Recent Events and Features What’s New September 2026

Image from a 1950s Kendal Common sales brochure. The Town of Weston has convened a study committee to consider establishing a local historic district at Kendal Common, a significant and relatively intact planned modern neighborhood. (Courtesy Weston Historical Society)

Over the past thirty years, interest in mid-century modern culture and architecture has grown, especially in the period from the end of World War II through the political upheaval and oil shocks of the late 1960s and early 1970s. This interest often reflects nostalgia for an era of confidence in the future and enthusiasm for modern living. More recently, the modern house has also come to represent a cleaner, simpler, and more modest way of life that, despite later advances in ecological awareness and conservation technology, was often comparatively environmentally responsible.

Weston occupies a significant place in the history of the modern house and retains an important collection of high-quality examples. These include the 1933 Field House on Sudbury Road, one of New England’s oldest modern houses. The town recently completed a comprehensive survey of more than 100 modern structures and has convened a local historic district study committee to consider establishing a district at Kendal Common, a significant and relatively intact planned modern neighborhood dating to about 1950. This talk will place the development of modernism in Weston within local, regional, and national contexts and examine its continuing impact.

David Fixler, FAIA, FAPT, is Principal of David Fixler Architecture Planning Preservation and a Lecturer in Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He is an internationally recognized leader in historic preservation, specializing in the sustainable renewal of mid-20th-century houses and civic and institutional buildings. His work includes rehabilitation of buildings by Modern Movement architects Alvar Aalto, Louis Kahn, and Eero Saarinen. David’s designs and writings have been published internationally, and he has lectured worldwide, served as a Design Excellence peer review architect for Harvard and the U.S. General Services Administration and held leadership roles in the Association for Preservation Technology (APT), Docomomo, and the Society of Architectural Historians. He and his wife, Phyllis Halpern, live in a 1955 modern house designed by Henry Hoover. In Weston, he serves on the Permanent Building Committee, the Crescent Street Historic District Commission, and the Kendal Common Local Historic District Study Committee.

Join us for our Annual October Cemetery Tour

On Sunday, October 25th, join Weston Historical Society President Pam Fox on a free walking tour of the two oldest cemeteries in Weston: Farmers Burying Ground and Central Cemetery, co-sponsored by WHS and the Golden Ball Tavern Museum. Pam will share stories about customs, gravestone artistry, and prominent people laid to rest in our town center.

The tour begins at the Golden Ball Tavern Museum at 2 pm, rain or shine. Light refreshments will be served.