Graves Residence (Architecture in Detail)

The Graves Residence, designed and lived in by the architect, has its roots in a classically-based architecture and is more restrained than the visually extravagant work associated with Graves' projects of the early 1980s. Located in a typical street in Princeton, New Jersey, a town dominated by the University, the building is L-shaped in plan. Its clearly expressed entrance is formed by an angle between the two wings of the house, providing an 'inside-out' zone between the house and formally arranged garden. Inside, much of the furniture as well as the fittings have been meticulously designed by Graves himself, and these, together with his collection of neo-Classical furniture, varied artefacts and art works, all contribute to a work that represents one of his most complete architectural statements, embodying many of the themes expressed in his more recent work.