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Oneira Foundation to open preservation-focused exhibition at 63 Park Street in New Canaan
Summary
The Oneira Foundation announced plans to open an exhibition space at 63 Park Street in New Canaan in June, hosting annual preservation-focused shows and public programs in an ADA-upgraded historic house. The first exhibition will feature Jorge Otero‑Pailos’s work and sculptures made from security fencing used at the former U.S. Embassy in Oslo.
Oneira Foundation representatives told the Town Design Advisory Committee that the nonprofit will open the doors of 63 Park Street to the public in June, running an inaugural preservation-focused exhibition Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., through late December.
The foundation said it will mount one preservation-focused art exhibition each year at the four‑floor historic house and run accompanying public programs, lectures and events. “We plan to open from Tuesday to Saturday, 11AM to 6PM, and to run the exhibition through late December,” the foundation representative said.
The foundation described the program as “experimental preservation,” using art, installations and archival works to draw attention to architectural heritage that may lack conventional landmark protection. The first show will bring Treaties on Defense, a traveling exhibition by artist and preservationist Jorge Otero‑Pailos that the foundation said traveled from the National Museum of American Diplomacy in Washington, D.C., and includes sculptures made from security fencing once surrounding the U.S. Embassy in Oslo.
The foundation said 63 Park Street has been made accessible for visitors: garden- and street-level access was adjusted and an ADA‑compliant entry and bathroom were added for First Floor gallery use. The presenters described the house as spanning 150 years of American architecture and noted its listing on the National Register of Historic Places and an earlier designation as a Connecticut literary landmark.
David Peterson, identified in the presentation as the foundation’s founder and a member of the Glass House advisory council, was described as a donor and a driving force behind the project’s launch. The foundation also plans an annual alumni convening tied to an award at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and said it will reinterpret traveling exhibitions in a local context and highlight New Canaan architects connected to the U.S. embassy program, including Marcel Breuer and John Johansen.
Committee members responded with encouragement and offered local connections and publicity suggestions. An attendee said the town offers “a very ready audience locally,” and another attendee offered to arrange tours of local modern houses to connect visiting audiences to broader architecture tours.
No formal action or vote was recorded on the item at the TDAC meeting; the presentation served as a briefing and a request for feedback and local collaboration.
