Architects Mies van der Rohe, Modern Building Photos, Projects, 20th C Architecture Designs, Info, Picture

Mies van der Rohe Architect

Modern Architecture: Key 20th Century Buildings Information & Images

post updated May 19, 2023

Mies van der Rohe – Key Architecture

We feature the major designs by this celebrated architect:

– Barcelona Pavilion, Spain
– Farnsworth House, USA
– 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments, USA
– Tugendhat Villa, Czech Republic

posted Aug 14, 2017
Glass House Presents: The Modern Interior

Thursday, September 28, 2017, 5:30 – 8:00pm

The Modern Interior – Tickets

Join curators David A. Hanks, Juliet Kinchin, and Hilary Lewis for a discussion about the furniture inside the Glass House, much of which derives from Philip Johnson’s 1930 New York apartment designed by architect Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich.

Philip Johnson’s Glass House event

4 May 2016
Mies van der Rohe Building Renovation Funding
Catholic Pastoral Center in Des Moines
Date built: 1959-62

This Mies van der Rohe-designed building will undergo an extensive renovation, reports archinect.
A boxy steel and glass building standing just three stories tall, the Catholic Pastoral Center at 601 Grand Ave. doesn’t command a lot of attention. But among local architects and history buffs, it has a cult following.

photo courtesy google street view

“This is a building that appears in architecture textbooks,” said Jennifer James, an architectural historian.

Now, the building is poised for a $10m renovation that Catholic Diocese of Des Moines officials say will extend its life another 50 years — Des Moines Register
One of the first steel and glass modernist buildings in Des Moines, it was originally known as the Home Fede
ral Savings and Loan building and opened in 1962.

The building exemplifies Miesian geometry: its marble tiles, railings, and exterior form are all square. The renovation will replace antiquated plumbing, lighting, heating and other mechanics, as well as replace a hole left over from a skywalk entrance that was recently removed.

Link: http://archinect.com/news/article/149943531/a-hidden-mies-van-der-rohe-masterpiece-receives-funding-for-renovation

Mies van der Rohe Gas Station, Nun’s Island, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Restoration design: Les architectes FABG

photo : Steve Montpetit
Mies van der Rohe Gas Station
This is one of a number of structures built by Metropolitan Structures, a real estate giant who had built numerous projects in Chicago with the collaboration of this celebrated 20th Century architect.

Building News

Wolf House in Guben

photo courtesy wikimedia commons – Von Assenmacher – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27162288

Wolf House in Guben by Mies van der Rohe – 15 Apr 2016
For almost 20 years, the cuboid forms of the German-American architect’s Wolf House was located the town of Guben on the Neisse River in Germany.

But in 1945, as the Soviet Army approached from the east, the owners of the house, the Wolf family, fled, and their home was destroyed in the chaos that ensued, reports the New York Times.

Miesian Architecture
Miesian Architecture : architectural article by James Khamsi for e-architect, 16 Oct 2013

Gene Summers
Chicago architect Gene Summers, 83, dies.

December 12, 2011 – Gene was an assistant to Mies. He was later dean of IIT’s College of Architecture, from 1989 to 1993.

Gene worked with Mies van der Rohe on such celebrated projects as the Seagram Building in New York and the Chicago Federal Center.

Born in 1928 in San Antonio, Texas, he received his bachelor’s degree from Texas A & M University in 1949 and his master’s in 1951 from IIT, where he studied under Mies.

From 1950 until 1966, he served as a project architect in Mies’ office.

Gene Summers was later partner in charge of design at C.F. Murphy Associates, where he was the chief architect of McCormick Place, completed in 1971.

Mies van der Rohe Buildings

Barcelona Pavilion, Barcelona, Spain
Date built: 1929; reconstructed 1983-86
The Barcelona Pavilion is probably the most famous and respected building this architect. Other key buildings by Mies include the Farnsworth House, the Tugendhat House in the Czech Republic, Crown Hall at IIT and Lake Shore Apartments in Chicago.

photograph © Adrian Welch
Barcelona Pavilion
The building is also known as the ‘Mies van der Rohe Pavilion’.

Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois, USA
Date built: 1950

picture © gm+ad architects
Farnsworth House
Modern house design for Dr. Edith Farnsworth: she sold the home in 1972 to Lord Palumbo – beautiful floating planes, a famous example of Modern architecture.

860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Date built: 1951

photo : William Zbaren
Lake Shore Drive Apartments
Exposed steel and glass apartment towers, classic Mies van der Rohe architecture. Apparently no other building by this architect had as immediate or strong an impact on his American contemporaries, and the influence of these structures was to pervade much of modern architecture.

Tugendhat House, Brno, Czech Republic
Date built: 1930

photograph © Adrian Welch
Tugendhat house
The Tugendhat House is – for me – one of the best buildings I’ve visited. With its floor-to-soffit glazing that electronically slid into the walls below to the key entertaining spaces, its beautiful use of materials and tightly-controlled plan the house is a joy. The red onyx wall is orientated orthogonally but also with an eye to the sunsets: it glows a deep red colour with speckles of black and white where the onyx contains other stones and small holes.

The German architect emigrated to the USA in 1938

Another key building by the architect is the Seagram Building in New York:

Seagram Building, 375 Park Avenue, New York City, USA
Date built: 1958
Design with Philip Johnson, architect
Seagram Building

Major Buildings by Mies van der Rohe in America

Crown Hall + IIT Masterplan, Chicago, Illinois
1940-
Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois
1950
Lake Shore Apartments, Chicago, Illinois
1951
Seagram Building, New York
1958

Farnsworth House

image © gm+ad architects

Buildings in the USA open to the public

Farnsworth House, 14520 River Road, Plano, Illinois
Date built: 1950

Crown Hall – IIT, 3360 South State Street, Chicago, Illinois
Date built: 1940-
Design with Pace Associates & C. F. Murphy Associates
College of Architecture building, Illinois Institute of Technology

IIT Masterplan incl. Illinois Institute of Technology Building
Date built: 1940

Seagram Building, 375 Park Avenue, New York City, NY
Date built: 1958
Design with Philip Johnson, architect
Details & proportions influenced by Lake Shore Drive in Chicago
Open to the public: Seagram Gallery + Four Seasons Restaurant
Tours: every Tue, 3 pm
Seagram Building – Contact: +1 212 572 7000

Illinois Institute of Technology Buildings

Building in the USA not open to the public

860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments, Chicago, Illinois
Date built: 1948-51

Other Mies van der Rohe Buildings

Buildings listed chronologically:

Wolf House, Guben, Germany/Poland 1926
Hermann Lange House, Krefeld, Germany 1928
Josef Esters House, Krefeld, Germany 1930
Karl Lemke House – Landhaus Lemke, Berlin, Germany 1932/33
Toronto Dominion Centre, Toronto, Canada 1967
Mellon Hall of Science, Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania, USA 1968
Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany 1968
IBM Building, Chicago, Illinois, USA 1971
Chicago Federal Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA 1974

National Gallery Building, Berlin, Germany:

photo © Adrian Welch

Mies van der Rohe Architecture

Key buildings by the architect listed alphabetically:

Barcelona Pavilion, Barcelona, Spain
Chicago Federal Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Crown Hall + IIT Masterplan, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Farnsworth House, Plano, USA
IBM Building, Chicago, USA
Lake Shore Apartments, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Landhaus Lemke, Berlin, Germany
Mellon Hall of Science, Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania, USA
Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
Seagram Building, New York, USA
Toronto Dominion Centre, Toronto, Canada
Weissenhof apartment house, Stuttgart, Germany

Building photos welcome at info(at)e-architect.com

This Modern architect originally based his architecture practice in Germany, but after the Second World War started he spent most of his career in the United States of America. He was a celebrated International Style architect.

Fellow major Modern architects include Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius.

Mies van der Rohe Awards

Winner of RIBA Gold Medal 1959:
RIBA Gold Medal

National Gallery Berlin, Germany:
National Gallery Berlin Building

Barcelona Pavilion photos

Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States of America