Farnsworth House

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Farnsworth House
(U.S. National Historic Landmark)
Location: Plano, Kendall County, Illinois, USA
Built/Founded: 1951[1]
Architect: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe[2]
Architectural style(s): International Style, Modernist[3]
Added to NRHP: October 7, 2004[4]
Reference #: 04000867
Governing body: National Trust for Historic Preservation, Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois

The Farnsworth House, designed and constructed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe between 1945-51, is a one-room weekend retreat in a once-rural setting, located 55 miles southwest of Chicago . The steel and glass house was commissioned by Dr. Edith Farnsworth, a prominent Chicago-based kidney specialist, as a place where she could enjoy nature and engage in her hobby, translating poetry. Mies created for her a 1,400 square foot house that is widely recognized as a masterpiece of modernist architecture. The home was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006, after joining the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.[2][4]

Contents

[edit] History

Mies was hired by Edith Farnsworth in 1945, and designed the house and built a model in time for an exhibit at MOMA in 1946. The construction was then delayed four years awaiting an inheritance. Construction was finally begun in 1950 and completed in 1951. Farnsworth and Mies had a highly publicised and bitter dispute with suits and countersuits, which were ultimately settled in favor of the architect. Farnsworth used the weekend house for the next 21 years, before selling it and retiring to a villa in Italy.

In 1968, the local highway department had condemned a 2 acre portion of the property adjoining the house for a raised highway and improved bridge across the Fox River. Farnsworth sued to stop the project but lost the court case.[citation needed] In 1972 Farnsworth then sold the house to British property magnate, art collector, and architectural aficionado Lord Peter Palumbo.[5] He removed the screening at the porch, and added air conditioning, extensive landscaping and his art collections to the grounds, commissioning modern art including sculptures by Anthony Caro and Richard Serra for the grounds. Palumbo restored the house after floods damaged the building in 1996, and furnished the interior with Mies designed furniture.

After owning the property for 31 years, Palumbo removed the art and sold the property at auction to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2003 for $7.5 million. Public tours are now conducted by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois.[citation needed] The house is listed in the National Register and is now designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior.[2]

[edit] Architecture

The essential characteristics of the house are immediately apparent. The extensive use of clear floor-to-ceiling glass opens the interior to its natural surroundings to an unprecedented degree. The simple rectilinear form is barely defined by exposed steel structural members painted pure white. The house is elevated and seems to float weightlessly above the ground it occupies. The interior appears to be a single open space, free of interior supports, ebbing and flowing around two wood-clad boxes; one a wardrobe closet and the other a fireplace core enclosing toilets and mechanical equipment. The house is essentially one large room with a freestanding wardrobe and a central fireplace core that provide subtle differentiation between open spaces. Very private areas such as toilets, and mechanical rooms are enclosed within the core. The free flow of space around the interior elements is a key feature of Mies efforts to express his ideas.


A winter view of the house in 1971.
A winter view of the house in 1971.

The house is located on a 60 acre estate site adjoining the Fox River (Illinois) near the city of Plano, Illinois. Mies conceived the building as an architectural shelter simultaneously independent of and intertwined with nature. Mies did not build on the upland or sloped portions of the site, choosing instead to tempt nature by building on the flood plain near the rivers edge. The enclosed space and a screened porch are elevated five feet on a raised floor platform, just slightly above the 100 year flood level, with a large intermediate terrace level.[5] The levels of the platforms restate the multiple levels of the site, in a kind of poetic architectural rhyme. The house is anchored to the site in the cooling shadow of a large and majestic maple tree. As Mies often did, the entrance is located on the sunny side facing the river, forcing visitors to turn corners and view the house from various angles when approaching the house. The simple elongated cubic form of the house is arranged parallel to the flow of the river, and the terrace platform is slipped downstream in relation to the elevated living platform. The careful site design and integration of the exterior environment represents a subtle yet concerted effort to achieve an architecture wedded to its context.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ History, Farnsworth House. Retrieved 10 February 2007
  2. ^ a b c Farnsworth House, NHL Database, National Historic Landmarks Program. Retrieved 10 February 2007.
  3. ^ Farnsworth House, Property Information Report HAARGIS Database, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Retrieved 10 February 2007.
  4. ^ a b NRIS Database, National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 10 February 2007.
  5. ^ a b Farnsworth House, (PDF), National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, HAARGIS Database [1], Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Retrieved 10 February 2007.

[edit] External links

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Flag of Illinois Municipalities and Communities of Kendall County, Illinois
(County Seat: Yorkville)
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Cities, Towns and Villages Aurora | Boulder Hill | Bristol | Joliet | Lisbon | Millbrook | Millington | Minooka | Montgomery | Newark | Oswego | Plainfield | Plano | Yorkville
Townships Big Grove | Bristol | Fox | Kendall | Lisbon | Little Rock | Na-Au-Say | Oswego | Seward
Points of Interest Fox River | Farnsworth House | Silver Springs State Park | Little White School House
Higher Education Waubonsee Community College
Hospitals Rush-Copley Hospital
Transportation I-80 · US-30 · US-34 · US-52 · IL-47 · Prairie Parkway
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