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October 8, 2004
World-renowned architect Philip Johnson, FAIA, announced
yesterday that he is retiring at the age of 98, after more than 60 years in practice.
Johnson, principal at Philip Johnson/Alan Ritchie Associates (PJAR) in New Canaan, CT,
is widely regarded as one of the pioneers and masters of Modernism. His prominent
buildings include the highly influential Glass House, completed in 1949 in New Canaan,
a clear box praised for its elegance and simplicity; the equally elegant but far more
complex Garden Grove Crystal Cathedral in California ; and the highly post-modern AT&T
Building, with its controversial Chippendale top, in Manhattan.
Johnson's commitment to the simple forms of mid-century Modernism
began to change over time, and later in his career Johnson began to take sculptural
experiments. A recent project being developed by the firm for a children’s museum in
Guadalajara, Mexico, twists and contorts shapes in ways that might have been unimaginable
early in Johnson’s career.
The architect, born in Cleveland in 1906, was awarded the very first
Pritzker Prize in 1979, and also won the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in
1978. He studied under Marcel Breuer and Walter Gropius at Harvard, and was greatly
influenced by the clean forms of architect Mies van der Rohe. He also served as director
of the Department of Architecture at the Museum of Modern Art.
Johnson had been consulting for his firm from his home since last
fall. The firm will continue to operate under his partner of 10 years, Alan Ritchie, who
said in a statement, "The public, fellow architects, students of architecture, and
architecture critics will, no doubt, sculpt his epitaph in frank and eloquent terms... we
will miss Philip, but we are fortunate the firm is stronger than ever." Neither Johnson
nor Ritchie could be reached for comment directly.
Sam Lubell
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