Architect Philip Johnson Dies at Age 98

[Scurrilous]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=499&ncid=718&e=4&u=/ap/20050126/ap_on_en_ot/obit_johnson

<snip>

"Philip Johnson, the innovative architect who promoted the "glass box" skyscraper and then smashed the mold with daringly nostalgic post-modernist designs, has died. He was 98.

Johnson died Tuesday night at his home in New Canaan, Conn., according to Joel S. Ehrenkranz, his lawyer. John Elderfield, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art, also confirmed the death Wednesday.

Johnson's work ranged from the severe modernism of his New Canaan home, a glass cube in the woods, to the Chippendale-topped AT&T Building in New York City, now owned by Sony.


He and his partner, John Burgee, designed the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., an ecclesiastical greenhouse that is wider and higher than Notre Dame in Paris; the RepublicBank in Houston, a 56-story tower of pink granite stepped back in a series of Dutch gable roofs; and the Cleveland Playhouse, a complex with the feel of an 11th century town."

[fertilizeonarbusto]

1. RIP, Phil

:cry:

[NewYorkerfromMass]

2. He was important and influential

but not because he was innovative.
He admitted he was a "stylist", basically taking other people's ideas and trying to do them better. He also, along with Michael Graves, shocked the 70's post modernists by actually building historical throwbacks fully 3D, NOT the cartoon-like cutouts of Venturi. ATT being the big kick in the face.
He definitely had an eye for beauty, also being a good and fair critic of other architects.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents to any DU architectural enthusiasts.


Johnson House in New Canaan

[Minstrel Boy]

3. My knowledge of architecture is as slender as

From Bauhaus to Our House, but I know what I like, and I like Johnson's work.

[maxsolomon]

4. i admire his longevity.

would that i could be as there as he was at 98.

i guess he was an ok architect, but as a poor architect, i am always wary of those with estates in connecticut & the means to build whatever folly they wish.

[XNASA]

5. I enjoyed visiting his Water Wall in Houston when I lived there.

He had a great life. I've always wanted a pair of glasses like his.