Uncovering the Controversy and Innovation of Mies Van der Rohe's Masterpiece: The Farnsworth House 

You kind of brushed past Edith Farnsworth, a noted Physician who was reportedly considered for a Nobel Prise in Medicine. She sued Mies because of budget over run, not because she didn't enjoy the house - it was settled out of court.

I live in Tokyo, Japan. I have been inside Farnsworth House. Wide floors, high ceilings, and expansive windows. The very wide lawn that can be seen to the north and south is truly magnificent. It's a lifetime memory.

I visited Farnsworth House some time ago, and had the luck to be the only one in my tour group, so I got a private tour. It's an unbelievable feeling to see this gem in person and actually walk around inside.

I conducted 437 tours of the house and enjoyed every one. You failed to mention the flood during Palumbo’s time where water broke a glass wall and damaged much of the furniture and interior as it was over 5’ deep

I was lucky enough to tour the Farnsworth House and found it uniquely inspiring, not because of any sort of fame or prestige, but because the way the house was designed and situated creates a rare experience of light and views. The way the home floats over the surrounding landscape is serene, and I love how the spaces flow into one another. If you are ever in the Chicago area, please take time to visit! The society that maintains the house care deeply about the home and the story surrounding it, and work tirelessly to preserve the house so that we can enjoy it.

She shouldn't have sued, but the house flooded with 2' of water only 2 years after it was built. I'd say Mies didn't do the best job anticipating and compensating for that 100 year event. I'd have been pissed off about that. Wonder how the art collector who bought it next deal with the lack of wall space. Unless most of his collection was sculpture. I'm glad it was saved. I can appreciate it as an art piece to look at. As a house to live in, not so much. Thanks for this video!

I see this house all the time, I live in the same town where it resides. It's especially nice to walk in the state park on the other side of the river to get a nice view of it.

I have the Lego Architecture set of Farnsworth, and continues to be one of my all-time favorite Lego sets.

An early Fall tour of the house started with a short walk from the guest center. A clever move ( I hope ) was to place the center where the house is out of sight. As you walk through the open woods, the house reveals itself, its' relationship to the river, and to the surrounding woods. The approach is breathtaking, but then so id the house itself as you step up to the terrace.

Architecture is a shadow of what it once was

The Farnswoeth house is fabulous- I’d love to build something based on this design. I can now see where many New Zealand beach houses source their inspiration

A lot of the quality actually coms from the surroundings, the beautiful old trees and the open space. When you see these modernist designs in cities, surrounded by other minimalist buildings, their limits become very apparent. Then it becomes clear that ornament is not evil but necessary for our mental health.

Was never in this house, but saw it a lot growing up near Yorkville, and Plano, IL. We always just called it the glass house. It's not far from Silver Springs State Park near the Fox River.

My building systems teacher once used this as an example of, "An architect's dream is an engineer's nightmare."

I visited this house pre 2001 and it was an amazing experience. it had palumbo art on the grounds and signs that he lived there.

As a work of art... Big yes! Could I live there? Maybe. I think I'd feel, what's the word, exposed?

This is a dreamhouse! I wood love to live in it, just think about being surrounded by nature. And winter!

I would build that house and live in it ...I love it

We drive by the property quite often as the house is near the city we live. You can see the house easily during the Winter but during the Summer, it's protected by foliage. Lord Polumbo owned quite a lot of land and farms in the area. A friend of mine's sister took care of his horses. About a half mile away is where Indians fought in the Blackhawk Wars. You can find arrowheads in the ground to this day. Right across the river is the Silver Spring State Park.

I have taken the tour twice. An unforgettable experience.

Not at all my "thing" but it IS historic as Van der Rohe was a pioneer in the whole glass box craze of the 50's- 80's in commercial architecture. I "kinda" get the movable elements to re-arrange "public" and "private" areas. But as to style, It looks like a 1970s car dealership office (motly VW or Toyota...) That IS an accomplishment, as it is 20 years older than that!

It's beautiful. The support beams could definitely be about 6 feet higher and the terraces could be made to retract to be used as security when not in use. I would also give the southern exposure as the low roofline, graduating higher to the north for a sloping roof to better shed water.

❤ it’s a very unique looking house! I can see where it comes from. It’s not for everyone could be a nice getaway home.❤

Fun to see where Joseph Eichler found his inspiration! I have been in many Eichler homes in Northern California Thanks for sharing😊👍🏻

This is the most beautiful home I've ever seen. Absolutely stunning🏠

Mies' famous quote, "Less is More" , is embodied in this house. Mies also said "God is in the Details"....again, the Farnsworth house couldn't be a better example of this expression. He was so far ahead of his time, he pushed the limits of glass technology when he started designing experimental glass houses and skyscraper projects early in his career. Look up the Barcelona Pavilion and all of the beautiful furniture he designed for that structure. His work is the epitome of modern elegance.

I am drawn to this vein of modern design, yet without amazing windows it-seems to me-would be very cold and loud inside. Thank you for making this video.

In the summer, the house basically acted like a greenhouse, so that it was too hot. There was also a lack of ventilation, apparently.

Oh to own and live in a house like that, what joy.

That would certainly be an interesting experience living in a home like this. Hey Ken, I'd love to see you showcase something from my hometown of Denver.

I've seen a similar house of Mies in Barcelona. It turns 100 years old in a few years, but still looks modern and cool.

The real genius is the use of 'curtain walls' and keeping all means of support external. It allows literally the factory manufacture of such homes in 'Lego' like fashion as different sizes and shapes could allow for endless variation using the same parts. It would make not just a house that adapts to the times but allows the house itself to adapt to them. It takes the grandfather of Modernish Walter Gropius to the next logical level.

I appreciate how bold and sleek it is, but it feels so un-cozy. Which, to me, is the ultimate aim of any house. It's like the architectural form of Wallace Simpson.

This is a beautiful house! I’d live there and enjoy the scenery!

Great video, thank you! I just subscribed 🙏

I think it is beautiful. After watching, I did a very quick search to see about whether we have improved the concept. Speaking only as a pedestrian, I do not see a vast improvement in modern housing: although often stunning, not sure what it would be like to live in and with all that glass. Fun as always, thanks.

Just love it

lovely cinematography.

This is one of those "each to his own" moments!

I spent many hours studying or working on projects in Crown Hall. I never really appreciated it while I was stuck there, scrambling to finish something that I'd put off for way too long, but it's a cool building.

Thanks for highlighting this important piece of architecture. In your future videos please consider holding back on the neural upscaling, overlaid film scratches and other "enhancements" that obscure the condition of historical photos and video. Restoration can be amazing but getting it right is more work (and more specialized) than most of us are capable of. I would humbly ask that you use the best source you can find and then trust your viewers to understand the original frames in the context of the time they were captured.

Odd that Edith approved of plans only to turn round and hate it?

I love this house!

I’ve never been to the house but I live nearby in Oswego IL also on the Fox River. I’ve passed by it on multiple occasions on the way to appointments in the area and there’s a beautiful State Park across the river which affords nearly unobstructed views of the home across the water.

This particular video talks about the Farnsworth House, which has been one of few modern houses that I have actually liked enough to take more than a passing interest in. I personally think it's beautiful in its own way, but I also think it has been badly located, but I understand that it would be too difficult and expensive to relocate. Thank you again for your excellent work again 👏

It's wonderful, so simple and elegant, so pure, completely unlike so much of the architecturally "audacious crap" that one has to presently suffer!

Thanks!

My kind of house very much like my former home in the Pines of Fire Island! I love mid-century architecture although Georgian is my favorite!

Beautiful looking house. I like these simplistic/layout style houses, which offer up expansive (almost unlimited) 360-degree views of your surroundings. Gives you a sense of being outdoors, an inner private core (symbolizing your protective bubble, and your privacy/individuality), and protection from the elements. I wonder how it functions from an energy/cost standpoint (for a single-person/couple dwelling).

I once visited the house. It was a mere 7-minute tour.

I heard many anecdotal comments from architecture students who made a special trip to view and photograph this house from the exterior. Most related how Ms. Farnsworth had planted a dense screen of rose bushes in front of the entry steps to the terrace that precedes house to dissuade architecture seekers from approaching it at anything that could be called close range, and moving about. A few encountered her personally and said she was most unpleasant. I get why a home owner can be irritated by photo seekers dedicated to unruly behavior, but surely there must have been some way to work this out. After I restored my old house many people wanted to take pictures of it, I simply told them "take as many as you want ,,,,,,,from the sidewalk".They all were good with that.

Beautiful house.

This would suit anyone Today. I would love to live in this house.

seems this design opened the door to current container home craze :)

Model rumah yang unik menurut saya rumah ini cocok buat tempat singgah diwaktu libur

That's wild! She had guts...

Edith sounds like a piece of work. To bad the house wasn't set up about 2 or 3 feet higher.

I love it.

The term "functional obsolesce" comes to mind.

This is one of the most beautiful houses I've ever seen. I also love the Philip Johnson Glass House in Connecticut.

It's the perfect distillation of the glass box.

Like "living in a fishbowl" comes to mind!

Edith Farnsworth was an energy vampire. Her legacy was one of inhibiting progress. Surrounded herself with great people and then act above them while she accomplished nothing.

I love this house. To hell with those people who championed urban sprawl complete with cul de sacs.

Seems to me like a smaller version of Tugendhat Rohe did pre-war. Great little house though.

I love this design, appreciate the value and the free flowing open feel. "Van Der Rohe" is 2nd to Frank Lloyd Wright in my design preference.

My immediate thought on seeing this house is that it could not have been better designed as a bird killing machine, I'm sure the body count is many dozens per year. Huge walls of opposing panes of glass providing the illusion to birds in flight of a clear passage.

Not merely "Edith Farnsworth, wealthy patron of the arts" but "Doctor Edith Farnsworth, successful Chicago nephrologist and professor or medicine".

Can you do some of the case study houses?

As an art object, wonderful. As a home, well, no. Freeze in winter, cook in summer, and built on a flood plain. Does look beautiful though, sitting in splendid isolation.

Luv it

Doctors and Lawyers are terrible clients.

I could see this as a weekend retreat but not as a a primary residence.

Wow, she just went up and sued when she wasn’t happy with anything. lol I wouldn’t want to live in it but definitely tour it. And it does look like a great place to have parties.

Thank you for covering something that’s non-Victorian

The emperor's new clothes is a cold box.

So Mies liked the glass shoebox, and Bucky Fuller preferred domes and circular houses. The true genius of a good architect shows when they can orchestrate elements such that there is a marriage of form and functionality. That's design - the rest is fashion. There was a UC Berkeley architectural professor who once presented a house design to a design review board. I'll be the first to say that most such boards have unqualified people; but his particular design was composed of a series of obtuse angled planes with a couple of square windows; and it was obvious to the board members that it was a bad design. The house was completely brown (CorTen) and ignored the natural aspects of the site. The members of the board looked at his drawings and his creation as he proclaimed his originally and puffed out his chest. The thing looked like the droid recycling tank from Star Wars. You could just imagine those little guys in the cloaks going in and out. The design was completely laughable. Another so-called architect in the audience stood up to support him, saying that this was a masterpiece and exactly what they're taught to do in architecture school. (Wonder what school that is.) ***** So some architects are great, some not so much. The Farnsworth house is stunning, but in reality unlivable for a number of reasons. The form might get an "A", but the functionality gets an "F" - unless you're a mouse that likes to run around in right angles inside a shoebox.

Ironically, Phillip Johnson 's Glass House in New Canaan, CT was also damaged by flood.

Wonderful house!

This looks like a terrarium for housing people.

I rather like the look of it, but I would feel uncomfortably exposed living in a house designed with so much glass. Unless I had huge and impenetrable walls around the garden. In the 1950s post WWII Melbourne, modernism really did take off and flt roof houses gained quite a vogue but my understanding is that there were often issues with the flat roof. Probably more easily constructed now? Thank you for the video! Much appreciated!

Let us not be quick to judge. Everybody is different and have different needs and wants. It is what I love best about design, interpreting those needs and wants for each client and getting close or nailing it. We don't know all the parameters. Bottom line is you either like it or don't or appreciate what the designer was trying to do. Issue here I think is - are we bringing the outdoors in too literally here? Or uncomfortable without a feeling of solidness. I lean towards Arts & Crafts personally, but I absolutely love Mies and Bauhaus design, and mid-century, and North West Japanese and absolutely Prairie style FLW

I would have guessed this house was built in the 1960s!

Mies Van Der Rohe for 2023 needs to be curved, ergonomic and based in motion trajectories. Angles are a manufacturing convenience not based in human motion.

Wow

Hey Edith what'cha doing today? Oh I just have to mow under my house.

...and yet there are some who still hate Mieses' to pieces.

Timeless. An absolute classic.

So far so Good ...though eves and a flat roof " veranda " are obviously a good idea for livability ( too bad about the budget ) . Someday when Singularity Intelligence has sorted out a global / non toxic / fusion based / energy unit / underwriting of global income per capita Commonwealth it would good to see this systems architecture put into generative design options .

It inspired the Philip Johnson Glass House.

At 2:00 minutes you said the house was built above the 100 yr flood plain and then at 4:45 you said the house was filled with 2 feet of water. I'm confused.

His masterpiece was the Barcelona Pavilion

This house would be awesome with newer modern furniture .

Open for tours? It's all visible from the outside!

Was this the house they used in the 2006 movie The Lake House?

Now I know where Futurama got the name of the Professor

Definitely a beautiful living space…simplistic yet practicle…

For to much glass, the they put curtains. I like this house with smaller windows.

It is a beautiful and stunning house, but I can’t ignore the fact it was built on a floodplain.

ow!💞