In 1979, the first ever Pritzker Prize was awarded to Philip Johnson (July 8, 1906—January 25, 2005) for his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. Today marks the 111th birth anniversary of the world renowned architect. The Pritzker Architecture Prize, often referred to as the noble prize for architecture is awarded annually “to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.”
A champion of the modernist and post-modernist movement in the US, his modernist works such as The Seagram Building and the Glass House and post-modernist works like 550 Madison Avenue and the Lipstick Building are landmarks of the American urban landscape.
1. HARVARD GRADUATE
Philip Johnson first attended Harvard to complete an undergraduate education in Classics, studying history and philosophy, specially the work of the pre-Socratic philosophers, philology and Greek, graduating in 1927. It was only in 1941 that he returned to Harvard and enrolled in the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he studied to become an architect.
2. CURATOR & CRITIC
Joining the architecture department of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, after his undergraduate studies, Johnson curated the museum’s first exhibition on Modern architecture. He quit MoMA for a short stint in journalism and politics, before returning as a curator and writer in 1946 parallel to setting up his architectural practice. He was enlisted in the US Army from 1941 to 1946.
3. AN OPENLY GAY ARCHITECT
Life partner of art curator, collector and critic David Whitney for 45 years, until their deaths five months apart, Johnson came out to the world in 1993 and was called “the best known openly gay architect in America”.
4. PUSHED OUT OF HIS OWN COMPANY
In 1991, John Burgee the other half of Johnson/Burgee Architects pushed Johnson entirely out of 24 years of partnership, earlier having negotiated a smaller part for the architect. Burgee consequently went bankrupt following arbitration and retired in California.
5. SYMPATHETIC TO THE NAZI CAUSE
Johnson travelled to Berlin as a correspondent for populist and often anti-Semitic newspaper Social Justice to cover the German invasion of Poland in 1939 and faced a a lot of criticism for his support of the extreme populist Governor of Louisiana Huey Long and Father Charles Coughlin. The New York Times reported Johnson express “more than passing admiration for Hitler”.
He told his biographer, Franz Shultze, “You simply could not fail to be caught up in the excitement of it, by the marching songs, by the crescendo and climax of the whole thing, as Hitler came on at last to harangue the crowd,” and how thrilling the sight of “all those blond boys in black leather” marching past the Führer was.
He apologised for his ‘stupid views’ and donated plans for the Jewish congregation, Congregation Kneses Tifereth Israel in Port Chester, New York as repentance.
6. INVESTIGATED BY THE FBI
The FBI investigated Johnson regarding his contacts with the German government and his support for Coughlin, who opposed American intervention in World War II, but he was cleared.
7. HELPED MIES VAN DER ROHE MOVE TO THE US
As the world witnessed the rise of Nazis in Germany, Modernist architects Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breuer were forced to flee their homeland. Johnson used his political connections to help the architects immigrate to the US and setup a practice.
8. DAVID BOWIE SANG ABOUT HIM
On September 25, 1995 David Bowie released his concept album Outside, centred on the characters of a dystopian world on the eve of the 21st century. One of the songs “Thru These Architect’s Eyes” mentions Philip Johnson.
9. DONALD TRUMP’S SKYSCRAPERS
Donald Trump commissioned Johnson to design several residential skyscrapers in New York, including Trump Place in Riverside South, Manhattan.
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