A Trip to Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Canaan, CT

Anyone who has ever delved into modern architecture has hoped to be able to visit this house. It was built in 1949 but Johnson lived and entertained there and the public was not going to be allowed to visit until after his death. He finally died 3 years ago (he was 98 1/2) and the place has been open to the public for 3 years. We were surprised when we got there to find out it was situated on 46 acres and that it is more a work of landscape architecture than just architecture. I was not supposed to take pictures but I sneaked them. That's why there's no good picture of the interior of the house. But strategically placed around the 46 acres is the main glass house which you can see in the background, an underground art gallery that is enclosed by a berm (there is no picture of this), a statuary bldg. that basically looks like a greenhouse (note the play of the shadows of the roof structure on the floor and the statuary), a separate library (the little brown bldg.), a pond and a tower, and also the round swimming pool (which is 6 1/2 feet deep). Everyone on the tour had quite a knowledge of the subject matter; they were either architects or educators in the field and then me and Ed. We all had a very good time. New Canaan is only 23 miles from the Bronx. There were 3 Julian Schnabel works on the property. He was very current with what he collected. The only painting in the main house was a Poussin.