Broken Glass, Alex Beam
Broken Glass, Alex Beam
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Broken Glass
Mies van der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the Fight Over a Modernist Masterpiece

Author: Alex Beam

Narrator: Kimberly Farr

Unabridged: 8 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/17/2020


Synopsis

The true story of the intimate relationship that gave birth to the Farnsworth House, a masterpiece of twentieth-century architecture—and disintegrated into a bitter feud over love, money, gender, and the very nature of art.

“An intimate portrait . . . alive with architectural intrigue.”—Architect Magazine

In 1945, Edith Farnsworth asked the German architect Mies van der Rohe, already renowned for his avant-garde buildings, to design a weekend home for her outside of Chicago. Edith was a woman ahead of her time—unmarried, she was a distinguished medical researcher, as well as an accomplished violinist, translator, and poet. The two quickly began spending weekends together, talking philosophy, Catholic mysticism, and, of course, architecture over wine-soaked picnic lunches. Their personal and professional collaboration would produce the Farnsworth House, one of the most important works of architecture of all time, a blindingly original structure made up almost entirely of glass and steel.

But the minimalist marvel, built in 1951, was plagued by cost overruns and a sudden chilling of the two friends’ mutual affection. Though the building became world famous, Edith found it impossible to live in, because of its constant leaks, flooding, and complete lack of privacy. Alienated and aggrieved, she lent her name to a public campaign against Mies, cheered on by Frank Lloyd Wright. Mies, in turn, sued her for unpaid monies. The ensuing lengthy trial heard evidence of purported incompetence by an acclaimed architect, and allegations of psychological cruelty and emotional trauma. A commercial dispute litigated in a rural Illinois courthouse became a trial of modernist art and architecture itself.

Interweaving personal drama and cultural history, Alex Beam presents a stylish, enthralling narrative tapestry, illuminating the fascinating history behind one of the twentieth century’s most beautiful and significant architectural projects.

About Alex Beam

Alex Beam is a columnist for the Boston Globe and a former Moscow correspondent. He is the author of two novels about Russia, Fellow Travelers and The Americans are Coming!, as well as three works of nonfiction: American Crucifixion; Gracefully Insane; and A Great Idea at the Time, the latter two both New York Times Notable Books. He has also written for the International Herald Tribune, the Atlantic, Slate, and Forbes/FYI. He lives in Newton, Massachusetts, with his wife and three sons.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Christopher on November 22, 2021

As a designer of homes, my main job is problem solving. That's what I like about my job. Some of the problems I solve are aesthetic, but most of them are practical: how to design a functional bathroom, how to get the required headroom and walking path at the bottom of these stairs, how to provide eg......more

Goodreads review by Patricia on May 11, 2020

I reading this book concerning the genius of Mies Van der Roche and the modern masterpiece he built for Edith Farnsworth. I had not realized the long court battle they had, nor all of the problems with the building once completed. The book seemed to me more about Edith than Mies, but I enjoyed it no......more

Goodreads review by Ronald on May 27, 2020

Personal Note: Alex Beam is a friend, although I mean every word here. I know little about modern architecture and care less about it than most people. Give me Victorian splendor and ornamentation any day. That said, this study of the battle of wills between ex-Bauhaus master Mies van der Rohe and Ch......more

Goodreads review by Trin on March 20, 2020

Nowhere near as fascinating, or as funny, as Beam's superlative The Feud, which is the story of the dissolution of the friendship between Vladimir Nabokov and Edmund Wilson -- the personalities here are neither as large, nor as catty. In Broken Glass, the players are architect Ludwig Mies van der Ro......more

Goodreads review by Joann on May 29, 2020

Interesting account of an accomplished architect, an accomplished client, and a house that was never really meant to be lived in. At least the architect didn’t have that in mind though the client intended to make it her summer home. It is amazing how many ill chosen elements went into the making of......more


Quotes

“Beam’s thorough and thoughtful account is both a knowing biography of an object—the house—and of its two principals, the well-documented Mies and the widely overlooked Farnsworth.”The New York Times
 
“Mies van der Rohe was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century, and Mr. Beam provides an exceptionally perceptive character study of this complex and often impenetrable figure.”—The Wall Street Journal
 
“This engrossing page turner is a portrait of two complex people and a fascinating history of a modern architectural masterpiece.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“It is a compelling book—perhaps the best narrative I have ever read about modern architecture.”—The Spectator

“An amazing story, brilliantly told . . . Alex Beam quickens your interest in every detail. His sensitive insights into architecture are matched by his feeling for psychology and for all the hilarious, petty, surprising minutiae of human relationships.”—Sebastian Smee, Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic and author of The Art of Rivalry

“Alex Beam begins with a simple foundation—a man, a woman, and a house—out of which he constructs a nuanced biography of one of the twentieth century’s most fascinating architects, a portrait of his brilliant and pioneering patron, and a dramatic tale of the impassioned battle over a work of art that consumed them both. Broken Glass is compelling from the first page as it chronicles, in delicious and sometimes hilarious detail, the mere mortals behind a Modern masterpiece.”—Mary Gabriel, author of Ninth Street Women

“Just when we thought everything had been said . . . an impressively comprehensive and moving account of the flawed architect-client relationship (and probably more) that lead to the greatest architectural masterpiece of the twentieth century.”—Reinier de Graaf, architect and author of Four Walls and a Roof

“The Farnsworth House occupies an essential place on architecture’s time line—but in the able hands of Alex Beam, its backstory offers a drama worthy of Edward Albee. Drawing upon trial transcripts, memoirs, and generations of critical appraisals, Beam offers a richly detailed look at how an apparently simple commission evanesced into an enduring modernist landmark of glass and steel. Broken Glass leaves us pondering an intriguing paradox: How does one inhabit a work of art?”—Hugh Howard, author of Architecture’s Odd Couple