The comprehensive story of an icon of modern architecture: the Edith Farnsworth House designed
by Mies van der Rohe One of the most famous residences in modern history a glass and steel
marvel that seems to float above its site the Edith Farnsworth House had been legendary in the
public imagination long before it could be widely accessed. This book charts the house's
original design by Mies van der Rohe and periods of neglect flooding and new ownership by
Lord Peter Palumbo. Now publicly accessible and celebrating twenty years of being owned and
administered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation this icon of modern architecture
commissioned by client and patron Edith Farnsworth now gets its due. The Edith Farnsworth House
is one of the most prized residences in modern architectural history whose sometimes fraught
history culminates in its publicly accessible life today. The book which newly foregrounds
the key role of client Edith Farnsworth is written and edited by Michelangelo Sabatino who
contributes deep expertise on modernist architecture and includes an essay by architectural
historian Dietrich Neumann excerpts of Edith Farnsworth's unpublished memoir as well as
interviews with Mies's grandson Dirk Lohan and the house's second owner Lord Peter Palumbo.
Published in association with the National Trust for Historic Preservation this book is
published is a trove of cultural and visual history and includes photographs by Hedrich
Blessing Hiroshi Sugimoto and Annie Leibovitz in addition to documentation of cultural
collaborations with artists designers and performance troupes such as Virgil Abloh Iñigo
Manglano-Ovalle and Gerard & Kelly.|The comprehensive story of an icon of modern architecture:
the Edith Farnsworth House designed by Mies van der Rohe|Michelangelo Sabatino is an
architectural historian curator and preservationist. He is Professor at Illinois Institute of
Technology's College of Architecture where he is the inaugural John Vinci Distinguished
Research Fellow and directs the PhD program. He serves on the Board of Directors of Docomomo
US. He is author and coauthor of numerous books including Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses
1929-75 (Monacelli 2020). Scott Mehaffey is Executive Director Curator of the Edith Farnsworth
House Historic Site in Plano Illinois. Dietrich Neumann is director of Urban Studies at Brown
University and author of An Accidental Masterpiece: Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion
(2020). Hilary Lewis is Chief Curator and Creative Director of The Glass House in New Canaan
Connecticut.
