Victor Christ-Janer

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Victor F. Christ-Janer (March 27, 1915 – March 24, 2008) was an American architect who along with the world-renowned Harvard Five helped define the Modernist architectural movement in New Canaan, Connecticut. He was also an educator, artist, and inventor.

Biography

Victor Christ-Janer was born in Elysian,

After completing his college education,^[citation needed] Christ-Janer designed and built his home in New Canaan, Connecticut in 1949 where he lived until his death in 2008.^[1] The residence was sold in September 2010 and eventually demolished in early 2013 after a campaign by family, colleagues and preservationists failed in efforts to preserve the home. In 1955, he founded the Victor Christ-Janer and Associates architectural firm on Elm Street in New Canaan. Outgrowing the office space on Elm Street in the mid-1960s, the firm eventually moved to 10 Forest Street in New Canaan. Christ-Janer's love of modern art was expressed when he opened an intimate gallery within the office with various work including Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein. Here, the firm flourished, with around 26 draftsmen when at its height. Many of the young architects who started with this firm went on to open successful firms of their own.

Christ-Janer's occupation was not restricted to design alone. He also taught the course: The Master's degree in General Design at Columbia University, from 1963 to 1977. From 1963-70, Christ-Janer was a guest lecturer participating in the Danforth Visiting Lecturers Project, sponsored jointly by the Danforth Foundation and the Association of American Colleges. Christ-Janer's lectures included "Aesthetics, Space and Theology," "Beyond Architecture," and "Irrationality and the Contemporary Consciousness." At one point in the mid-1970s, Christ-Janer taught a version of this class to an open classroom of New Canaan high school students. Later in his career, Christ-Janer spent considerable time developing building materials resistant to natural calamities such as earthquakes, cyclones, and hurricanes.

Notable works

• The Irwin House, New Canaan, Connecticut, 1953
• The Daine House, New Canaan, Connecticut, 1956
• Lake Erie College, Painesville, Ohio^[1]
• Lewisboro Village, New York
• Meinrad Abbey for the United Christ Church, Connecticut
• Saint Mary’s Abbey, Morristown, New Jersey
• Unitarian Universalist Church, Rochester, Minnesota
• Charterhouse of the Transfiguration, Arlington, Vermont
• Walter Stewarts Market, New Canaan, Connecticut, 1957
• The Willows Medical Offices, Westport, Connecticut
• West Norwalk Congregational Church, West Norwalk, Connecticut
• Unitarian Fellowship of Northern Westchester, Mt. Kisco, New York
• Tenth Church of Christ Science, New York, New York^[1]
• McGaw Chapel, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, 1971
• YWCA, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1970

References