About Glass House
Biographical Museums, Historic House Museums, Museums, Cultural, Interesting Places, History Museums
The Glass House, or Johnson house, is a historic house museum on Ponus Ridge Road in New Canaan, Connecticut. Built in 1948-49, it was designed by Philip Johnson as his own residence, and "universally viewed as having been derived from" the Farnsworth House design, according to Alice T. Friedman. Johnson curated an exhibit of Mies van der Rohe work at the Museum of Modern Art in 1947, featuring a model of the glass Farnsworth House. It was an important and influential project for Johnson and for modern architecture. The building is an essay in minimal structure, geometry, proportion, and the effects of transparency and reflection. The estate includes other buildings designed by Johnson that span his career. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997. It is now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and is open to the public for guided tours, which begin at a visitors center at 199 Elm Street in New Canaan.
