Onera Foundation

Home
United States
New Canaan, CT
Onera Foundation

Call Directions Website Contact the establishment

A New Canaan, CT–based foundation advocating for creative and innovative approaches to preserving significant American architecture.

Visit our exhibition space, open to the public Wednesday through Saturday, 12–5 PM.

10/10/2026

Thrilled to welcome Alan Eliot Goldberg, FAIA, to the Onera Foundation today!

10/07/2026

Join us on October 23 at 6:30 PM for a conversation with Thomas Liu, Principal at Atelier Oslo, and Jorge Otero-Pailos exploring the transformation of Eero Saarinen’s former U.S. Embassy in Oslo—and how preservation and contemporary design can give an architectural landmark a new life.

Presented by Onera Foundation in collaboration with the Norwegian Consulate General in New York, as part of Archtober, with Atelier Oslo and Otero-Pailos Studio.

📍 Onera Foundation, New Canaan
🎟 Free admission | Limited seating

Register through the link in bio.

10/05/2026

October at Onera Foundation.

Join us this month for guided tours of our current exhibition, AMERICA ABROAD: Art, Architecture, and Diplomacy – Works from the FAPE Collection, along with a special conversation exploring the transformation of Eero Saarinen’s former U.S. Embassy in Oslo.

Visit the link in our bio for details and registration.

10/01/2026

We’re excited to announce that the Onera Foundation is now on Bloomberg Connects!

Explore our free digital guide for a tour of our gardens and historic house, along with more insights into our current exhibition, AMERICA ABROAD: Art, Architecture, and Diplomacy – Works from the FAPE Collection, on view through December 31.

Whether you’re planning a visit or exploring from home, click the link in our bio to download the free Bloomberg Connects app and search “Onera Foundation” to get started.

09/19/2026

Congratulations to artist Martin Puryear, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, and Ann Temkin of The Museum of Modern Art on being honored at the Archives of American Art 2026 Gala.

Currently on view at the Onera Foundation in New Canaan is Martin Puryear’s model for Connecting, his site-specific sculpture for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Also on view is the 3D-printed model for Frank Stella’s Hanoi Star, commissioned for the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi and exhibited at MoMA in 2024 and 2025 with the support of Ann Temkin.

See both works in America Abroad: Art, Architecture, and Diplomacy, presented with the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE), now on view at the Onera Foundation.

Images:

1
Martin Puryear, “Connecting,” 2018. Gift of the artist with additional funding provided by Bank of America, The Honorable Ronald S. Lauder and Mrs. Jo Carole Lauder, Nancy and Howard Marks, and Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle. Donated in honor of Agnes Gund.

2.
Installation view of America Abroad: Art, Architecture, and Diplomacy: Works from the FAPE Collection at the Onera Foundation, New Canaan, Connecticut. Featured in this view are Martin Puryear, Connecting maquette, 2016; Ed Ruscha, Column with Speed Lines, 2003; Frank Gehry, Colonnade, 2016; and Joel Grey, The Statue of Liberty, 2023. Artworks courtesy of the artists and the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE). Photo by Simon Cherry.

3.
Frank Stella, “Hanoi Star,“ 2024. Installed at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Gift of the artist with additional funding provided by Bank of America, Ford Foundation, and Agnes Gund.

4. Installation view of AMERICA ABROAD exhibition at the Onera Foundation, featuring Frank, Hanoi Star, 2023; and Richard Benson, Shaw Monument, 1972, printed 2013. Artworks courtesy of the artists and the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies. Photo by Simon Cherry.

09/09/2026

We’re delighted to see Anne Maxwell Foster’s Onera Prize research featured in the latest issue of A—D: Architectural Design, The New Heliomorphism, in an essay by Editorial Director Ashley Simone.

Anne’s research, “Passive Cooling Revisited,” explores the overlooked potential of window awnings to help cool historic and older buildings—and how this remarkably simple technology could be reintroduced today to reduce energy use and emissions.

Her work represents exactly the kind of inquiry the Onera Prize was created to support: looking closely at what already exists and asking how preservation can help address the challenges of the future. 
Anne is the 2025 recipient of the Onera Prize, an annual $25,000 award established by the Onera Foundation at Columbia GSAPP to support graduating Historic Preservation students in testing new preservation ideas and technologies in practice.

Congratulations, Anne, and thank you to Ashley Simone for bringing this important research into such a compelling conversation.  
A—D 96.3 The New Heliomorphism
Guest Editors
Salmaan Craig Salmaan Craig
Charles Waldheim Charles Waldheim
Seok Min Yeo Min Yeo  
A—D Team
ARCHITECTURALDESIGN-AD
Editorial Director, Ashley Simone Ashley Simone
Managing Editor, Hen Stanford
Contributing Editor, Carrie Eastman Tommy
Creative Director/Designer, Siena Scarff Siena Scarff Design
Distributor, Artbook D.A.P. Artbook | D.A.P.

09/03/2026

This past weekend, we were thrilled to welcome Emilia Kabakov to the Onera Foundation.

Emilia and her late husband, Ilya Kabakov, are represented in AMERICA ABROAD: Art, Architecture, and Diplomacy with four lithographs from The Flying Komarov (1994), depicting soaring figures in flight—a recurring theme in their work evoking freedom, escape, and possibility. The lithographs complement the Kabakovs’ monumental mosaic mural Flying, installed at the U.S. Embassy in London in 2025 through the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE). It was a great honor to welcome Emilia and share the exhibition with her.

Emilia Kabakov Laurence Lafforgue FAPE

Image 1
From left to right: Laurence Lafforgue, Executive Director of the Onera Foundation, and artist Emilia Kabakov, in front of the Onera Foundation entrance in New Canaan, CT. Photo courtesy of Emilia Kabakov’s studio manager.

Image 2
Installation view of America Abroad: Art, Architecture, and Diplomacy: Works from the FAPE Collection at the Onera Foundation, New Canaan, Connecticut. Featured in this view are Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, The Flying Komarov, 1994; Robert Rauschenberg, Domicile, 1996; Jasper Johns, Untitled, 1999; and Brett Weston, Building Reflections, c. 1980. Artworks courtesy of the artists and the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies. Photo by Simon Cherry.

09/01/2026

Discover the Onera Foundation, a cultural destination in the heart of New Canaan dedicated to art, architecture, and preservation.

Located at 63 Park Street in the historic 1836 home of legendary editor Maxwell Perkins, Onera presents exhibitions and programs that explore new ways of thinking about the preservation of significant American architecture.

Now on view: AMERICA ABROAD: Art, Architecture, and Diplomacy, featuring rarely seen works from the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE) Collection, including works by Carmen Herrera, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, and many others.

Onera is open Wednesday–Saturday, 12–5 PM. Admission is free.

Want to learn more? Join Executive Director Laurence Lafforgue for one of Onera’s upcoming guided tours. Tours are free, with advance registration required. Learn more and register at the link in our bio!

08/22/2026

Our Curator Spotlight series continues with Peter Reed, guest curator of AMERICA ABROAD: Art, Architecture, and Diplomacy: Works from the FAPE Collection.

This week, Peter highlights Carrie Mae Weems’ Echoes For Marian (2014). In this photograph, Carrie Mae Weems stages a reenactment of a 1939 event, when Marian Anderson, the acclaimed African American opera singer, performed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before an audience of some 75,000 people on Easter Sunday.

Swipe through to hear Peter share more about the work and its place in the exhibition.

AMERICA ABROAD is on view at the Onera Foundation in New Canaan through December 31, 2026.

Address

63 Park Street
New Canaan, CT
06840

Telephone

+12039661400

Website

http://onerafoundation.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Onera Foundation posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Establishment

Send a message to Onera Foundation:

Want your establishment to be the top-listed arts & entertainment in New Canaan?