Content deleted Content added
No edit summary |
|||
| (15 intermediate revisions by 13 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{short description|Historic house in Illinois, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}▼
{{About|the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe house in Plano, Illinois}}
▲{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name =
| nrhp_type
| image
| caption =
| nearest_city
|
| mapframe
| mapframe-
| mapframe-
| area = {{convert|206|sqm|sqft}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wikiarquitectura.com/building/farnsworth-house/|title = ✅ Farnsworth House - Data, Photos & Plans}}</ref>
▲|coordinates = {{coord|41|38|5.96|N|88|32|8.6|W|display=inline,title}}
|
| architecture
▲|architect = [[Ludwig Mies van der Rohe]]
| designated_nrhp_type = February 17, 2006<ref name="nhlsum" />
▲|architecture = [[International style (architecture)|International Style]], [[Modernist architecture|Modernist]]<ref name=prop>Farnsworth House, [http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/hargis Property Information Report] HAARGIS Database, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Retrieved February 10, 2007.</ref>
|
▲|visitation_num =
▲|visitation_year =
▲|refnum = 04000867<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
▲|mpsub =
}}
The '''Edith Farnsworth House''', formerly the '''Farnsworth House''',<ref>"Edith Farnsworth House Rededication Comments,' ''Edith Farnsworth House'' (official website), November 17, 2021, https://edithfarnsworthhouse.org/</ref> is a historical house designed and constructed by [[Ludwig Mies van der Rohe]] between 1945 and 1951. The house was constructed as a one-room weekend retreat in a rural setting in [[Plano, Illinois]], about 60 miles (96 km) southwest of [[Chicago]]'s downtown. The steel and glass [[house]] was commissioned by Edith Farnsworth.
Mies created a 1,500-square-foot (140 m<sup>2</sup>) structure that is widely recognized as an exemplar of [[International Style (architecture)|International Style]] of architecture. The retreat was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 2006, after being listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2004.<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Farnsworth House |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1144699865&ResourceType=Building|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020134659/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1144699865&ResourceType=Building |archive-date=October 20, 2007 |access-date=October 10, 2007 |work=National Historic Landmark Summary Listing |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref> The house is owned and operated as a [[historic house museum|house museum]] by the [[National Trust for Historic Preservation]].
In celebration of the 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, the Farnsworth House was selected as one of the Illinois 200 great places<ref>{{cite news |last=Waldinger |first=Mike |title=The proud history of architecture in Illinois |url=https://springfieldbusinessjournal.com/2018/01/the-proud-history-of-architecture-in-illinois/ |access-date=January 30, 2018 |newspaper=Springfield Business Journal |date=January 30, 2018}}</ref> by the [[American Institute of Architects]] Illinois component (AIA Illinois) and was recognized by ''USA Today Travel'' magazine, as one of AIA Illinois' selections for Illinois "25 Must See Buildings".<ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |date=August 9, 2017 |title=Destinations: 25 Must See Buildings in Illinois |newspaper=USA Today|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2017/08/09/25-must-see-buildings-illinois/551011001/
==History==
Line 34 ⟶ 35:
Farnsworth had purchased the wooded, nine-acre riverfront property from the publisher of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', [[Robert R. McCormick]]. Mies developed the design in time for it to be included in an exhibition on his work at the [[Museum of Modern Art]] in New York in 1947.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Beam|first=Alex|title=Broken Glass: Mies van der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the Fight over a Modernist Masterpiece|publisher=Random House|year=2020|isbn=978-0-399-59271-3|location=New York|pages=69–72}}</ref> After completion of design, the project was placed on hold awaiting an inheritance from an ailing aunt of Farnsworth. Mies was to act as the general contractor as well as architect. Work began in 1950 and was substantially completed in 1951. The commission was an ideal one for any architect, but was marred by a very publicized dispute between Farnsworth and Mies that began near the end of construction. The total cost of the house was $74,000 in 1951 ($734,635 in 2020 dollars). A [[cost overrun]] of $15,600 over the initially approved construction budget of $58,400, was due to escalating material prices resulting from inflationary commodities speculation (in anticipation of demand arising from the mobilization for the [[Korean War]]). Near the completion of construction, the architect filed a lawsuit for non-payment of $28,173 in construction costs. The owner then filed a counter suit for damages due to alleged [[malpractice]]. The architect's attorneys proved that Farnsworth had approved the plans and budget increases, and the court ordered the owner to pay her bills. Farnsworth's malpractice accusations were dismissed as unsubstantiated.<ref>Beam (2020), 184–244.</ref> It was a bitter and hollow victory for Mies, considering the painful publicity that followed.
Writing about the conflict in 1998, author Alice T. Friedman asserted that "[t]here is no evidence to suggest that [Farnsworth] sought to have her behavior challenged by the 'inner logic' of Mies's unyielding architectural vision; on the contrary, she seems to have had a clear idea about how she wanted to live and she expected the architect to respect her views... [S]he soon discovered that what Mies wanted, and what he had thought he had found in her, was a patron who would put her budget and her needs aside in favor of his own goals and dreams as an architect."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Friedman|first1=Alice T.|title=Women and the Making of the Modern House: A Social and Architectural History|url=https://archive.org/details/womenmakingofmod0000frie|url-access=registration|date=1998|publisher=Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/womenmakingofmod0000frie/page/128 128]|isbn=9780810939899}}</ref>
Line 42 ⟶ 41:
In 1968, the local highway department [[eminent domain|condemned]] a {{convert|2|acre|ha|adj=on}} portion of the property adjoining the house for construction of a raised highway bridge over the [[Fox River (Illinois River tributary)|Fox River]], encroaching upon the original setting of the design. Farnsworth sued to stop the project, but lost the court case. She sold the house in 1972, retiring to her villa in Italy.
In 1972, the Edith Farnsworth House was purchased by British property magnate, art collector, and architectural aficionado [[Peter Palumbo, Baron Palumbo|Peter Palumbo]].<ref name="nrhp">[http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/PDFs/163767.pdf Farnsworth House] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109020803/http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/PDFs/163767.pdf |date=January 9, 2016 }}, ([[PDF]]), National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, HAARGIS Database [http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/hargis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060716083823/http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/hargis |date=July 16, 2006 }}, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Retrieved 10 February 2007.</ref> He removed the bronze screen enclosure of the porch, added air conditioning, electric heat, extensive landscaping, and his art collections to the grounds, including sculptures by [[Andy Goldsworthy]], [[Anthony Caro]], and [[Richard Serra]]. At the time, the interior was furnished with furniture Mies designed in the 1930s, but produced more recently by [[Knoll (company)|Knoll]], as well as designs by Mies' grandson, [[Dirk Lohan]], a Chicago architect Palumbo commissioned specifically for the house.<ref>Carol Vogel (October 4, 2003), [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/04/arts/celebrated-mies-house-up-for-auction.html Celebrated Mies House Up for Auction] ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref>
In 2001, Palumbo struck a deal with the state of Illinois, which agreed to buy the house for $7 million and open it full-time to the public, but state officials withdrew from the deal in early 2003, saying $7 million was too much to spend at a time of financial crisis.<ref name="Big House on the Prairie">Carol Vogel (October 17, 2003), [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/17/arts/inside-art.html Big House on the Prairie] ''The New York Times''.</ref>
Line 70 ⟶ 69:
His answer to the issue is to accept the need for an orderly framework as necessary for existence, while making space for the freedom needed by the individual human spirit to flourish. He created buildings with free and open space within a minimal framework, using expressed structural columns. He did not believe in the use of architecture for social engineering of human behavior, as many other modernists did, but his architecture does represent ideals and aspirations. His mature design work is a physical expression of his understanding of the modern epoch. He provides the occupants of his buildings with flexible and unobstructed space in which to fulfill themselves as individuals, despite their anonymous condition in the modern industrial culture. The materials of his buildings, industrial manufactured products such as mill-formed steel and [[plate glass]], certainly represent the character of the modern era, but he counterbalances these with traditional luxuries such as Roman travertine and exotic wood veneers as valid parts of modern life. Mies accepted the problems of industrial society as facts to be dealt with, and offered his idealized vision of how technology may be made beautiful and support the individual as well. He suggests that the downsides of technology decried by late nineteenth century critics such as [[John Ruskin]], can be solved with human creativity, and shows us how in the architecture of this house.
Reconnecting the individual with nature is one of the great challenges of an urbanized society. The {{convert|60|acre|ha|adj=on}} rural site offered Mies an opportunity to bring the human relationship to [[nature]] into the forefront. Here he highlights the individual's connection to nature through the medium of a synthetic shelter. Mies said: "We should attempt to bring nature, houses, and the human being to a higher unity
Mies conceived the building as an indoor-outdoor architectural shelter simultaneously independent of and intertwined with the domain of nature. Mies did not build on the flood-free upland portions of the site, choosing instead to tempt the dangerous forces of nature by building directly on the [[flood plain]] near the edge of the river. Philip Johnson referred to this type of experience of nature as "safe danger". The enclosed space and
The house has a distinctly independent personality, yet also evokes strong feelings of a connection to the land. The levels of the platforms restate the multiple levels of the site, in a kind of poetic architectural rhyme, not unlike the horizontal balconies and rocks do at Wright's [[Fallingwater]].
Line 79 ⟶ 78:
==Integration with nature==
[[File:FarnsworthHouse-Mies-2.jpg|thumb|View from the park (2009)]]
=== Natural setting ===
Line 86 ⟶ 85:
The Farnsworth House sits isolated on a [[floodplain]] that faces the [[Fox River (Illinois River tributary)|Fox River]], establishing the architect's concept of simple living. Open views from all sides of the building help enlarge the living space area and aid flow between the living space and its natural surroundings.
Due to the floodplain, the Farnsworth House stands as an independent structure
=== Flooding ===
Line 103 ⟶ 102:
=== Barnsworth Gallery ===
It was announced in 2011 that the [[Illinois Institute of Technology]] was going to build a permanent exhibition space for the wardrobe that Edith Farnsworth commissioned for the Farnsworth House. The wardrobe was extensively damaged in the 1996, 1997, and 2008 floods, with its large size rendering any possible evacuation attempt costly and difficult. In an attempt to protect the wardrobe, curators of the Farnsworth House decided to have the wardrobe put on permanent display near the visitor center on the site, which is well above the 500-year flood plain. Under the direction of Professor Frank Flury, students of the Illinois Institute of Technology designed and constructed the Barnsworth Gallery to house the wardrobe and serve as an exhibition space.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/14335551-418/architecture-class-creates-exhibit-site-for-planos-historic-glass-house.html
==Criticism and acclaim==
Line 131 ⟶ 130:
== In popular culture ==
[[June Finfer]]’s ''Glass House'' was produced in New York in 2010.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Zinoman|first=Jason|date=June 2, 2010|title=Throwing Stones at Builders' Crass Houses (Published 2010)|language=en-US|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/theater/reviews/03building.html
In 2016, the movie, ''[[Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice]]'', featured a house modeled after the Farnsworth House.<ref>Beam (2020), 274</ref> The follow-up film ''[[Justice League (film)|Justice League]]'' also features the same house in a trailer released at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con.
In January 2019, writer-director Richard Press and [[HanWay Films]] announced an upcoming Farnsworth House film project starring [[Elizabeth Debicki]]<ref>{{Cite news|last=Filler|first=Martin|date=February 11, 2021|title=Life in a Glass House|language=en|work=New York Review of Books|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2021/02/11/mies-farnsworth-life-in-a-glass-house/
==Gallery==
Line 161 ⟶ 160:
* {{cite book |title= Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe|url= https://archive.org/details/ludwigmiesvander0000drex|url-access= registration|last=Drexler|first=Arthur|year=1960 |publisher= G. Braziller|location= New York|series=The Masters of world architecture series |hdl=2027/mdp.39015031693156|oclc=557871896}}
* {{cite journal |last1= Goldberger|first1=Paul|author-link=Paul Goldberger|date=July–August 2004|title= Farnsworth: The Lightness of Being|journal= Preservation|publisher= National Trust for Historic Preservation|volume= 56|issue=4 |pages= 36–39|url= http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2004/july-august/ja04feature2.html|oclc=98765175|issn= 0018-2419}}
* {{cite web|url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1998-01-29/features/9801290037_1_farnsworth-house-ludwig-mies-van-der-franz-schulze
* {{cite book |title= The Presence of Mies|last= Mertins|first= Detlef|year=1994 |publisher= Princeton Architectural Press|location= New York|isbn= 1-56898-013-2|oclc= 60108694}}
* {{cite book |title= Mies Van Der Rohe: A Critical Biography|last= Schulze|first=Franz|year=1985 |publisher= Univ. of Chicago Press|location= Chicago|isbn=0-226-74059-5 |oclc=185639261}}
| |||