Philip Johnson designed the Glass House, a modernist residence completed in New Canaan, Connecticut, in 1949.
The house is a nearly transparent rectangular pavilion with glass walls and a steel frame. Johnson designed it as his own residence on a large landscaped property, where it is paired with several other structures, including the brick-covered Brick House. The project is celebrated for its radical simplicity and for treating landscape as part of the living environment.
The Glass House reflects the influence of European modernism, particularly the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. That influence often causes an attribution mistake, but the building was designed by Johnson. Mies designed the famous Farnsworth House in Illinois, another glass-and-steel residence, but it is a separate project.
The Glass House is now operated as a historic site and museum. Its significance extends beyond residential design: it demonstrates how a house can function as an architectural experiment, a landscape composition, and a highly recognizable piece of cultural real estate.