MassachusettsThe Paul and Madeleine Weidlinger House at 54 Valley Road in Wellfleet is an elevated, box-shaped Modern-style building that the pioneering structural engineer Paul Weidlinger designed in 1954 as his own vacation residence, now within the Cape Cod National Seashore. Measuring 46 by 30 feet, it presents a precise, flat-roofed rectangular form raised high above steeply sloping woodland terrain on wood posts set in concrete footings, using a lightweight spaced-beam plank-and-beam structural system that minimizes materials while resisting wind, and incorporating outdoor living space within the structural frame; it is reached by a plank ramp with post-and-rope railings. The house is significant as an example of Weidlinger's small-scale residential work, demonstrating the fusion of progressive construction techniques with mid-twentieth-century Modern design principles. It stands among a cluster of Modern houses built by progressive academics, designers, and scientists near Wellfleet's kettle ponds and ocean coast, and its significance is heightened by Weidlinger's stature as a prolific innovator whose structural models enabled radically new building forms. The National Park Service assumed management of the property in 1979.
Weidlinger, Paul and Madeleine House
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Weidlinger, Paul and Madeleine House is a landmark in Wellfleet, Barnstable County. It is one of 6,558 landmarks documented in Barnstable County, among 6,897 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.
The site sits at 41.9611, -70.0056 near Wellfleet. The nearest cataloged historic site is Newcomb, John House (landmark), about 0.3 miles away. Others within a short drive include Breuer, Marcel House and Studio, Tisza, Vera and Laszlo House, and Sirna, Anthony and Allison Studio.
This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
The Paul and Madeleine Weidlinger House at 54 Valley Road in Wellfleet is one of several modernist homes on Cape Cod that blend Modern architecture with traditional Cape Cod forms. The single-story wood-frame house was built in 1954 by engineer and designer Paul Weidlinger for his family, set on a steep grade overlooking Higgins Pond with a wraparound deck and large glass doors. Located within the Cape Cod National Seashore, it was donated to the National Park Service in 1973 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
Sources: en.wikipedia.orgmhc-macris.net
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