Mies van Der Woes

The Farnsworth House earlier this week /PHOTO: Via THE NEW MODERNIST

The waters are receding around Mies Van der Rohe's great Farnsworth House, the 1951 Modernist jewel box in Plano, Ilinois that was inundated earlier this week. At their highest the waters rose to 18" within the house. Movable furniture had been raised on milk crates before the flood came in and were saved but fixed-in-place wood panels and a wooden wardrobe were damaged.

On his blog The New Modernist, Ed Lifson points out that decades of suburban development around Plano has meant that heavy rains have no place to seep in. As a consequence "since the Farnsworth House was built, it has suffered seven 100-year floods."

The Farnsworth House website has many good — meaning bad — pictures, a blog about clean up efforts and a link where you can contribute to the restoration. Hit that link.