Plano’s Edith Farnsworth House is architectural masterpiece

Visitors found peace and tranquility at Plano’s Edith Farnsworth House on July 23 during a special celebration on the lush, idyllic grounds, site of an architectural masterpiece.

“It’s a sanctuary. It helps you let go of material things,” said Melissa Jones of Rockford, who is a big fan of architecture and has visited the Farnsworth House many times.

Designed by famed modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the house sits near the north bank of the Fox River on a secluded site.

Constructed in 1952, the steel and glass design seems to float above the floodplain. The interior is filled by natural light and provides stunning views of the foliage surrounding the house.

Docent John Palmatier provided tours of the house and answered questions from visitors.

“I love how incredibly peaceful and tranquil the place is,” Palmatier said. “It removes stress and tension. You have nature surrounding you constantly.”

The story of Farnsworth commissioning Mies to design the house, only for them to end up in recriminations and a lawsuit, is well known.

Less well known was the home’s second owner, British Lord Peter Palumbo, who bought the property from Farnsworth in 1972. A developer and philanthropist, he used the house as a vacation home for entertaining guests. He sold the property to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2003.

Museum staff and visitors hosted a party on the grounds outside the house in observance of Palumbo’s birthday. They had hoped to wish Palumbo a happy birthday via a virtual connection with the baron at his home in England, but the 88-year-old recently was fitted with a heart pacemaker and was unable to attend.

During his ownership, Palumbo added a riverside boathouse, a swimming pool and a tennis court to the property, but all are located well away and out of sight from the house.

None of these has been used in years, and while not original to the house, are now part of the property’s history, said Scott Mehaffey, the museum director and curator. “No one’s lived in this house full time. It’s always been a getaway.”

Karen Ehrisman, the site’s tourism and marketing director, finds inspiration in the natural surroundings.

“There is a sense of serenity and peace here,” Ehrisman said. “The land was here first and inspired Edith Farnsworth to create a place of her own.”

“We have Edith Farnsworth and Lord Palumbo, with Mies woven in-between these two stories.”

Maintaining the home is expensive, Mehaffey said. Replacing the giant plate glass panes is a laborious process.

Although Mies placed the house atop 5-foot, 3-inch slits, it has flooded as recently as 2012. A flood in 1996 resulted in 6 feet of water inside the house.

“It was a goldfish bowl,” Mehaffey said. “This house would not be permitted today.”

The Edith Farnsworth House attracts about 9,000 visitors a year, Mehaffey said, down slightly from its pre-pandemic level. About a third of the site’s visitors come from outside the United States.

Three architecture students from Ball State University in Indiana were marveling at the home’s design.

Shabnam Rajani of India, Allan Killion of Brazil and Kapua Arsiga of Hawaii said they had come to visit the at the recommendation of a professor. The three were almost incredulous at the simplicity of the design and how its structural components were connected.

“I’m impressed by how things come together,” Rajani said.