Uncovering the Controversy and Innovation of Mies Van der Rohe's Masterpiece: The Farnsworth House
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
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Discover the revolutionary design and thought-provoking controversy surrounding the iconic Farnsworth House. Built by renowned architect Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, this modernist masterpiece reflects the transformation of Western society through its unique blend of technology and art. Explore the concept of adaptable spaces and learn about the challenges faced during the construction of this week-end getaway. Join us on an in-depth journey of one of the most significant buildings of the 20th century in this latest episode of This House.
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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.
Correct. The house ended up costing double the original planned budget, if memory serves me right.
Yes because the war had caused a shortage of building materials.
What a bore
They also battled a lot over the floor plan - Mies didn't want to include closets because they would diminish the open plan while Edith couldn't do without (I'd agree). I believe they also had an affair if memory serves. Mies and FL Wright were some serious characters.
Fun to see where Joseph Eichler found his inspiration!
I have been in many Eichler homes in Northern California
Thanks for sharing😊👍🏻
A house for the masses, a house for mieses 😂
Doctors and Lawyers are terrible clients.
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
Maybe the architect and the client should have reconsidered building in a floodplain-- poor site planning?
He does mention it...... maybe watch the whole vid?????
@@JoeCool0510 main level of the house was set 2' above the 100 year flood level. Problem was lots of changes to the area in100 years caused the river to flood quicker than in the past.
@@alm4132 The flood mentioned was not the one that resulted in 5' of water in the house. Total was 15' above normal river level.
Final sale: The house sold at auction for $6MM.
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!
She wanted the house in that spot , he proposed lifting it above the previous 100 yr flood plain , the new floods broke the 100yr flood plain , not his fault for giving the customer something safer than what she asked for
@@guysumpthin2974 She wasn't an architect or engineer. If he told her that spot wasn't buildable because of the danger of flooding due to the 100 year flood, and she insisted anyway, and he agreed to do it, it's on both of them but more on her.
@@Catbooks Yes, it was Palumbo's sculpture collection that was exhibited on the grounds. I recall that there was a large piece of the Berlin Wall, but not much else. Alas, the ravages of time.
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.
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.
Hmm, I wonder if there is any FLW leggo?
It's interesting but not a cozy place to live in.
As a work of art... Big yes! Could I live there? Maybe. I think I'd feel, what's the word, exposed?
My building systems teacher once used this as an example of, "An architect's dream is an engineer's nightmare."
He was indeed a wise (and apparently experienced) man!
Profound
"you want me to put the kitchen WHERE!" When the carpenter wants you to do something you are pretty sure won't work,,,LMAO
Lol maybe but it helps to developp new technics of construction instead of always using same technics..dont you think so?
@@nishikapedro3796 No. unequivocally not.
Unique for its time? Certainly. Cozy to live in? Absolutely not.
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.
You can tell what the house feels like through the internet?
@@RAREFORMDESIGNS You look at it and try to imagine getting cosy. And I think Fauntleroy has it right. The structure is pretty enough but it isn't a place I would want to live. It's a pretty summer house to have a party at. But it isn't homey. You could never rest there.
I like it, but I would change the bedroom with just one window and wood walls with a TV. I would also replace other windows and add wood wall and bookshelves. Other than that just cozy it up with furniture, books, and blankets. Maybe change the curtains to a dark color, or patterns. It just needs something. You are right.
@@77Tadams I hope you get better soon and it's a good thing you're not driving or using heavy machinery right now.
@@RAREFORMDESIGNS 😏I am not drunk or sick! But this made me laugh! 😂
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 the absence of the constant force of walls. Also nobody asked for your help
It was projects like this that drove less talented architects to design those car dealerships as poor imitations of Meis' elegant work.
@@stevevice9863 what design?
@@trainwreck420ish I was referring to James Slick's comment above
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.
I would build that house and live in it ...I love it
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
Here in scandinavia too. Leisure time buildings,not permament family buildings
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.
This is a dreamhouse! I wood love to live in it, just think about being surrounded by nature. And winter!
Me too!
And the commonwealth Edison bill to heat a house with basically R-0 walls. I doubt the ceiling is much better.
Edith sounds like a piece of work. To bad the house wasn't set up about 2 or 3 feet higher.
In the summer, the house basically acted like a greenhouse, so that it was too hot. There was also a lack of ventilation, apparently.
So true jeff. It's not really a practical house to live in for the cost of it when built. And yes, ventilation was a problem also. The locals called it a one floor piece of Chicago's cloud scraper that Mr. Mies was busy building in the city also.
Architecture is a shadow of what it once was
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.
THANK YOU SO MUCH. I HAVE ADDED THIS HOUSE TO MY BUCKET LIST. I LOVE EVRYTHING!!!! A TOTALLY AWSOME AND INNOVATIVE HOME. SO BEAUTIFUL AND INSPIRATIONAL.
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.
This retired architect never cared much for Mies' work. His residential work is too cold feeling and screams OFFICE more than "home" to me. I'll take inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright any day over Mies. One sacred and inviolate architectural rule (for me at least) is: no flat roofs on single family homes -- EVER!
Odd that Edith approved of plans only to turn round and hate it?
Yes , Wondering more about the backstory on this . Anyone know ? Please share !
It had no ventilation.
@@sharksport01 Seriously ? ! All windows & beautiful location w/ fresh country air ... Kinda like " water , water everywhere & not a drop to drink ... " only air , air everywhere & not a molecule to breath ! 😂
@@sharksport01 it is essentially a glass house so it would become a hot house. Did have curtains? Maybe at night when it was all closed it might become stuffy. She did look at the plans. 🤷
The house proved impossible to live in: freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer.
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.
Yep. The glass allows you to borrow the beauty of nature. If the house was situated in a commercial area it would look like a car dealership showroom.
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.
This container with no walls is a pure contradiction to ALL that a HOUSE should be. Never employ an artist to build your home.. it will be out of this world, serve no purpose and will cost gazzilions.
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.
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.
The original Barcelona Pavilion lasted for just a few years before it was dismantled. It was recreated for the 1992 Olympics. Well worth the visit.
Ahhhh, so he was Bauhaus.
Less is Less, don’t be conned.
@@bobmitchell8012 Some of us prefer the clean lines and elegance of Mies's work. I appreciate good design, whether it is a Greek temple, a Gothic church, or a modern museum, but good design goes much deeper than a bunch of do dads and brick-a-brack tacked on to a building.
I love this house and see the connection with the Barcelona pavilion.
It's wonderful, so simple and elegant, so pure, completely unlike so much of the architecturally "audacious crap" that one has to presently suffer!
I recommend the blog "McMansion Hell. The young architectural historian just flays modern mega mansion nonsense! :)
Seems to me like a smaller version of Tugendhat Rohe did pre-war. Great little house though.
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.
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.
I love this house. To hell with those people who championed urban sprawl complete with cul de sacs.
❤ 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.❤
Wonder what the body count of birds is from just one wall of that house.
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.
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.
Love his furniture, but not of fan of this house. There are a couple angles of the house that capture some interesting lines, but otherwise, I agree with Edith. Some things are best left on the sketchpad.
How disappointing that it still flooded in spite of the design.
It would be ridiculous to heat or cool. In spite of that it is the summer cabin by the river that she ordered. I hope she didn't pay much for it.
"It would be ridiculous to heat or cool." Yeah, especially since there is no evidence at all of a furnace, an AC unit (in the central core or on the roof or under the floor) or the ductwork that either would need (unless minisplits and, again, where would they go?) .....or even the slightest indication that any of those windows might open. This is not too different from an auto stylist's renderings which are all about form...and then have to be re-proportioned or otherwise modified when the damn thing has to be actually built (considering production and material costs, passenger space, etc)!
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.
The emperor's new clothes is a cold box.
This looks like a terrarium for housing people.
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.
If memory serves me right, it was cheaper to tour the house also. Today, not so cheap for what you can see from the outside.
lovely cinematography.
What e beautiful piece of art!
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.
Just love it
I get FLW’s houses; for me Mies is a miss.
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.
Not enuff privacy and I wouldn’t feel safe in it……..
Not merely "Edith Farnsworth, wealthy patron of the arts" but "Doctor Edith Farnsworth, successful Chicago nephrologist and professor or medicine".
This is one of those "each to his own" moments!
“Modernist Masterpiece”, you must be talking about Fallingwater.....not any of the Crap of Mees.
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!
I agree. It is odd to like both styles, but they both share a simplicity and elegance lacking in many other architectural styles. I can admire Victorian design, for instance, but it is just...too much. Arts and crafts is better, but not a fan of all that heaviness. Mid Century and Georgian are just so airy.
@@brianmiller5444 they are both great designs simple yet elegant!
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.
This design, while clever and intellectually rationalized from a unidimensional perspective, is totally alienating, and looks like it would be horribly uncomfortable to live in.
Glass, steel, and cement are the coldest materials you can use in construction. They are okay to use if they are used IN BALANCE with natural materials that lend psychological warmth. But, unfortunately, that is not done with this design.
Additionally, the structure was intended to be a way to get away from life and reconnect to nature, yet Mies only provides a VISUAL connection to the outside --- there is no way to open windows or entire walls or portions of walls to allow fresh air to circulate in the home. The only way to physically connect with the out-of-doors is to go outside. So you're robbed of the normal human experience of sleeping with your windows open in order to have fresh air all night, or to hear the sounds of nature.
The furniture is all this uncomfortable, minimalist, geometric schlock. Chairs and sofas with no upholstery, no arms. How long are you going to "relax" in a stiff, unupholstered chair with no arms, no way to sprawl out or slouch, no way to pull your legs up? Ten minutes? There's no real sofa to relax on --- just a crappy bed-like recliner. So to relax for extended periods of time you'll be sitting upright, or lying flat on your back --- no middle ground. This is why in this video we see the two women "relaxing" by sitting on the hard, concrete stairs --- because they provide graduated plains on which they can sprawl out.
Have a guest visit for the weekend who brings a friend you don't know well? You'd have to go outside while your guest used the toilet in order to provide them with some privacy.
I give Mies an "F", and can completely understand why she was so angry about the house.
The house is amazing but the site is bad. River bottoms of slow flowing Midwestern rivers always raise my feng shui hackles. I can think of several million better places for it.
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.
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 .
To see the house at night, watch DON'T BLINK Kenny Chesney music video here on RUclips.
The Dr. DID pay for the house. However, there was an additional charge and she didn't want to pay for that charge. It was a small amount compared to what she had already paid him. VDR put her house in a flood plane and just hoped for the best. Sloppy and egotistical on his part. She did not deserve that flood.
4:00 "The outright rejection of tradition undermined American values." This is nonsense. It sounds like something that would be said today.
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.
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.
This is the most beautiful home I've ever seen. Absolutely stunning🏠
Ironically, Phillip Johnson 's Glass House in New Canaan, CT was also damaged by flood.
For to much glass, the they put curtains. I like this house with smaller windows.
I like Modernism, but Bauhaus is S-ithouse.FLW showed them how to do it properly.
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.
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.
Its beautiful, but not really a live in house - soulless possibly is the word. I like the Miller residence better in that it is a working family home.
Okay, everyone, our guest, who we don't know very well, has to use the toilet. Let's all go outside in order to give her some privacy.
Yeah. But I throw too many stones, to live in a glass house.🤔😂🤣💪🇺🇸
Video gets a Thumbs UP, but the design of the house, gets a Thumbs DOWN!!
I wonder if anyone else has duplicated the house of is it considered a landmark and cannot be copied. Maybe we can get the Chinese to work on that.
I would like to know about the people who kept all that glass clean ALL the time......
Hey Edith what'cha doing today? Oh I just have to mow under my house.
I have taken the tour twice. An unforgettable experience.
When one refers to themselves as one, one can't help, but think that one must be an insufferable p@#k
One massive con for a lover of art must be that you can’t hang up paintings in a house of glass.
I love this house and could live in it easily, but I read that when Edith moved in she very shortly describe the house as unlivible. Too much exposure by lots of glass. She said, everywhere I turned I felt like I was on public display.
but she knew that, since she approved all the designs specs. all she had to do was close the curtains
@@janavenue650 And its not like the house was right on a public street? It's pretty much hidden on a large lot???
@@brianmiller5444, exactly
@@brianmiller5444, exactly
Great video, thank you! I just subscribed 🙏
One of those styles in which the pro's are also the con's.
Way to small and open concept for my style.
Open for tours? It's all visible from the outside!
It's the perfect distillation of the glass box.
Was this the house they used in the 2006 movie The Lake House?
No, the lake house is actually on water.
Look great & fun, but livable comfortably ?
How many “once a century” floods has the house sustained since then?
Can you do some of the case study houses?
I could see this as a weekend retreat but not as a a primary residence.
I would have guessed this house was built in the 1960s!
The term "functional obsolesce" comes to mind.
Like "living in a fishbowl" comes to mind!
His masterpiece was the Barcelona Pavilion
A glass box up on stilts.....I'm not feeling it.
It inspired the Philip Johnson Glass House.