A classic example for a modern architecture design is Mies van der Rohe’s The Farnsworth House. As one of a long series of house projects, the Farnsworth House embodies a certain aesthetic culmination in Mies van der Rohe’s experiment with this building type. This beautiful house is perhaps the fullest expression of modernist ideals that had begun in Europe, but which were consummated in Plano, Illinois.
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) has long been considered one of the most important architects of the 20th century, and his significance to the field of modern architecture is beyond dispute. In Europe, before World War II, Mies emerged as one of the most innovative leaders of the modern movement, producing visionary projects for glass and steel and executing a number of small but critically significant buildings.
Today, The Farnsworth House is owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) and operated as a house museum by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois (LPCI).
“I pointed out to him (Mies) that it (a glass house) was impossible because you had to have rooms, and that meant solid walls up against the glass, which ruined the whole point. Mies said, ‘I think it can be done.’” Philip Johnson speaking at a symposium held at the School of Architecture, Columbia University, 1961.
