Copland House, the award-winning creative center for American music and the arts based at legendary composer Aaron Copland’s national historic landmark home in Cortlandt Manor, recently announced its selection of Caples Jefferson Architects to plan, design, and develop Bluestone Farm – its recently-purchased satellite venue in Brewster.
Founded by Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson in 1987, Caples Jefferson Architects has been widely honored for its many cultural, educational, and civic projects. With a strong commitment to creating architecture at the intersection of social justice, the arts, and learning, the firm devotes approximately half of its projects to communities underserved by the design profession.
The two principals were just elected as national academicians of the National Academy of Design in recognition of their contributions to contemporary American art and architecture.
The $3 million, 24-acre former grade-school campus in Brewster is the focal point of Copland House’s transformational programmatic and institutional expansion. Bluestone Farm will enable Copland House to substantially extend its artistic support, audience reach, public presentations, educational engagement, and programs that uniquely embrace and champion the entire creative process.
The property will serve as a meeting place where artists, music and arts lovers, cultural adventurers, and newcomers of all ages, backgrounds, and identities are welcomed into a world of ongoing exploration, discovery, and innovation.
“We love that the campus builds on the foundational legacy of Aaron Copland, whose compositions brought our nation’s music to new levels,” said Caples and Jefferson. “We look to find ways, as Copland did, to create experiences that go deep into our art while providing accessible enjoyment to all. And we’re excited by the game-changing possibilities that will result as Copland House’s compelling vision reshapes its new campus as a pivotal location for creation and performance. We’re deeply honored to be working on this verdant, hilly site, re-centering it in contemporary American sound.”
For 50 years, until the mid-2010s, Bluestone Farm was the site of the beloved Episcopal grade school known as the Melrose School. Prior to that, in the 1940s and 50s, it was the country home of the pioneering lyricist and author Dorothy Fields – one of the first women to flourish on Broadway. Copland House’s revival of the bucolic property aims to bring it back to its modern-era roots as a home for creativity, learning, reflection, and public engagement.
Offering both a serene location and ready public access by car, train, and air, the heart of the wooded property is a 25,000-square-foot, three-wing school building that is surrounded by three residential houses, an intimate stand-alone chapel, small farm outbuildings, and a large outdoor soccer field.
Copland House plans to develop a state-of-the-art performance, recording, film, educational, and distance-learning venue; artist studios and living quarters for composer-led resident creative teams working collaboratively in theater, dance, opera, the visual arts, and other genres; exterior gardens and green spaces for leisure, public performances, and other presentations; administrative offices; and interior and exterior exhibition and gathering areas.
Copland House’s programmatic and institutional growth will complement the continuing and essential role of Rock Hill – its decades-old residence in Westchester County, which is a National Historic Landmark that stands as the organization’s institutional and inspirational home.
“Caples Jefferson (Architects) has had long expertise and an impressive track record in a wide variety of cultural, theatrical, and civic projects,” said Ezriel Kornel, president of Copland House’s Board of Trustees. “We were deeply impressed with their understanding of our mission, as well as their readiness to work in collaboration with us to fully realize our vision and specific needs. They’ve also been clearly moved by the historical nature of this project and how this will be transformative on the national arts scene.”
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