What: The Philip Johnson Glass House, a National Trust Historic Site, offers its 47-acre campus as a catalyst for the preservation and interpretation of modern architecture, landscape, and art; and as a canvas for inspiration and experimentation honoring the legacy of Philip Johnson (1906-2005) and David Whitney (1939-2005).
Who: Philip
Cortelyou Johnson was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1906. Following his graduation
from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design in 1943, Johnson designed some of
America’s greatest modern architectural landmarks. Most notable is his private
residence, the Glass House, a 47-acre property in New Canaan, Connecticut. Other
works include: the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at The Museum of
Modern Art, numerous homes, New York’s AT&T Building (now Sony Plaza), and
the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. An associate of Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe in the 1950s, Johnson worked with the modern master on the design
of the Seagram Building and its famed Four Seasons Restaurant. Before practicing architecture, Johnson
was the founding Director of the Department of Architecture at The Museum of
Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. His landmark 1932 exhibition, The International
Style, introduced modern architecture to the American public. Johnson continued
a relationship with MoMA throughout his life as a curator, architect, trustee,
and patron. He donated more than 2,000 works of art to the Museum including
works by Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg.
Where: The Glass House sits on Johnson’s
private estate in New Canaan. The
49-acre campus now includes 14 buildings and an extensive art collection as
well as an educational center.
When: The Philip Johnson
Glass House was completed in 1949. The Glass House began a fifty-year odyssey
of architectural experimentation in forms, materials, and ideas through the
addition of many "pavilions"—the Brick House/Guest House, Pond
Pavilion, Painting Gallery, Sculpture Gallery, Ghost House, Library/Study, and
DaMonsta—and the methodical sculpting of the surrounding forty-acre landscape.
Why: Johnson was a
singular tastemaker, influencing architecture, art, and design during the
second-half of the twentieth century. He referred to the Glass House site as
his “fifty-year diary.”
The
Glass House mission is twofold: for the 49-acre campus to become not only a
center-point and catalyst for the preservation of modern architecture,
landscape and art but also to foster new ideas and cultivate talent honoring
the legacy of Philip Johnson (1906-2005) and David Whitney (1939-2005).
Images: Info and images (except
Image 1) courtesy The Glass House/National Trust for Historic
Preservation. Image 1 courtesy New
York Architecture.
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