Mies was the first to conceive such a glass house, yet the Farnsworth is no mere novelty. While the house stands apart from nature, an abstracted version of a Greek temple, it actually is a remarkable lens through which to view nature. And that view has been available to the public since 1997, when the present owner, British peer Lord Peter Palumbo, opened the house for tours. It will pay off handsomely. Sure, the Farnsworth House has attracted only about 5,000 people a year, but with some shrewd marketing, that number could increase to 25,000 or even 50,000 a year, as Bryan predicts.
Culture is power.
It also is one of the last designs Wright did before he died in 1959. Like the best of Wright's work, the house is at once profoundly integrated with nature yet a distinct human presence, its sharp-edged corners jutting into space like ships' prows. But Singer still wants the house to be moved so he can build another one on the property, according to Mimi Bass, the real estate agent representing the seller. Wright clearly designed this building for the site on which it sits. In addition, the brick house is built on a shallow bed of gravel and will be far more difficult to move than a wood-frame house whose structure can be transported in a single piece.