Must-Know Modern Homes: The Glass House
Philip Johnson was one of the most well-known architects of the 20th century, but also one of the most controversial — he called himself a whore, and he was a proponent of architecture styles but abandoned them easily. The 47-acre estate for himself and his partner, art collector David Whitney, includes 10 pavilions that Johnson designed in an eclectic manner over five decades. The most well known is the Glass House, which he designed and built in the late 1940s.
Today the Philip Johnson Glass House is owned and operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation; Johnson willed his estate to the trust before his death in 2005. Since 2007 the NTHP has offered seasonal tours of the estate and the Glass House pavilion. While the whole 47-acre compound is referred to as the Glass House, in this ideabook the term refers to the building from 1949; references to the larger estate will be indicated otherwise.
Philip Johnson was born in 1906 but did not graduate from the Harvard Graduate School of Design until 1943. (He received an arts degree from Harvard in 1930.) Before graduating and practicing as an architect, he was founding director of the Department of Architecture at MoMA, co-curating the influential 1932 International Exhibition of Modern Architecture. The show introduced European modernism to the American public and put the emphasis on style over substance (another controversial aspect of Johnson’s life).
How did Johnson manage to accumulate nearly 50 acres in one of the most expensive areas of New England and be his own client on 10 occasions? Partly because of his long and successful career, but mostly because of family wealth. While his sisters were given land, he received stock in Alcoa — and the rise in the aluminum company’s stock meant Johnson’s wealth exceeded his father’s in the 1920s, solidifying his means for a long time.
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Today the Philip Johnson Glass House is owned and operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation; Johnson willed his estate to the trust before his death in 2005. Since 2007 the NTHP has offered seasonal tours of the estate and the Glass House pavilion. While the whole 47-acre compound is referred to as the Glass House, in this ideabook the term refers to the building from 1949; references to the larger estate will be indicated otherwise.
Philip Johnson was born in 1906 but did not graduate from the Harvard Graduate School of Design until 1943. (He received an arts degree from Harvard in 1930.) Before graduating and practicing as an architect, he was founding director of the Department of Architecture at MoMA, co-curating the influential 1932 International Exhibition of Modern Architecture. The show introduced European modernism to the American public and put the emphasis on style over substance (another controversial aspect of Johnson’s life).
How did Johnson manage to accumulate nearly 50 acres in one of the most expensive areas of New England and be his own client on 10 occasions? Partly because of his long and successful career, but mostly because of family wealth. While his sisters were given land, he received stock in Alcoa — and the rise in the aluminum company’s stock meant Johnson’s wealth exceeded his father’s in the 1920s, solidifying his means for a long time.
Continue reading…
