Visit to the Glass House

Last Monday I had the opportunity to visit one of the most important architectural project of the 20th century: The Philip Johnston Glass House. Situated in New Canaan, Connecticut, it was the retreat of the famous architect (First Pritzker prize winner) Philip Johnston. He designed the house and built it in 1949. The project is very minimalist and modern. The house is just a big rectangular open space, with no room divisions and all surrounded by glasses as external walls. At the time, it was very innovative in terms of materials used and the construction techniques used to build it.

In the 47 acre site, there are many other buildings. As Mr. Johnston himself liked to say, he used that space to do some "experiments". So he also built, a Brick house, just in front of the Glass House, which used to be the guest house (he didn't really like his guests to stay too long, so he tried to make it as uncomfortable as possible for them to leave soon - i.e. there were any windows in the bedroom); a small building for his extended collection of books about Architecture and where he also used to work; a pavilion next to a pond, where he liked to have picnics in summer; a private gallery for his Art Collection (he loved Art and was an avid collector); a Sculpture gallery and finally a building with no purpose which looked more like a sculpture (it was designed by American Artist Frank Stella). 

"Da Monsta" - designed by Frank Stella

The Library/Study and the "Ghost House" (the transparent structure behind)

The Brick House

The Pavilion

We only visited the Glass House, the Painting Gallery and the Sculpture Gallery. Unfortunately, the Brick House is currently closed for renovation. There was a flooding accident, a few months ago, that destroyed the whole interior of the house. I loved the Glass House and the sensation of being outside while inside. 

However, what really impressed me the most was the Art Gallery (and, of course, the only one I didn't take any pictures, but there are better than I would have shot on the website). Philip Johnston designed an incredible mechanism of rotating walls that let him exposed 42 large-scale paintings at the same time. He had a big collection of Modern Art, which included artworks by Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Jones and Cindy Sherman. He donated a vast quantity of this collection to the MoMA.

Interior of the Sculpture Gallery: