The Farnsworth House

Visionary Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe met Dr. Edith Farnsworth in 1945, at a dinner party in Chicago. She had just purchased a tract of land on the Fox River west of Chicago and hoped he would design a small weekend retreat. He agreed—and the rest, as they say, is history. Completed in 1951, Farnsworth House was immediately hailed as an icon, and perhaps the fullest expression of Mies’ Modernist ideals. Designed of glass and steel, the raised pavilion is nestled into the landscape, floating above the Fox River, which frequently floods the land under the house. This session covers the fascinating personalities and history behind the Farnsworth House, the struggle to save the modernist icon by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the conservation efforts underway and the innovative program and offerings that allow visitors to see the house in new ways demonstrating how a classic can continue to inspire architects, designers, visual and performing artists and tourists for over seventy years.

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