The Scion: Andrea Feick Atkiss
Senior Director of PR & Communications at Akris; continuing a family legacy rooted in New Canaan modernism.
Tell us about growing up in New Canaan and your family’s home here.
My family moved to town in 1956, as many modernist homes were being built. My grandparents were looking for a place to raise their three sons, and one house stood out: a home designed by Eliot Noyes on Lambert Road, built in 1954. When it came on the market in 1958, my grandmother apparently walked in and simply had to have it. She loved the light and the design elements.
My grandmother, Joan Feick, was a prolific abstract artist, and a few years after moving in, she asked Eliot Noyes to design a painting studio next to their house. It was imagined as a smaller version of the main home with glass walls, stone floors and white brick. The studio was generously sized and included a kitchen, living area, bath, sleeping quarters, a darkroom for photography and a private patio.
After I was born, my family lived at the Ault House briefly before moving into our own home. In 2000, my mother, brother and I relocated to France. The Ault House remained our home base in New Canaan, where we spent summers and every holiday with my father and grandmother.
The house remained in my family for 60 years until it was sold in 2018 and remained largely unchanged, aside from two big kitchen renovations over the years.
Tell us more about your grandmother and her influence on your love of MCM.
My grandmother was larger than life. She lived for some time in London and in her later years spent the colder months in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where she painted and had a thing for adopting street dogs. She was quite the personality, and her eclectic style mixed her love of Midcentury Modern with French and English antiques and other great finds of hers from all over the world.
I remember her annual New Year’s Eve black-tie dinners, the gallery hall of her home filled with long tables of beautifully dressed guests. It was always well past my bedtime, but there was plenty of dancing and live music. She loved to host, but loved it even more when everyone finally went back to their own homes!
Attkiss’ gradmother, the abstract painter Joan Feick.
What was it like living in a modern home as a child?
It felt special and very different. I grew up around art and antiques, and learned early to be careful with other people’s belongings—to respect what wasn’t mine. We dressed for meals, and there was a gentle formality to daily life (always wear your shoes at the breakfast table), but there was also a lot of joy. The TV room and entertaining space were separated, but you always knew when someone was home: The golf game was on in the library, or the news was emanating from the kitchen, Ella Fitzgerald or Cole Porter drifting in from the great room. With the open floor plan, everything felt a little more communal, and it was especially hard to sneak home late after a night out at Tequila Mockingbird with friends.
So no running wild through the house as a kid?
We were definitely not allowed to throw a tennis ball around the antiques or rare artwork, although I’m fairly sure there are photographs of my brother and me doing exactly that, just moments before being scolded. Golf balls, however, were fair game, as long as we chipped them on the lawn toward the pool, which later became a frog and fishing pond. Band posters on the walls were totally out of the question. Life revolved around the family art collection, respecting antiques, keeping rooms neat and never leaving anything in the hallway. Which may explain why I later covered my bedroom walls in France with floor-to-ceiling posters.
The Ault House was featured on the cover of the July 1955 issue of House & Garden.
How did this affect how you chose your home as an adult?
My husband and I split our time between New Canaan and New York City, and about two years ago we bought a modern house here. It was the first home built in New Canaan by John Johansen in 1950, known as the Barlow House. There are only two Johansen houses left in town, the other being the Warner House, also known as the Bridge House. What’s especially crazy is that my grandmother was friends with the original owners, the Warners, who sold the house to Doug Wurth and Michael Fedele, who later became our closest friends. Most of the other Johansen homes were torn down over the years as tastes shifted, and more traditional houses and “McMansions” moved in.
My husband and I were not in a rush to buy and probably looked at four homes in total, all in different styles, but it didn’t take much convincing for him to agree this was the direction we wanted to go. Every room has large, original panes of glass that overlook the surrounding preserve, making each space feel like you’re looking into a painting. With the changing seasons, it can feel almost surreal how close you’re living with nature.
Atkiss and her husband recently renovated the Barlow House—one of only two remaining John Johansen houses in New Canaan.
How would you sum up the Modernist way of life?
Everything is meant to be simple, clean, and easy to live with. My husband loves fancy high-tech features, but in these houses less really is more, which feels refreshingly opposite to many newer homes in New Canaan. There’s also a strong sense of curation, where everything is edited, and clutter just doesn’t have a place. I’ve loved weaving in some of my grandmother’s artwork with antiques I’ve collected over the years, and adding great modern furniture from Brazil and Europe. It all feels very personal.
Any other organizations you have come to be a part of through this community?
Many of us are on the Granger Society, a membership group of MCM homeowners and donors of The Glass House. They host wonderful cocktail parties, frequently held in private Midcentury Modern homes where everyone comes together. Through these gatherings, we’ve met so many like-minded people. We share a deep belief that living in a house like this comes with responsibility—you have to respect its history and architectural intent. If and when you sell, it’s important to pass the home on to someone who will honor its integrity.
The Ault House, designed by Elliot Noyes, was purchased by Attkiss’ grandparents in 1958 and remained in the family for 60 years. (Photo by Andre Kertesz)
How are you projecting your love of this style in and around town?
Our house was recently featured on the [New Canaan Museum & Historical Society’s] Modern House Tour. My grandmother also loved opening her home to visitors during the early MCM house tours. For us, it has been a true privilege to open our home to such passionate and thoughtful people. That said, the renovation was just barely completed, and we found ourselves tackling projects we certainly hadn’t planned to take on for years. My close friend Cas Friese, who owns the Arden + White Gallery in town, helped me patch a wall just hours before our first guests arrived!
It seems like a lot of MCM homeowners in town know each other and have a special bond. Would you agree?
Yes. It’s truly an honor to be part of this community. The other week, Fred Noyes hosted an informal dinner at his home where everyone brought a dish and, before we knew it, 13 Midcentury Modern homeowners were gathered around the table. The Glass House also plays an important role in keeping us connected, regularly bringing everyone together for cocktail parties. Their summer party, in particular, is not to be missed. Living in a Midcentury Modern home can feel like inhabiting a work of art, and the relationship with nature here is extraordinary. It often feels as though we’re living outdoors with these big windows. We host many dinners and parties, and there’s a genuine joie de vivre that fills the space. There’s also a strong sense of legacy, of being connected to a larger architectural story.