PHILIP
CORTELYOU
JOHNSON
• Philip Cortelyou Johnson was an American architect.
• Born: 8 July 1906, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
• Died: 25 January 2005, New Canaan, Connecticut, United States
• He is the son of a Cleveland lawyer, Homer Hosea Johnson (1862–1960), and the former
Louisa Osborn Pope (1869–1957).
• He is best known for his works of Modern architecture.
THE MODERNIST PERIOD (1949–
1979)
• The Glass House, or Johnson house, is
a historic house museum on Ponus Ridge Road
in New Canaan, Connecticut. Built in 1948–49,
it was designed by Philip Johnson as his own
residence.
• The Seagram Building is a skyscraper, located at 375
Park Avenue, between 52nd Street and 53rd Street in Midtown
Manhattan, New York City. The integral plaza, building, stone
faced lobby and distinctive glass and bronze exterior were
designed by German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe.
• Philip Johnson designed the interior of The Four Seasons and
Brasserie restaurants. Kahn & Jacobs were associate
architects. Severud Associates were the structural engineering
consultants.
• The Seagram building was completed in 1958.
• The Kunsthalle Bielefeld is a modern and contemporary
art museum in Bielefeld, Germany. It was designed
by Philip Johnson in 1968, and paid for by the
businessman and art patron Rudolf August Oetker.
• The Johnson building
• Designed by Philip Johnson, a
late modernist addition (which
somewhat anticipated postmodernist
architecture) was built in 1967–1971
and opened in 1972. The Johnson
building reflects similar proportions,
and is built of the same pink Milford
granite as the McKim building.
• The IDS Center is an office skyscraper located
at 80 South 8th Street
in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Completed in 1972,
it is the tallest building in Minneapolis, and
the tallest building in the state at a height of 792
feet (241 m).
• Thanks-Giving Square is a private park and public
facility anchoring the Thanksgiving Commercial Center
district of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA).
POSTMODERN PERIOD (1980–
1990)
• Christ Cathedral, formerly known as the
Crystal Cathedral, is an American church
building of the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Orange in California. The reflective glass
building designed by postmodern American
architect Philip Johnson and located in Garden
Grove, Orange County, seats 2,248 people.
• The Williams Tower (originally named the Transco
Tower) is a 64-story, 1.4-million-square-foot
(130×103 m2) class A office tower located in the Uptown
District of Houston, Texas. The building was designed
by New York-based John Burgee Architects with Philip
Johnson in association with Houston-based Morris-
Aubry Architects (now known as Morris Architects).
• 550 Madison Avenue (formerly known as the Sony
Tower or Sony Plaza and before that the AT&T
Building), is an iconic postmodern 647-foot-tall (197-
meter), 37-story highrise skyscraper located at
550 Madison Avenue in Manhattan. Designed by Philip
Johnson, it was formerly the headquarters of Sony
Corporation of America, and is the 95th tallest building
in New York City. The tower was purchased by
the Olayan Group and Chelsfield for $1.4 billion in
2016.
• PPG Place is a complex in downtown
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, consisting of six buildings
within three city blocks and five and a half acres. Named
for its anchor tenant, PPG Industries, who initiated the
project for its headquarters, the buildings are all of
matching glass design consisting of 19,750 pieces of
glass. The complex centers on One PPG Place, a 40-
story office building.
• The Lipstick Building (also known as 53rd at Third) is
a 453-foot (138 meter) tall skyscraper located at
885 Third Avenue, between East 53rd Street and 54th
Street, across from the Citigroup
Center in Manhattan, New York City, United States. It
was completed in 1986 and has 34 floors. The building
was designed by John Burgee Architects with Philip
Johnson. The building receives its name from its shape
and color, which resembles a tube of lipstick.
LATER CAREER AND BUILDINGS
(1991–2005)
• The Chapel of St. Basil is
a chapel on the campus of
the University of St.
Thomas in Houston, TX, designed
by Philip Johnson in 1997.
• Ally Detroit Center, formerly One Detroit
Center, is a skyscraper and class-A office
building located downtown which overlooks
the Detroit Financial District.
• The Gate of Europe towers
(Spanish: Puerta de Europa), also
known as KIO Towers (Torres KIO),
are twin office buildings near the Plaza
de Castilla in Madrid, Spain. The
towers have a height of 114 m (374 ft)
and have 26 floors. They were
constructed from 1989 to 1996. The
Puerta de Europa is the second
tallest twin towers in Spain after
the Torres de Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz
de Tenerife.
• The Gerald D. Hines College of
Architecture was founded in 1956
and is one of twelve academic
colleges of the University of
Houston.
• Urban Glass House is
a condominium building designed by
American architect Philip
Johnson located in the Hudson
Square neighborhood
of Manhattan, New York
City. Completed in 2006, it was
Johnson's final project, as he did not
live to see construction finished.
• The Ware Center is a performing arts
center located
in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. First
opened in 2008, it has been a satellite
campus of Millersville
University since 2010. Along with
the Winter Center, The Ware Center is
a venue for Millersville University’s
Department of Visual & Performing
Arts.
HONORS
• In 1978, Johnson was awarded an American Institute of Architects
Gold Medal. In 1979 he became the first recipient of the
Pritzker Architecture Prize the most prestigious international architectural
award.
• In 1991, Johnson received the Golden Plate Award of the
American Academy of Achievement.
PERSONAL LIFE
• In 1934, Philip Johnson met Jimmie Daniels, cabaret singer. Daniels was Johnson's
first serious relationship. The relationship lasted only one year and Johnson would
recall later that "a terrible man stole him away—who had better sex with him, I
gather. But I was naughty. I went to Europe and I would never think of taking Jimmie
along."
• Johnson, at the age of ninety-eight, died in his sleep while at his Glass House retreat
on January 25, 2005. He was survived by his partner of 45 years, David
Whitney, who died later that year at age 66.
• Johnson was gay, and has been called "the best-known openly gay architect in
America." He came out publicly in 1993.
• In his will Johnson left his residential compound to the National Trust for Historic
Preservation. It is now open to the public.
QUOTATIONS
• "I got everything from someone. Nobody can be original. As Mies van der Rohe said, 'I don't want to be
original. I want to be good.'"
• "Don't build a glass house if you're worried about saving money on heating."
• "Architecture is the arrangement of space for excitement".
• "Storms in this house (The Glass House) are horrendous but thrilling. Glass shatters. Danger is one of the
greatest things to use in architecture."
• "A room is only as good as you feel when you're in it".
• "Merely that a building works is not sufficient”.
• "We still have a monumental architecture. To me, the drive for monumentality is as inbred as the desire for
food and sex, regardless of how we denigrate it”.
• “Architecture is the art of how to waste space”.
• I hate vacations. If you can build buildings, why sit on the beach?”
• All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or
stimulates the persons in that space”.
• All architects want to live beyond their deaths”.
