Fleas van der Rohe
I promised a few new friends that I would blog about an unexpected guest on our tour, so they would know his status. I was in the pleasant company of a couple of architects from London recently and one of them spotted a baby squirrel in the middle of the path. It was cold and rainy and I was compelled to pick him up and bring him with us on the tour. My guests, with absolute respect, decided on the name Fleas van der Rohe. I am happy to report that he is doing well and has been my constant companion for two days. I am confident that tomorrow morning, when I leave him at the base of the tree, mom or dad will come retrieve him.
He is quiet in my care and eating well, but when we leave him on the path he makes quite a racket, calling for someone to come get him. Tomorrow, early in the morning, I’m certain that he will be swept into the nest by his parents.
It is an indication of all the new that spring can bring to the Farnsworth House. The Daffodils are beginning to bloom with the Virginia Blue Bells not far behind. The monotone of winter, though lovely in its own right, gives way to the vibrant colors of spring. The fish are jumping, the wildlife is abundant, the trees are in bud and the deer will be nudging their young out of the woods soon. I love this time of year. Every day brings abundance, change and growth. There is no better place to see it all than the interior of the Farnsworth House.
We are open for tours and glad to have visitors again. You should think about a visit, but make a reservation first! We’re filling up!
Whitney French
Farnsworth House Site Director
Tour Season Off to a Good Start!
Finally, spring is springing and the guests are returning, the wildlife is emerging from a long winter’s rest and the tulips are beginning to bloom. It is really wonderful to be open for tours again at the Farnsworth House. We have hosted a charming flock of visitors during our first official week of opening. 150 people from around the world blessed us with their presence in week one of the 2009 season. I was happy to conduct the majority of the tours personally as our new volunteer tour guides become fully trained. Mother Nature was cooperative and the weather has been getting better everyday.
Our guests this past week included IIT exchange students from Spain (Barcelona and Madrid) and Dubai, UIC exchange students from the University of Delft in Holland, visitors from Japan, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Brazil and England. An enthusiastic group of Architecture students from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio and their captivated professors made their first journey here. We engaged in great debate over construction techniques and details. It is amazing how much I continue to learn from this fascinating building and the throngs of enthusiasts who spend time with me here.
I hope everyone who is following this blog has an opportunity to visit us this year. We continue to receive comments from our guests that our hospitality and the house have exceeded their expectations. That makes all of our hard work quite rewarding.
Hope to see you soon!
Whitney French
Farnsworth House Site Director
Volunteers Needed as Tour Guides
Last year we started a volunteer docent program at the Farnsworth House. We trained about 15 people at the beginning of the 2008 season and most of them came out several times to help us educate our visitors on the relevance of our architectural icon. It’s a pretty sweet gig if you are a fan. Beautiful days spent outside on a peaceful piece of property along the river mingling with fascinating people from around the world and sharing this amazing house with them. Most of last year’s docents are returning this year and will be joined by a new batch of 2009 trainees. We have received about 11 new applications this year and training began last Saturday. It was a great group and I am really excited to have them participating. They seem excited as well. More slots are available for tour guides so if you have an interest and are available, visit our volunteer page and submit an application for the tour guide program.
Other volunteer opportunities exist as well, including some landscape cleanup. We suffered high water again last week. Nothing high enough to get in the house but it seems we will be buried in mud forever. I can’t even envision being ready for opening day (April 1st), but somehow we will manage. It will be great to be open for tours again. It has been an extremely busy winter, but a little lonely too. If you can’t volunteer you should plan on a visit this season. We would love to see you!
Whitney French
Farnsworth House Site Director
Clipping Clones
We have been blessed by the incredible knowledge and generosity of our partners at the Morton Arboretum and today they sent Peter and David, two most pleasant gentlemen, to take clippings from our majestic Black Sugar Maple. We all recognize that the tree has led a full, productive life and its critical contribution to the architecture can not be overstated, but it will not live forever and so we are seeking ways to enjoy it long into the future. To that end, in the fall we collected seeds and brought them to Dr. Donnelley at the Morton Arboretum. He had staff put them in the chiller and soon they will be propagated in the green house.
The health of the tree causes some concern and we fear the success rate for the seed propagation will be limited, but we will wait and remain hopeful. Our next step was to invite Kris Bachtell to examine the tree’s health. He provided some valued advice and made the arrangements for today’s cloning activity.
The clippings that we took today will be spliced on to two year old Black Sugar Maple stock already in the green house at the arboretum. If we are successful, we will be growing genetic duplicates of our beloved tree, at least above the root system. Finally, this spring, we will fertilize and pamper the tree in the hopes that we can nurture it through another few years.
The skill and passion of the staff at the Morton Arboretum is unequaled and I am so grateful that they are sharing their expertise with us. I brought Peter and David into the house when we were done with the work, to warm up on the toasty travertine floor and to share the architecture with them with a similar passion. No other architecture is more tied to and respectful of the landscape and both men seemed delighted by the experience.
Whitney French
Farnsworth House Site Director
A Visit from Judson University Students
I had forgotten how lively it can be here until yesterday, when we made special arrangements for a group of second year architecture students from Judson University to visit. They were curious and engaged, some were actually difficult to pry off the site after their two-and-a-half-hour stay. Despite the snow and cold weather they spent a great deal of time outside the house taking photos. I caught one student writing I heart Farnsworth in the snow. It’s always great to have visitors who remind us why we work so hard to protect and preserve this architecture. This group will be challenged with a daunting task upon their return to class today. They must design an addition for the Farnsworth House. I will be curious to attend their annual presentation to see the ideas that emerged.
We are finalizing a promotion to encourage the student population to visit this year. If you are a student or a professor, encourage the trip. We hosted about 30 different university groups last year and we think, Chicago being the great architectural mecca that it is, we should be sharing it with many more. The majority of the visitors here leave with a similar exclamation, that the house must be seen to be appreciated.
Whitney French
Farnsworth House Site Director
January 15 Lecture
For those of you living in Chicago and having plans to be in Chicago on Thursday, January 15, I will be speaking at the Chicago Cultural Center in the Claudia Cassidy Theater on the second floor from 12:15 to 1 p.m. as part of Landmarks Illinois monthly Snapshots Lecture Series. This lecture is free and open to the public, so please make plans to join us.
The title of my talk is “Farnsworth House: Rising Water & Preservation.” Very timely given the rash of flooding we’ve experienced this past year. The bulk of my talk will be an overview of the history of floods at the house, a detailed timeline of events during the 2008 flood, and what we’re doing to tackle the ongoing issue of flood mitigation.
I hope to see you at the Chicago Cultural Center tomorrow!
Whitney French
Farnsworth House Site Director
A Near Flood Over the Holiday
We weathered a near miss over the holiday weekend. On Friday we had about 12 inches of snow on the frozen ground. The temperature rose quickly to near 40 causing the snow to quickly melt. If that weren’t enough to cause the river to rise, we also received 2 to 3 inches of rain Friday night and all day Saturday with temperatures nearing 60. Flood warnings were sent throughout our area.
To be safe we completely protected the collections in the house in just over 6o minutes with very few volunteers. Staff member Deena, her husband Dean, my daughter Cami, my husband Russ and Dave, a friend of the family, all went down Friday morning and raised and bagged and stacked everything. Thankfully Mother Nature chose not to test us with a winter flood. We are debating perhaps leaving everything raised through the remainder of the off season, or until work begins on the interior from the LAST damaging event in September.
The following picture was taken at 3 p.m. on Sunday, December 28. You can see why even a slight warning, it’s imperative that we protect the house immediately.
Whitney French
Site Manager for the Farnsworth House operator - Landmarks Illinois
Help Save the Farnsworth House by Donating Today.
Winter at the Farnsworth House
I took my camera to the house this morning to capture some concerning frost build up on the windows. The curtains, though thin, do a good job of insulating the glass on occassion and the north side of the house has seen some frost build up as the winter descends upon us.
This first set of photos shows the difference between this morning, when it was simply cold, and this afternoon when a snow storm arrived. When I left the house there was a peaceful 3 inch blanket of fresh snow with more falling as I type.
I spent the better half of my day at the visitors center, which is a rather cold, concrete floored pole building, and though smartly appointed and well designed, it is not the most comfortable place to spend a cold winters day. I am in the midst of wading through contracts and meeting FEMA requirements and so the chill can run pretty deep.
I opened the curtains at the house early in the day to allow the air to circulate and melt the frost off the windows and went back down to the house at day’s end to button it up. I brought the camera and shot the rest of these photos. The common theme was me sitting on the floor, successfully finding warmth in the radiant floor heat. The flakes were small, so its hard to see the snow actually falling, but it was sensational and I could have sat there all afternoon, watching the ice flow down the river.
We’re due more snow tonight, a day of sun tomorrow and then a warm up which promises rain, sleet, slush and snow melt….which reminds me…we’re still looking for suggestions on flood mitigation…have you submitted yours?
Whitney French
Site Manager for the Farnsworth House operator - Landmarks Illinois
Help Save the Farnsworth House by Donating Today.
Celebrating Our Fifth Anniversary
Today marks an historic day for the Farnsworth House. Five years ago, representatives from Landmarks Illinois (who operates and manages the House), Friends of the Farnsworth House and National Trust for Historic Preservation were huddled in a room at the Sotheby’s New York auction house frantically bidding on Mies’ modern masterpiece. Both organizations had worked feverishly to raise millions of dollars in an effort to try and save the House from being purchased, dismantled and moved from its original location. On December 12, 2005, the preservationist were victorious and made international history when the gavel slammed down claiming “sold.”
Since that time, the House has operated as a house museum welcoming nearly 30,000 visitors. We’ve learned a great deal in the past five years, remain continuously humbled by the houses appreciative admirers and still find mystery in the tremendous talent of the architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. We’ve weathered a couple floods - this year’s being the most damaging and we’re constantly trying to find better ways to protect the house, offer new and different tours and broaden our audience. These are some of the many challenges in running the Farnsworth House as a museum. But they are all overshadowed by the satisfaction we see in every visitor’s eyes and comments when they first see this modern masterpiece.
Our visitors have traveled from across the globe. I’ve been privileged to serve as the Director for two years now and I’ve met many of you. I never grow tired of hearing the stories of what the House means to you, or the excitement when the doors open and your feet touch the interior travertine for the first time. For those reasons and more, we will always consider this House as belonging to the people.
As always, thank you for your support. We look forward to the next five years and having a wonderful 10-year celebration on December 12, 2013. Until then, start making your plans now to come see us in 2009!
Whitney French
Site Manager for the Farnsworth House operator - Landmarks Illinois
Help Save the Farnsworth House by Donating Today.
A Nice Surprise
I’ve been inundated with meeting a few grant deadlines and meeting with project managers from FEMA and IEMA (Illinois Emergency Management Agency) so I apologize for neglecting this blog. The Farnsworth House Steering Committee had a very productive meeting last week as we continue the juggling act of preparing requests for proposals regarding a number of grant-based projects for much needed work on the house as well as the flood recovery work.
I will update you on those in the next day or two – in the meantime, I feel I must highlight a wonderful surprise I found in yesterday’s (Sunday) New York Times Style Magazine. April Reed with April Reed Cake Design in Manhattan, NY, has created an intriguing gingerbread version of the Farnsworth House which is being sold for $4,320, with 15 percent of the proceeds going to help us with flood restoration.
According to the article, it took April and her team “several days of photo researcha dn about 25 hours to construct the fondant-covered walls, poured-sugar ‘glass’ windows and sugar-paste I-beams and staircase.” Only a true lover of design would put such time and dedication into not only creating a gingerbread version of the Farnsworth House, but then dedicating a portion of the revenue to is restoration.
From all of us at the Farnsworth House – Thank you Amy! We hope this blog post sends along a happy buyer!
Whitney French
Site Manager for the Farnsworth House operator - Landmarks Illinois
Help Save the Farnsworth House by Donating Today.
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