A Modernist Home Lives to Tell

Some houses aren’t just restored—they’re remembered back to life.

In the woods of Lexington, landscape architect Matt Miller (who is also my cousin) restored this modest 1947 home by Walter Bogner—a quiet but important figure in New England modernism and a contemporary of Walter Gropius. The house carries Bogner’s signature: less rigid than the International Style, more attuned to site, materials, and the subtle choreography of daily life.

Originally commissioned by music publisher William Schwann, the house was designed as much for listening as for living—its acoustically tuned living room is centered around a grand piano, made for small gatherings and house concerts that continue to this day.

The restoration is an exercise in restraint. Original steel windows are carefully reintroduced. Built-ins repaired, not replaced. Materials honored for what they are—Douglas fir, stone, glass – and the original paint colors have been meticulously researched and recreated. Even the smallest details, like bronze screening, are brought back with intention. Where changes are made, they’re quiet: a slight opening of the kitchen, a recalibration of flow.

Matt made a significant change to the approach from the road. Instead of an asphalt driveway straight uphill, the modern visitor arrives along a gravel drive that meanders around the property to reveal this small wonder of house, perched on a wooded hill.

What emerges isn’t a reinterpretation, but a return. Light moves the way it was meant to. The boundary between inside and out softens again. And the house continues to do what it always did best—hold space for music, for gathering, for noticing.

A story not of reinvention, but of respect.

Photography by Pam Connolly