The Glass House

Paying tribute to Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut led to a series unexpected discoveries. There was so much anticipation built up before the trip. But when I walked down the “processional way” that made up of trees, and saw the glass house right in front of me for the first time, despite seeing so many images of the house, I was still in awe. Johnson is a master of playing “hide and reveal”. 

The “Two Circus Women” (image 2) by Elie Nadelman inside the Glass House looked so familiar. I thought I must have seen the sculpture somewhere. Then all of a sudden it occurred to me that it was the exact same piece at the David H. Koch theatre in LINCOLN CENTER. As it turns out, the much larger marble ones at LINCOLN CENTER is a replica of this OG version at the glass house. 

Johnson collected Frank Stella and Andy Warhol (image 5) before they become famous. Or maybe it was because Johnson started collecting their art which made Stella and Warhol part of the Avant Garde circle. Warhol used to stay at the guest house, the Brick House, and gifted the host his signature silk screen print of Johnson (image 6). 

Frank Gehry was also a close friend of Johnson and gifted his signature Gross Check Armchairs(image 10), which were prototypes, to Johnson for his study. The studio was built in 1980 (image 9) and its exterior used the color “stone greige” by colorist Donald Kaufman. Johnson moved his office from the painting gallery to the studio because he felt nature seen from the all glass feature of the painting gallery was too much distraction for him. 

The last piece on the estate is the Da Monsta, which was built in 1995. Johnson borrowed the proprietary design software from Gehry for this design. The entrance (image 12) did remind me of Gehry’s signature design. It was meant to be a visitor center and hence its location by the gate. 

Johnson’s life spanned almost a century, 1906 - 2005. He got his first degree from Harvard in philosophy and classics and it took him seven years to graduate. In 1930, Johnson became the first director of the architecture department of MoMA New York. Johnson went on to obtain his second degree in Architecture from GSD and studied under Marcel Breuer and Walter Gropius. He started his master degree in architecture at 35 and built a house at 9 Ash Street in Cambridge, MA as his graduate thesis. His classmates from GSD were fascinated by Johnson, partly because he’s already well accomplished, also probably because he threw the best parties. 

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