A Parochial View of Philip Johnson (1906 - 2005)

Philip Johnson, widely prized as the dean of 20th century American architecture, left his foot prints locally here in Cambridge and across the river in Boston. Our view might be a bit less enthusiastic than all of the gushing about Johnson's glass house in New Canaan, CT. Here are a few images of "our" Philip Johnson:

A street-level view of Johnson's student thesis project on Ash St. Cambridge:

From the stairs of a Radcliffe building, one can just see the expanse of glass hidden behind the wall - a harbinger of the house in new Canaan.

Not much respect or even acknowledgement of neighboring structures, except, perhaps, to say, "I don't want to relate at all."

Most find his addition to the Boston Public Library a success both in how it relates to the old 1895 McKim, Meade and White Renaissance Revival structure and to the way the extension works as a library.

Then, from the same mind that invented the Chippendale tower for AT&T in NYC:

came International Place in 1985 with its riot of Palladian windows:

You judge.

A note on the photos: the first two are by me (part of a series on contemporary architecture in Cambridge), the remainder are borrowed without permission form various websites, mostly real estate companies.