Architectural Focus: New book on Plano’s Edith Farnsworth House highlights Illinois’ modern treasure
Riverside resident Michelangelo Sabatino has a keen interest in Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the famed architect who shaped Chicago’s skyline. His new book, “The Edith Farnsworth House: Architecture, Preservation, Culture,” examines the German-born architect’s work through the lens of the modern home he designed in Plano, Illinois (1945-1951) for physician Edith Farnsworth. The book also highlights the collective effort that led to the purchase of the Farnsworth House and its opening to the public.
The book’s recent release coincides with the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Edith Farnsworth House to the public in 2004.
Sabatino, a professor of architectural history and preservation at the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, had previously written the book “Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses 1929-1975” with historian and preservationist Susan S. Benjamin.
That book was about residential architecture in Chicago and its suburbs. The houses featured in the book showed the extent to which both Mies and Frank Lloyd Wright inspired Chicago-based architects. With his latest book, Sabatino says he wants to encourage design, architecture and nature lovers to venture outside of Chicagoland and take a trip to Plano, Illinois.
He said he knows many architecture lovers who travel abroad to see the sights, but then convince themselves they can always visit a closer destination, such as the Farnsworth House, at another time.
“The message to Chicagoans is to see the national landmark architecture in their own backyard or to revisit it at different times of the year,” he said.
Sabatino lamented the fact that apparently more people know the Farnsworth House through photographs than through an actual visit.
“If you rely only on photographs, you cannot directly experience the beauty and complexity of the Fox River Valley terrain,” he said.
By visiting the house in person, he said, people can understand the groundbreaking floating glass and steel structure’s relationship to a flood-prone site. It’s very rewarding to explore the house at your leisure with the help of knowledgeable museum guides. The building sits on 60 acres flanked by the Fox River and partially flowed through by Rob Roy Creek.
Mies van der Rohe met Edith Farnsworth at a dinner in Chicago in 1945 and was soon commissioned to design a weekend home for the unconventional doctor, whose interests included photography, poetry and music. The design and construction process was anything but straightforward and took six years.
Today, the one-room, 1,600-square-foot structure is celebrated as an important example of modern International Style architecture. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. Although the original purchase for nearly $7.5 million was made possible by Landmarks Illinois, National Trust for Historic Places, and Friends of the Farnsworth, the house is now owned and operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Sabatino noted that the house was renamed the Edith Farnsworth House in 2021 to further highlight the role Farnsworth played in its realization. “Over time, her name was no longer associated with the house. It became all about Mies,” he said.
Sabatino is particularly proud of the inclusion of three chapters about the house from Farnsworth’s unpublished memoirs in the book.
“After all the controversy and rumors about the client-architect relationship, this is a really great opportunity to read their side of the story directly.”
Farnsworth was a renowned nephrologist who was the third woman to graduate from Northwestern University Medical School in 1938 and was a pioneer in her own right.
While Sabatino acknowledged Farnsworth’s importance in designing the house, he added, “Through the process, I learned that you can’t write a book about a house as important as this one and only cover one of his lives.”
To that end, the book is divided into three parts, covering the three different owners: Farnsworth and Mies van der Rohe; the subsequent owner, British developer and philanthropist Lord Peter Palumbo, who lived in the house from 1972 to 2003; and the administration of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Landmarks Illinois.
Sabatino encourages Chicagoans to celebrate the anniversary of the house’s opening with a “vacation at home” and make the 60-mile drive to visit or revisit one of Chicago’s most famous landmarks.
Plan a trip
The Edith Farnsworth House is located about 60 miles south of Chicago in Plano, Illinois. The house and grounds are open for tours Wednesday through Sunday. Tickets are required. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit: https://edithfarnsworthhouse.org/tours/
Interested readers can support the EFH by purchasing a copy of Sabatino’s book directly from their visitor center shop: https://farnsworth-house.myshopify.com
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