Absenting Frank Lloyd Wright, Philip Johnson was perhaps the most famous and influential American architect of the 20th century. The Pritzker Prize winner (1979) was a pioneer in American modernism and later laid the intellectual and architectural groundwork for the post-modern and deconstructivist styles of the 1970s and 1980s. His thick, black round-framed glasses and high profile as a practicing architect, curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and public intellectual brought him to the fore of American design thinking, a place he occupied well into his advanced age. His masterpieces include the Glass House in New Canaan, CT, (1949) which is a near perfect expression of the modern desire to bring the outside in; the Seagram Building in New York, while working in the office of Mies Van der Rohe; the massive, glassed façade of the PPG Palace in Pittsburgh, PA,; the postmodern AT&T Building (1984) in New York; and one of the original megachurches, the Crystal Cathedral (1980) in Orange County, CA.

From the Archive: Philip Johnson’s Glass House Gets a Restoration
In 2007, we wrote about the icon reopening to the public—and to public scrutiny.
A Forgotten Philip Johnson Home Gets a New Lease on Life
For friends Jiminie Ha and Jeremy Parker, renovating and restoring a forgotten home by the controversial architect was a...
Philip Johnson’s Only Dallas House Asks $19.5M
An amplified version of the architect’s arched pavilion in New Canaan, Beck House has been expertly renovated and put back on the...
There's No Shortage of Glass in These 7 Homes Designed by Philip Johnson
It's safe to say that Philip Johnson was one of the most famous and influential American architects of the 20th century.
With $1 Million, You Can Save Philip Johnson’s First Commissioned House
Under threat and in need of a new owner, the Booth House in Bedford, New York, is a minimal dwelling with a deep connection to...
After a Year on the Market, Philip Johnson’s Wiley House Drops by $2 Million
The influence that Philip Johnson had on midcentury architecture in New Canaan, Connecticut is undeniable.
Soren Rose
For our latest installment of Three Buildings, we turned to Danish designer Søren Rose.