In 1965 Richard Meier completed the Meier House for his parents, nestled in a natural setting in Essex Fells. Large glass walls bring the beauty of nature inside, blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior, while large brick walls block the building off from the street, creating a sense of privacy.
Jerome & Carolyn Meier House Technical Information
- Architects: Richard Meier
- Location: 183 Devon Rd, Essex Fells, New Jersey, USA
- Topics: American Houses, Pritzker, Brick
- Area: 2,936 sqft m2
- Project Year: 1963-1965
- Photographs: © Ezra Stoller / ESTO, © Richard Meier
Le Corbusier was a great influence, but there are many influences and they are constantly changing. Frank Lloyd Wright was a great architect, and I could not have done my parent’s house the way that I did, without being overwhelmed by Falling Water. […] A Miesian brick house under a Frank Lloyd Wright roof.
– Richard Meier
Jerome & Carolyn Meier House Photographs
Text by the Architects
This house, the first commission in private practice, stands on a one-acre suburban lot in a typical residential neighborhood of pseudo-colonial homes. The owners wanted a one-story house. The masonry-bearing walls and their large glass openings are capped with a wide parapet that encloses a roof garden. The brick walls block the building off from the street, creating a sense of privacy; the interior looks out on an enclosed courtyard, as well as a golf course on the adjacent site.
The inset courtyard and curving brick walls that extend beyond the building corners protect and shape the views for privacy and open the inside of the house to light and the seasons through skylights and clerestories. Sunlight and shadow inundate the interior, producing a sense of space and quietude.
The house turns inward, away from its suburban neighbors. It is like an urban courtyard house, reflecting the owner’s wish for privacy and isolation.
My mother always said everything was perfect except for one thing—there weren’t enough closets.
– Richard Meier
Other Photographs
Jerome & Carolyn Meier House Plans
Jerome & Carolyn Meier House Image Gallery
About Richard Meier
At 49, Richard Meier was the youngest architect to receive his profession’s highest accolade, the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Shortly after receiving that honor, he was awarded what is probably one of the twentieth century’s most important commissions, the design of The Getty Center, the Los Angeles art complex funded by the J. Paul Getty Trust.
Other works from Richard Meier