Financing farnsworth

Residential Architect, March, 2004 by Shelley D. Hutchins

another icon of residential architecture has been saved. Thanks to more than 300 donors who ponied up $4 million just hours before the Sotheby's auction began, the National Trust for Historic Preservation acquired Mies van der Robe's 1951 Farnsworth House for $7.5 million (including auction fees of about $800,000). The National Trust partnered with the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois to rescue the house--which overlooks the Fox River, about 60 miles southwest of Chicago from an unknown fate. "We must preserve the house and its setting so that the design's integrity is protected," says Richard Moe, president of the National Trust. "An easement will be put on the site to prevent altering or moving of the house."

The Farnsworth House will reopen to the public this spring, and is currently available for academic research by architects and other design professionals. For information, call 312.658.0445 or go to www.farnsworthhousefriends.org.