New England Modern Architecture Docu-Series

Help us make a groundbreaking documentary film series - "New England Modernism: Revolutionary Architecture in the 20th Century."

The series will stream on Amazon Prime and screen in theatrical festivals around the world in 2023.

What's the film series about?

The United States saw a revolution in popular architectural style between the 1930s and 1970s. American Modernism, originally influenced by the work of European masters including Le Corbusier and Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, began to establish footing in New England in early 1930-32 in part with the construction of the Field House in New Hartford by William Lescaze and the Ralph-Barbarin House in the city of Stamford, designed by Le Corbusier protégé Albert Frey.

By the 1940s, the region was a hotbed of modernism, led by a group of architects known as the “Harvard Five” who settled in New Canaan and included Marcel Breuer, Landis Gores, John Johansen, Philip Johnson and Eliot Noyes. Other architects who designed notable mid- century modern structures in in Southern New England included Victor Christ-Janer, Andrew Geller, Alan Goldberg, Carl Koch, John Black Lee, Hugh Smallen and Edward Durell Stone. The work produced by this pool of talent had international and permanent influence.

The Pirelli Tire Building by Marcel Breuer, New Haven, Connecticut, 1970. Photo by Kaarsten Harris.

The story of New England Modernism is one of imagination, creativity and industriousness. It involves Russian royalty, a tragic suicide, old money with its power and influence, and more.

"New England Modernism: Revolutionary Architecture in the 20th Century" is a 6-part educational film series being developed by producers Jake Gorst and Tracey Rennie Gorst for global distribution through television and theatrical venues. Architect Hicks Stone, son of Edward Durell Stone, is project consultant. It is slated for completion in 2023.

$10,000 is a small amount compared to the overall budget (message us for more information about that). But we have been offered a matching grant of $10,000 for this GoFundMe effort. So your donation doubles the moment you hit that submit button!

Mainspring Narrative Films is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to the production of educational documentaries. 

For more information visit our website: Mainspring Narrative Films, Inc.

Producer Tracey Gorst interviews architect/historian Hicks Stone. Photo by Jake Gorst.

Cinematographer Kaarsten Harris at the Gagarin II house by Marcel Breuer, Litchfield, Connecticut. Photo by Jake Gorst.

Producer/Director Jake Gorst at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, designed by Gordon Bunshaft in 1963 for Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Photo by Kaarsten Harris.

Production Assistant Rebecca Gorst at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, designed by Gordon Bunshaft in 1963 for Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Photo by Nicholas Kelley.

The Zimerman House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1951, Manchester, New Hampshire. Photo by Kaarsten Harris.

Gagarin I, designed by Marcel Breuer in 1956/57, Litchfield, Connecticut. Photo by Kaarsten Harris.


Ingalls Rink, designed by Eero Saarinen in 1953-58 for Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Photo by Rebecca Gorst.