Victor Christ-Janer
Victor F. Christ-Janer (March 27, 1915 – March 24, 2008) was an American architect who along with the world renowned Harvard Five helped define the Modernist architectural movement in New Canaan, Connecticut. He was also an educator, artist and inventor.
Victor Christ-Janer was born in Elysian, Minnesota on March 27, 1915 and raised in nearby Waterville. Christ-Janer trained in liberal arts, sculpting, painting, and architecture at St. Olaf College from 1933 to 1935. From 1937 to 1939, he served along with his friend, Adolf Dehn (water colorist, lithographer) as director of a summer art school at Stephens College. From 1941 to 1942, he was the chief graphic designer for Nelson Rockefeller, the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. He continued his education at Yale University, where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors in 1940. His studies were interrupted when he served in World War II. Christ-Janer was a pacifist who applied for and secured a conscientious objector status after being drafted in November 1941. In December 1942, he was inducted into the United States Army as a volunteer in a non-combatant position where he served in the European theater as a camouflage artist and also in intelligence for the Army’s Department of Engineers and Military Intelligence. He was honorably discharged as a Corporal in 1946. His wartime experiences made a deep and lasting impression on him and the theme of non-violence followed him throughout his life. Never shy of making bold statements, he kept a dozen or so wartime photos at his desk. He had obtained photos of a German concentration camp right after it had been liberated by the Allies and referred to them often as examples of the horrors of war and of the Holocaust. Shocking as they were, he never wanted to forget and held fast to strong philosophical and ethical beliefs. He swore off buying German cars and anecdotally, he was said to have gently chided an accountant and friend (who was Jewish) into selling his Mercedes. The accountant eventually did sell his German car in favor of a Jaguar. After the war, he was employed as an associate of Nemeny and Geller from 1946 to 1948. Christ-Janer returned to Yale University where he received his Bachelor of Architecture in 1947. He was employed as a designer for IBEC from 1948 to 1949.
After completing his college education, Christ-Janer designed and built his home in New Canaan, Connecticut in 1949 where he lived until his death in 2008. The residence was sold in September 2010. In 1955, he founded the Victor Christ-Janer and Associates architectural firm on Elm Street in New Canaan. Outgrowing the office space on Elm Street in the mid-1960s, the firm eventually moved to 10 Forest Street in New Canaan. Christ-Janer's love of pop art was expressed when he opened an intimate gallery within the office with various work including Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein. Here, the firm flourished at its height with around 26 draftsmen. Many of the young architects who started with this firm have gone on to open successful firms of their own. Christ-Janer's occupation was not restricted to design alone. He also taught the course: The Master’s Degree in General Design at Columbia University, beginning in 1963 to 1977 and lectured at Danforth University on the topic of “Irrationality and a Contemporary Consciousness” from 1963 to 1970. At one point in the mid-1970s, Christ-Janer taught a version of this class to an open classroom of New Canaan High School students. Later in his career Christ-Janer spent considerable time developing building materials resistant to natural calamities such as earthquakes, cyclones and hurricanes.
Notable works
- The Irwin House in New Canaan Connecticut
- The Daine House in New Canaan Connecticut
- Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio
- Lewisboro Village, New York
- Meinrad Abbey for the United Christ Church in Western Connecticut
- Saint Mary’s Abbey in Morristown, New Jersey
- Unitarian Universalist Church in Rochester, Minnesota
- Charterhouse of the Transfiguration in Arlington, Vermont
- Walter Stewarts Market in New Canaan CT, (1957) Connecticut
- The Willows Medical Offices in Westport, Connecticut
- West Norwalk Congregational Church in West Norwalk, Connecticut
- Unitarian Fellowship of Northern Westchester in Mt. Kisco, New York
- Tenth Church of Christ Science in New York, New York
- McGaw Chapel, The College of Wooster (1971), Wooster, Ohio
Descendants
Daughters Katherine Christ-Janer, Karey Christ-Janer, and a granddaughter, Karissa Gallo.
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