Chicago Quickies
Charles and I took a quick trip to Chicago at the end of October. We had an amazing late night dinner at The Purple Pig, a restaurant to which we would quickly return. Everything that we ordered (and we devoured quite a bit) was achingly delicious, including a beautifully paired Slovenian wine. I still think of the bone marrow appetizer and smile a bit - it was by far my favorite part of dinner: a horizontally sliced thigh bone with wobbly bits of roasted marrow to tease out and slather on charred toast. Flakey salt and plenty of cilantro, onions, and capers go on top. I am wistfully hungry recounting it now.
I rented a car and made the architectural pilgrimage to Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House, a quick hour east of Chicago in Plano, Illinois. This piece of architecture - the house really was purchased as a collector's piece by it's second owner - is widely studied as seminal modern architecture in the International Style. It is preserved and managed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which hosts daily tours of the house. The tours begin out of view and a short distance away from the house, with a quick ten-minute walk following a brief movie on the relationship between the architect, Mies, and the home's original owner who commissioned the project, Edith Farnsworth. While much of the exhibit, discussion, and praise of the house is dedicated to Mies, who's impeccable attention to detail at this surprisingly small and delicate house is very much in line with his oft quoted phrase "God is in the details," I found myself fascinated by Edith, who was painted rather...unkindly.
Dr. Farnsworth, a prominent Chicago doctor and highly acclaimed researcher, commissioned this house as a weekend retreat in the 1940s. The mythology of the house took on a life of it's own: Edith's relationship with Mies and with her home became highly publicized and dissected after that all important relationship between architect and client soured during construction, culminating in a lawsuit with allegations flying from both sides. This fascinating story remains active in today's time, as a movie about their alleged romance is currently in production. Even the design of the house was cause for uproar in national contemporary home magazines, as it was one of the first examples of the International Style in a nation where post-war ranch homes reigned - the wide, unbroken expanses of glazing, open floor plan, and extreme lack of ornamentation was shocking and considered to be quite unlivable for society.
Mies was continually held aloft on the tour as a kind of solitary architect genius, who's singular vision drove the design to fruition construction. The collaboration between Edith and Mies, while outlined in greater detail in text at the Visitor's Center, was glossed over as a mere note. This was very frustrating - architecture is not a solitary pursuit. It is deeply rooted in collaboration between multiple parties (client, architect, consultants, contractors, subcontractors, and more!). Edith appeared to be intimately invested in the design of her retreat home and the design process for this project seemed highly iterative between her and Mies. While she may not have been creating drawings, it appeared that many of the home's ideas were borne of her philosophical design discussions with Mies.
Has Edith been written out of this history, presented in her very home, as a result of contentious litigation, rumor of romantic entanglement, or her womanhood? Despite being a noted, highly educated physician who knew enough to commission one of the world's great architects and hold her own in their correspondence, her role in this project as discussed on the tour took on no more than that of a scorned woman. More time was spent belittling her and then discussing the home's subsequent owners in a much more forgiving light (Edith sold her dream retreat home after a bitter battle to re-route a now adjacent highway away from the home - she could no longer stay there with the constant disruption to the riverside silence and views. The home was changed owners two more times prior the National Historic's Trust important preservation purchase). I left the tour with a bit of a chip on my shoulder and a sour taste in my mouth. The beauty of the landscape and quietness of the house's exterior saved my experience there, restoring a little of the hope I arrived with for a great architectural experience. I would go again, but with fellow architects and a different guide - perhaps a professor or someone with a more expanded, nuanced understanding of architecture and of Mies's practice.
iPhone photos are below. I jumped on the AIA Chicago's river boat tour at the recommendation of a friend, a great suggestion which I now pass on to others visiting the city. Highlights also included Studio Gang's Aqua Tower (the plinth-development in this area deserves it's own post for dissection) and Millennium Park (outrageous number of people!). We also ran a quick 5K along the waterfront - watching the sun rise between the city and the lake as our backgrounds was a great way to fall in love with Chicago.
