The Sales Directory of Antique and Historic Properties
Things to Do

The Glass House

By Antique Homes Magazine Staff Share:

Image Credit: Michael Biondo, The Glass House

The Glass House Visitor Center + Design Store

199 Elm Street

New Canaan, Connecticut 06840

Beginning on May 2, 2024, all tours will include access to the newly restored Brick House, closed to the public since 2008 due to significant water damage. Following an extensive restoration project, we are excited to share this essential design element of the site and its history with you!

The Glass House 360: https://theglasshouse.org/explore/the-glass-house/360-views/

Explore the Glass House: https://theglasshouse.org/explore/

What’s on: https://theglasshouse.org/whats-on/

Texture & Transparency: Visual Tours of Philip Johnson’s Glass House: https://theglasshouse.org/learn/texture-transparency-visual-tours-of-philip-johnsons-glass-house/

The Glass House, built between 1949 and 1995 by famed architect Philip Johnson in New Canaan, Connecticut, is one of the nation’s greatest modern architectural landmarks. Inspired by Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House, the Glass House’s exterior walls are made of glass with no interior walls, a radical departure from houses of the time. 

The pastoral 49-acre landscape comprises fourteen structures, including the Glass House (1949), and features a permanent collection of renowned 20th century painting and sculpture, along with temporary exhibitions.

The house, which ushered the International Style into residential American architecture, is iconic because of its innovative use of materials and its seamless integration into the landscape. It began an odyssey of architectural experimentation in forms, materials, and ideas through the addition of many new “pavilions” — Guest House, Lake Pavilion, Painting Gallery, Sculpture Gallery, Ghost House, Studio, and Visitors Pavilion — and the methodical sculpting of the surrounding landscape. Today, the campus is an example of the successful preservation and interpretation of modern architecture, landscape, and art.

2024 will mark the 75th anniversary celebration with a season filled with new programs, the unveiling of a landmark restoration, and fresh leadership to guide us into the future. The long-awaited restoration of the 1949 Brick House is underway and will be finished in April 2024.

Link to the website: https://theglasshouse.org

Image Credits: theglasshouse.org unless otherwise noted

Below image by Michael Biondo

Up Next

FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM