Sea Change

Domain

Article

No. 9 • March 2018

It lives, this summer house on the Atlantic Ocean belonging to the Burden couple. The waves of the sea roll straight through the panoramic windows.

Text: Theo Paijmans

Sea Change
The summer house Sea Change in Maine is one of the most iconic residences of postwar America. In 1940, William A.M. Burden—later president of the MoMA—and his wife Margaret commissioned architect Wallace K. Harrison to design a summer home in the International Style. Artist Isamu Noguchi contributed several elements, including the majestic biomorphic dining table. From 1947 onward, the family spent their summers in this stunning seaside retreat.

Ceiling
Only the finest boatbuilders were capable of creating this extraordinary structure: a seamlessly flowing wall and ceiling made of smoothly curved wood that captures the subtlest shifts in light.

Fig 1. William A. M. Burden, The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum

William A.M. Burden

'Artists are called the sensitive antennas of our civilization—pioneers whose work is a symbol of the human spirit in search of truth, freedom, and perfection.'

Living Room
For Burden, the heart of the house was the living room—the place where family life unfolded and where countless lavish dinners were hosted for their high society friends.

“Living Entity”
In 1999, Sea Change underwent an involuntary transformation: a major fire reduced the structure entirely to ashes. Six years after the fire, architect Heinrich Hermann rebuilt an almost faithful replica of Sea Change on the same site. Whether the rebuilt summer house can still be called authentic was resolved by Hermann through his approach: he considered the house a “living entity.” Change, he said, is part of its nature.

Waves
Sea Change stands at the threshold where the elements meet. The house’s curved walls mirror the waves of the sea, which seem to roll inward through the panoramic windows.

Fig 2. Foto: Serge Balkin, Vogue 1948

William A.M. Burden

'We honor the architects who overturned eclecticism and created new, wondrous forms that are meaningful for our time.'

Foto: Serge Balkin, Vogue 1948. Condé Nast via Getty Images

Fig 3. Home of Mr. and Mrs. William A.M. Burden, Mount Desert Island, Maine: living room. Condé Nast | via Getty Images

Starry Night
The year the house burned down, The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh was exhibited at MoMA. “Trees like flames, swirling stars,” wrote the press about the painting.

Collectors
William and Margaret both came from Manhattan but met in London in 1928. They had four children and built an impressive art collection together. After William Burden’s death, MoMA received pieces from their collection: paintings by Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and Piet Mondrian, and sculptures by Jean Arp and Constantin Brancusi. It became one of the museum’s largest donations ever.