The Glass House Grounds
To describe the Philip Johnson Glass House as merely that—a glass house—is more than an understatement. As the hub of the 47-acre grounds, the house encompasses much more than simply the minimalist, one room, glass-and-steel structure for which the site is named. The use of glass as a material underscores this broad acceptance of all that surrounds it, simultaneously revealing the interior to the outside (and vice-versa), while also reflecting its surroundings. In this way, Johnson didn't create a singular work of architecture in the Glass House, but a complex of structures that exist in balance with each other and the landscape.
Johnson built the home for himself and his partner of 45 years, David Whitney, an art collector and critic, and they both lived on the property as a weekend home and eventually permanent residence, from when the Glass House was built in 1949 until they passed away just months apart in 2005. As homeowners, especially creatives, are wont to do, over the years Johnson and Whitney continuously adapted and adjusted the property around the Glass House, building and collaborating on structures and elements of the landscape.
The property is now home to a collection of 13 additional structures, including the Brick House; an art gallery; a sculpture gallery; and a gate house. The Glass House sits shielded from public view by a waist-high stone wall, down the hill from a quiet road in lush New Canaan, CT. It is surrounded on three sides by a forested area that constitutes much of the 47 acres, overlooking the valley of the small Rippowam River.
Within the Glass House, and in the structures surrounding it, Johnson composed a series of "asymmetric sliding rectangles" and circles which balance and play off of one another. The Glass House (rectangle) is sited at the edge of a relatively flat, rectangular plane surrounded by hills and valleys. Several yards and directly across from it in the plane sits a round pool (circle). Next to and in alignment with the pool (but several yards away) sits the Brick House (rectangle), which, at 56’, is the same length, but half as wide (16’) as its glass counterpoint. And finally, next to and in alignment with the Brick House (but several yards away) sits a Donald Judd concrete installation (circle), Untitled, commissioned by Johnson in 1971.
Donald Judd's Untitled, 1971
Donald Judd and Philip Johnson were friends, which led to the commissioned piece at Johnson's home in 1971. For Johnson and Whitney, Judd created the site-specific piece, his first ever in concrete. The installation is a concrete ring, and in approaching the Glass House from the entrance road, it is the first element in Johnson's "asymmetric sliding planes" and circles that one encounters. Unfortunately, very little documentation exists on how much Judd and Johnson went back and forth on the development of the work.
