PHILIP JOHANSON

PHILIP CORTELYOU JOHNSON (JULY 8, 1906 – JANUARY 25, 2005) WAS AN

AMERICAN ARCHITECT BEST KNOWN FOR HIS WORKS OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE,
INCLUDING THE GLASS HOUSE IN NEW CANAAN, CONNECTICUT, AND HIS WORKS
OF POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURE, PARTICULARLY 550 MADISON AVENUE WHICH WAS
DESIGNED FOR AT&T, AND 190 SOUTH LA SALLE STREET IN CHICAGO.

IN 1946, AFTER HE COMPLETED HIS MILITARY SERVICE, JOHNSON RETURNED TO THE

MUSEUM OF MODERN ART AS A CURATOR AND WRITER. AT THE SAME TIME, HE BEGAN
WORKING TO ESTABLISH HIS ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE. HE BUILT A SMALL HOUSE, IN
THE STYLE OF MIES, IN SAAPONACK, LONG ISLAND IN 1946. THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY ONE
OF HIS MOST FAMOUS BUILDINGS, WHICH HE BUILT FOR HIMSELF; THE GLASS
HOUSE IN NEW CANAAN, CONNECTICUT, COMPLETED IN 1949, WHICH HAS BECOME A
LANDMARK OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE.

IN 1930 JOHNSON JOINED THE ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT OF THE MUSEUM OF

MODERN ART IN NEW YORK. THERE HE ARRANGED FOR AMERICAN VISITS BY GROPIUS
AND LE CORBUSIER, AND NEGOTIATED THE FIRST AMERICAN COMMISSION FOR MIES VAN
DER ROHE. IN 1932, WORKING WITH HITCHCOCK AND ALFRED H. BARR, JR., HE ORGANIZED
THE FIRST EXHIBITION ON MODERN ARCHITECTURE AT THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

BECK HOUSE
 THE GLASS HOUSE
JOHNSON’S REPUTATION WAS ENLARGED BY THE DESIGN OF HIS OWN RESIDENCE, KNOWN AS
THE GLASS HOUSE, AT NEW CANAAN, CONNECTICUT (1949). THE HOUSE, WHICH IS NOTABLE
FOR ITS SEVERELY SIMPLE RECTILINEAR STRUCTURE AND ITS USE OF LARGE GLASS PANELS AS
WALLS, OWED MUCH TO THE PRECISE, MINIMALIST AESTHETIC OF MIES BUT ALSO ALLUDED TO
THE WORK OF 18TH- AND 19TH-CENTURY ARCHITECTS. (IN ADDITION TO THE GLASS HOUSE,
JOHNSON’S NEW CANAAN ESTATE FEATURED A NUMBER OF OTHER STRUCTURES, INCLUDING AN
ART GALLERY AND A SCULPTURE PAVILION. HE LATER DONATED THE ESTATE TO THE NATIONAL
TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION, AND IN 2007 IT WAS OPENED TO THE PUBLIC.) THIS BALANCE
BETWEEN MIESIAN INFLUENCE AND HISTORICAL ALLUSION SHIFTED IN THE 1950S. BEGINNING
WITH THE TEMPLE KNESES TIFERETH ISRAEL IN PORT CHESTER, NEW YORK (1956), JOHNSON MADE
FULLER USE OF CURVILINEAR (PARTICULARLY ARCH) FORMS AND HISTORICAL QUOTATION, A
PATTERN CONTINUED IN THE ART GALLERY AT DUMBARTON OAKS IN WASHINGTON, D.C. (1963),
AND THE IDS CENTER, A MULTIBUILDING GROUP IN MINNEAPOLIS (1973). AFTER COMPLETING THE
GLASS HOUSE, HE COMPLETED TWO MORE HOUSES IN NEW CANAAN IN A STYLE SIMILAR TO THAT
OF MIES; THE HODGSON HOUSE (1951) AND THE WILEY HOUSE (1953). IN 1953 HE ALSO CREATED
AN ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURE GARDEN FOR THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART IN NEW YORK

The Interfaith Peace Chapel

 JOHNSON JOINED MIES VAN DER ROHE AS THE NEW YORK ASSOCIATE ARCHITECT
FOR THE 39-STORY SEAGRAM BUILDING (1956). JOHNSON WAS PIVOTAL IN STEERING THE
COMMISSION TOWARDS MIES BY WORKING WITH PHYLLIS LAMBERT, THE DAUGHTER OF
THE CEO OF SEAGRAM. THE COMMISSION RESULTED IN THE ICONIC BRONZE-AND-GLASS
TOWER ON PARK AVENUE. THE BUILDING WAS DESIGNED BY MIES.THE INTERIORS OF THE
FOUR SEASONS AND BRASSERIE RESTAURANTS WERE DESIGNED BY JOHNSON

THE SEAGRAM BUILDING

FOLLOWING THE SEAGRAM BUILDING HE BUILT SEVERAL SMALLER PROJECTS IN A MORE PERSONAL,
EXPRESSIVE STYLE, WITH ORNAMENT TOUCHES AND FEATURES FAR FROM THE SOBRIETY OF THE
MODERNIST STYLE; THE SYNAGOGUE OF PORT CHESTER NEW YORK, WITH A PLASTER VAULTED
CEILING AND NARROW COLORED WINDOWS (1954–56); THE ART GALLERY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
NEBRASKA WITH AN ARRAY OF SYMMETRICAL ARCS (1963); (THE ROOFLESS CHURCH IN NEW
HARMONY, INDIANA WITH A MUSHROOM-SHAPED ROOF COVERED WITH WOOD SHINGLES (1960).
IN 1960 HE ALSO BUILT A SEVERELY MODERNIST MONASTERY BUILDING FOR IN THE EXPANSION
OF ST. ANSELM'S ABBEY IN WASHINGTON, D.C

MONASTERY BUILDING
 CRYSTAL

CATHEDRAL
The Williams Tower 

IN 1980, JOHNSON COMPLETED A NEW BUILDING IN A STARTLING NEW STYLE;

THE CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL IN GARDEN GROVE, CALIFORNIA, A SOARING GLASS NEO-
GOTHIC MEGACHURCH FOR THE REVEREND ROBERT H. SCHULLER. IT BECAME
A SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LANDMARK. IN 2012 IT WAS PURCHASED BY THE ROMAN
CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF ORANGE TO BECOME THE CATHEDRAL FOR ORANGE COUNTY.
IT WAS ONE THING TO BUILD A GLASS CATHEDRAL IN CALIFORNIA, AND ANOTHER TO
BUILD A CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS SKYSCRAPER IN THE CENTER OF MANHATTAN, THE
SHOWCASE OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE. SHORTLY AFTER THE CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL,
WORKING IN COLLABORATION WITH JOHN BURGEE, HE COMPLETED ONE OF HIS MOST
RECOGNIZABLE BUILDINGS, THE AT&T BUILDING (LATER NAMED THE SONY BUILDING, AND
NOW 550 MADISON AVENUE). BUILT BETWEEN 1978 AND 1982, A SKYSCRAPER WITH AN
EIGHT-STORY HIGH ARCHED ENTRY AND A SPLIT PEDIMENT AT THE TOP WHICH
RESEMBLED AN ENORMOUS PIECE OF 18TH-CENTURY CHIPPENDALE FURNITURE. IT WAS
NOT THE FIRST WORK OF POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURE—ROBERT VENTURI AND FRANK
GEHRY HAD ALREADY BUILT SMALLER SCALE POSTMODERN BUILDINGS, AND MICHAEL
GRAVES HAD COMPLETED THE PORTLAND BUILDING IN PORTLAND OREGON (1980–82)
TWO YEARS BEFORE THE AT&T BUILDING; AND MOST OF THE BUILDING WAS IN A
TRADITIONAL MODERNIST STYLE; BUT BECAUSE OF ITS MANHATTAN LOCATION AND SIZE
IT BECAME THE MOST FAMOUS EXAMPLE OF POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURE.