I get on the bike to ride sixty miles outside of the city to visit the Farnsworth House designed by Mies van der Rohe. The first half of the ride is on highways, but the second half is through rural countryside and vast cornfields. The house is located on the Fox River in the town of Plano, IL. I arrive at the visitors center located just off a little two-lane farm road. My tour group includes another architect and her mother-in-law and our 60-something docent named Pam. We are led on the half-mile walk down a muddy path toward the house. While we walk, Pam asks me where I’m from. I tell her the story of my trip and where I’ve been. She is very excited and wants to hear all about the other buildings I’ve visited and the sights I’ve seen. My tourmates also join the conversation and soon we are engrossed in a conversation about travel, architecture and motorcycles. Suddenly, the chatting comes to a grinding halt as the three horizontal white planes of the house emerge from the lush green surroundings.

The Farnsworth House is another piece of architecture that I have looked at so many times in images and its amazing to finally see it in person. Designed in 1945, the house is one of the most uncompromised, exquisite pieces of modern architecture in the world. Seeing it in the flesh confirms this. There are numerous stories about the falling out between Dr. Farnsworth and Mies and how Dr. Farnsworth found the house to be unlivable. Our knowledgeable docent shares a number of these stories along with some great insights on the design of both the house and the furnishings.

The house is elevated above the ground to keep it out of the flood waters from the Fox River a few hundred feet from the front door. Unfortunately its not quite high enough and has been completely flooded a numerous times. There are a number of solutions being considered by the historic preservation group for keeping it out of flood waters, one of which is to relocate it. I’m glad to see it in the original location and configuration before any of the proposed solutions are implemented.

The three of us on the tour get the opportunity to wander around the house and the grounds by ourselves for about an hour to inspect every last detail. The domestic space is as minimal and beautiful as it gets. What a special experience to be in such an iconic house with no one else around.

The hour ride back to Chicago is dominated by thoughts of the idyllic house. For dinner Julie, Claus, Viv and I head to a place close to their house called Giordano’s for some Chicago-style pizza. The slices are small, but incredibly dense. The amount of meat and cheese buried under the layer of sauce is incognito, delicious and very filling.

[Giordano’s pizza]