FREDERICK TAYLOR GATES II (1923-1978) and RUSSELL FORD (1922-2011)

Russell Ford and Frederick Taylor Gates, known as Taylor, were friends at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and later college (both on the baseball team) at Yale. Gates and Ford opened their architectural and planning practice around 1953 at 105 Main Street in New Canaan, in close proximity to the downtown offices of Eliot Noyes, Philip Johnson, Victor Christ-Janer, and John Black Lee.

Ford was the grandson of Lewis P. Lapham, a founder of Texaco. Lapham developed a 300-acre property named the Waveny estate on South Avenue in New Canaan with a Tudor style mansion in 1912 as a summer residence. Ford's mother, Elinor Lapham married Sherman Ford at Waveny in 1915. In 1967, the Lapham family donated most of the land and sold the house to the Town of New Canaan, now Waveny Park. After serving in WWII, Ford graduated from Yale in 1945 in Arts and again in 1951 in Architecture. From 1958 to 1961, Ford served as city planning director at Skidmore Owings Merrill. The family moved to Orleans MA in 1974 and remained there. He dedicated four decades of service to the Cape Cod Baseball League. His wife, Hope McWilliam Ford, died in 2002.  Their children are Russell (Rusty) Ford Jr., Holly Ridgway, Lucia Ford, and Catherine (Kitty) Ford Daly.

Gates received a Bachelor of Arts in 1945 and a Bachelor of Architecture in 1949 from Yale. Gates worked with Gunner Peterson interning in Cape Cod MA and later for Eliot Noyes.  Gates moved in 1958 from New Canaan to Nassau, Bahamas to partner with Robertson Ward, working on projects in the Bahamas, Antigua, Barbados, and Jamaica, including houses for Juan Trippe, the President of PanAm, and John McCone, the head of the CIA at the time.  Gates married Helen Elizabeth (Betty) Swift and had four children, Frederick Taylor (Derick) Gates III, Richard (Dick) Swift Gates, Joan Olcott Gates, and Cindy Gates.  With plans to move to Greensboro NC to be a sole practitioner, Gates died unexpectedly in 1978.

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1952 - The Frederick Taylor Gates II House, 1650 Ponus Ridge Road, New Canaan CT. Sold in 1965 to Audrey Floria. Sold in 1992 to Mark and Katherine Markiewicz, who did renovations. Still owners as of 2020. Photo by Mark Markiewicz.

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1954 -The Elinor and Sherman Ford House, 55 Talmadge Hill Road, New Canaan CT. They were the parents of Russell Ford. Commissioned 1952. 3704 sf. 5 acres. There is also a pool and pool house, barn, and separate garage. There's an additional house on the property provided by the Fords to Steve and Elizabeth Voss.  Sold in 1963 to Ely Callaway Jr., later founder of Callaway Golf. He commissioned extensive landscaping, completed in 1963, designed by Friede Stege. Sold in 1986 to Paul and Mona Strassman. The sunroom was constructed in 1986. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. Deeded in 2025 to Steve Strassman.

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1955 - The Askew House, 96 Lambert Road, New Canaan CT. Destroyed around 2002.

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1957 - The John and Martha Atchley House, 101 Belgo Road, Lakeville CT.  Designed by Gates only, starting in 1951.  Sold in 2011 to Alexander Jenkyn and Sarah Castillo.

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1958 - The David and Rosamond Melville House, 96 Turner Hill, New Canaan CT. Sold in 1962 to Maxwell Bassett. Sold in 2018 to James Kovacs, who is planning a pool and pool house in 2026.

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1958 - The William and Simone (Sim) Attwood House, 423 Carter Street, New Canaan CT. Attwood was a speechwriter for President John Kennedy and President of Newsday and Newsweek. He served as Ambassador to Guinea and Kenya. A member of New Canaan's Town Council, he founded the New Canaan Coalition for Nuclear Arms Control.  Deeded to Susan Attwood-Garcia and Nathan Attwood.

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1961 - The Russell Ford House, 387 West Road, New Canaan CT. 3.45 acres. Designed by Ford and Edward W. Winter. Built by Borglum and Meek; interiors by Friede Stege. Ford and Winter were roommates at Yale. David Borglum designed and built the pool in 1968. Sold in 1976 to Victor H. and Eleanor Quinn O’Neill. Renovated in 1992 by Michael Irving; 1994 by Mella Kernan. Deeded to the Elizabeth O'Neill Trust around 2019.

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Sources include: 2009 New Canaan Modernism Survey, Derick Gates, Dick Gates, Rusty Ford.