Farnsworth House, Plano, IL

[Connie]

Name: Farnsworth House
Architect: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Year: 1951

Street: River Road
City: Plano
State: Illinois
Zip: 60545
Country: USA
Phone: (630) 552-0052

Type: house
Style: minimalist modern
Status: landmark, museum

Links: http://www.farnsworthhouse.org/index.htm

[SDR]

It is magnificent. Good photos in that article. There are other photos posted by Lotta Living members, somewhere here. . .

I recall seeing drawings of the house in a book; a section through the entrance planes shows the individual paving stones supported in such a way that rainwater is drained in a pyramidal pan to the center of each square, and thence to the ground; presumably more discreet than dripping from the edge of the deck.

"God is in the details" -- and in the initial conception, no doubt.

It's interesting that Philip Johnson built his house in 1949, two years before Mies built the Farnsworth. Of course, Johnson didn't have to await the arrival of his client !

SDR

[SDR]

http://www.lottaliving.com/bb/viewtopic ... farnsworth

Some of the pictures aren't showing -- but the discussion might be of interest.

[Connie]

[moderns-r-us]

[moderns-r-us]

[moderns-r-us]

Speaking of copying the Farnsworth House....

I saw this on ebay and thought it looked like the Farnsworth House in WOOD!

Some of them Hedrich Blessing photos as well!

Anyone know this house???







http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... otohosting

[SDR]

[scottkaycee]

Johnson was always open about being inspired by Mies, especially the Farnsworth House and Mies' glass house sketches. Contemporary with the debut of the Glass House was an article in which Johnson laid out all of his influences on the project going back to the Parthenon. It is not fair to categorize this as copied or stolen from Mies, it is in it's own right a sophisticated design that may use Mies as a starting point but is developed in a non-Miesian way. Structural details, the fireplace mass, the relation to the landscape and the neighboring guest house are all non-Miesian.

The Steel House in Wood may be a Craig Ellwood house, several of his projects are Miesian excersises in Wood but it could also be a miesian disciple as there were many especially in the midwest.

[robbhouston]

Ellwood did do some Mies influenced residential work. A couple in particular, the Daphne House, 1960-1961...



..as well as the Rosen House, 1961-1962...



...both bring to mind the Farnsworth House. He also did homes similar to those, but in wood. The Kubly House, 1964-1965, is great one...



Ellwood is one of my favorite architects of that period. I've got a couple of books on him. Despite some of the not so flattering details of his professional career (the lack of an architectural degree and some confusion over the true authorship of the designs that came out of his firm), I still think his work (or at least, the work his firm produced) is great.

--Robb

[moderns-r-us]

I would venture to say that nearly all of Ellwood's (or whatever his real name was) work (or whoever actually designed the work) was strongly influenced by the work of Mies.

[robbhouston]

In his defense, John Burke (Craig Ellwood) must have done some designing...operating his practice (for the first for 4 years, at least) basically, alone. Back then, he did utilized the relationship of a licensed architect to sign off on his designs (as he was not licensed himself), as well as a draftsman. He was active from about 1948 until 1977...until he gave it all up, moved to Italy, and became an artist. His early work would be more likened to Frank Lloyd Wright, or maybe A. Quincy Jones. The Mies influence came about later (they actually met and became friends). In his hey-day, he lead a flamboyant life...driving exotic sports cars, marrying an actress, etc... His work was among the most published of it's time. Good self promotion, I suppose... To his credit, 3 of the Case Study Home designs came from his firm.

The books I've read...

The Architecture of Craig Ellwood by Neil Jackson
Craig Ellwood: In the Spirit of the Time by Perez Mendez

...on his life and work are very interesting. The designs that came out of his firm are awesome stuff (IMHO). For anyone interested in great MCM architecture (particularly designs along the lines of the Case Study Homes) I recommend looking into it.

Great stuff...

--Robb

[Connie]

[robbhouston]

[Connie]

[rockland]

http://www.philipjohnsonglasshouse.org/

will be nice to see the glass house.
sorry if this is a repeat posting...don't want those interested to miss it.

[SDR]

[Connie]

I just learned that Farnsworth House is flooded again: http://www.farnsworthhouse.org/index.htm

[SDR]