A limited number of AIA national convention attendees will have the opportunity to tour Mies van der Rohe’s iconic Farnsworth House Sunday, June 13, the day after the AIA National Convention ends.

“We’ve completely renovated the Visitor’s Center so that it is Modernist in feel and aesthetically much less objectionable than it was before,” says David Bahlmer, president of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, one of the three organizations that put together a $6.7-million winning bid to save the house from an unknown fate after its previous owner put the house on the Sotheby’s auction block late last year. The other two groups were the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which holds the deed to the house, and the Chicago-based Friends of the Farnsworth House. The AIA Board of Directors voted to contribute $100,000 to help save the house. In addition, many individual architects and firms pledged matching funds.

Bahlmer says the visitor’s center “will be outfitted with Modernist fixtures.” He also says, “We’ve put a 36-foot screen up in front of the building to hide itself a bit. It was a completely metal building inside and out—metal walls, metal ceiling, metal exterior—and we’ve tried to mitigate as much as possible the pre-fabricated appearance of the building.” Bahlmer explains the $200,000 renovation also includes a media/audio-visual room, gift shop, and bookstore.

Fall in love . . . with Mies
Of course, the house and its surrounding 57 acres and outbuildings are the main attraction. “We have very experienced tour guides who will take people through the house in groups of 10, explain the architecture and the history of the house, and answer any questions anyone might have,” Bahlmer says. The tour includes reproductions of Mies-designed furniture and original furniture by Chicago architect Dirk Lohan, FAIA, Mies’ grandson, who led the restoration after the house flooded in 1996.

Completed in 1951, the Farnsworth House, a glass marvel of Modern architecture, was built for its namesake, the late Dr. Edith Farnsworth, who commissioned Mies to design a weekend retreat. Arguably one of the most architecturally significant houses of the 20th century, the transparent Farnsworth House hovers in a meadow overlooking the Fox River, just outside of Plano, Ill., about 60 miles southwest of Chicago.

Tour this house and you, too, may be bitten with the love bug. Two architects have already chosen the grounds around the site for their July wedding, Bahlmer says.

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