek Revival house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The house was home to Maxwell E. Perkins, the editor of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe. The house was built in 1836 for Mrs. Clarinda Fitch Ayres and her unmarried brothers. During the 19th century, the house was first a private house and then was used as a boarding house. After a period as a day school , the house was acquired by Maxwell E. Perkins and his wife who lived in the house with their five daughters. The house was in very poor condition by the time it was purchased by Richard and Sandra Bergmann, architects who restored the house for use both as their architectural offices and their house.

Rayward-Shepherd House

The Rayward-Shepherd House, also known as Tirranna and as the John L. Rayward House, was designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright and built in New Canaan, Connecticut in 1955 for Joyce and John Rayward. Although commissioned by the Raywards, Herman R. Shepherd completed the design after purchasing it in 1964. William Allin Storrer credits Shepherd's actions with salvaging the house, repairing the poor work that Storrer attributes to John Rayward's "constant pursuit of the lowest bid." "Tirranna" is an Australian aboriginal word meaning "running waters," an apt name for this spectacular residence. Located on a pond just off the Noroton River, it features elaborate land and water-scaping. Built of standard concrete block (not Wright's more typical textile block), glass, and Colorundum flooring, and trimmed with Philippine mahogany, most of the house conforms to a hemicycle plan. Its living/dining wing overlooks a pool which steps down to a pond and extensive landscaped gardens, designed by Frank Okamura, landscape architect for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Charles Middeleer, a notable local landscape architect, also contributed to the landscape design. The Rayward House includes a later extension by Taliesin Associated Architects, featuring an observatory above the master bedroom dressing room, as well as a playhouse for the Raywards’ daughters, Victoria and Jennifer (1957), also designed by TAA, which echoes the hemicycle form of the main house.

Richard and Geraldine Hodgson House

The Richard and Geraldine Hodgson House is a historic house at 881 Ponus Ridge Road in New Canaan, Connecticut. It is an International Style house that was built in 1951 to a design by Philip C. Johnson and Landis Gores. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. It is significant as an example of International Style architecture and for it being designed by prominent architect Johnson. It was designed in 1950-1951 and was built in two phases in 1950 and in 1955. It is U-shaped and has a garden court. The house is "simple without being stark or cold". Gores was a partner in design for this house, but Johnson and Gores' partnership broke up soon after this house, reportedly as Johnson was not interested in Gores' ideas for this house, according to a biographer. There are two contributing buildings on 5 acres included in the NRHP listing.
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