{"id":615387,"date":"2026-08-01T16:16:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T16:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/615387\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T16:16:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T16:16:35","slug":"a-midcentury-home-by-edward-durell-stone-lists-for-4-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/615387\/","title":{"rendered":"A Midcentury Home by Edward Durell Stone Lists for $4 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAs the principal architect for the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and an associate architect for Radio City Music Hall, American architect Edward Durell Stone<\/a> (1902-1978) is one of the country\u2019s most esteemed architects. After absorbing many of the Modernist movement\u2019s ideas during travels through Europe in the late 1920s and early \u201930s, he gradually came to embrace New Formalism, prioritizing what he saw as more timeless, universal architectural values over passing trends. Critics didn\u2019t always agree, but his surviving residential designs remain every bit as compelling today as when they were built.<\/p>\n

\n\tCase in point: Celanese House<\/a>, a midcentury residence completed in 1959 that presides over two acres in New Canaan<\/a>, Connecticut<\/a>. Originally built to showcase the Celanese Corporation\u2019s synthetic textiles, the four-bedroom, four-bath abode has since been renovated and expanded with a new kitchen and primary suite.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Celanese<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSculpted trees flank the entrance of the four-bedroom home.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlan Barry<\/p>\n

\n\tThe home, with its distinctive lattice facade and 12 pyramid skylights that flood the interiors with natural light, was owned for nearly half a century by Frederick Willcox, an inventor, and his wife Velma, according to the\u00a0New Canaan Preservation Alliance<\/a>. Velma lived there until her death in 2005 and three years later it was purchased for $4.1 million by Joel Disend, a retired chairman and chief executive of a financial consulting company, and his wife, Shen-Hsin Hung,\u00a0the Wall Street Journal\u00a0reports<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED<\/strong>: This Upcoming Connecticut Development Will Bring 78 Residences to Downtown Greenwich<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe Manhattan-based couple spent four years searching the tri-state area for a weekend getaway home before discovering Celanese House. \u201cIt was intriguing,\u201d Disends told\u00a0the Journal\u00a0last December, but they didn\u2019t like how the interior had been redone by a past owner who placed the kitchen where there had originally been a central courtyard. \u201cThe aesthetic wasn\u2019t great,\u201d he continues, but they bought it anyway and subsequently carried out a two-year renovation at a cost of about $2 million.<\/p>\n