• Design,
• Travel

Architectural House Tour III: Glass House

We recently went up to New Canaan, Connecticut to visit Philip Johnson’s infamous Glass House, built in 1949. Unlike many beautifully designed homes commissioned by wealthy patrons, this 47 acre estate was designed by the architect himself as his personal weekend residence.

The property is composed of several smaller buildings. Each constructed in a different decade and of a style befitting of the times and of Johnson’s lifestyle. The house’s cache is that it blends in with the landscape when you’re inside. For it’s time, it was amazing to see one floor to ceiling glass wall, let alone an entire glass house. 

Johnson was an architect from New York and the the first director of architecture for MoMA. He frequented the Glass House with his partner David Whitney who was an art dealer in the city. Together, they were well connected into the art and design scene and had many famous visitors to the Glass House, including their friend Andy Warhol.

Their admiration for art and design led Johnson to build two buildings devoted to his favorite sculptures and paintings, one of which houses the portrait series of Johnson himself, by Andy Warhol.

Philip Johnson died there in his sleep in 2005 with the beautiful surrounding landscape as his backdrop. He was survived by his countless works that many consider the heights of architecture. The Glass House will forever represent the epitome of modern living in the latter half of the twentieth century.