The Wiley House: A Philip Johnson Masterpiece

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It is a shame that the architect can not emulate Monet and build one building after another in experimentation and variation. The Wiley House leads to one creative idea after another, and not just in the form of the house, but also in the use and types of materials. The fact that the design follows the elegant Glass House does not lessen the poetry of the Wiley House. Both have the same Greek temple like severity in proportions and space–forgetting that the Greek temples were brightly painted. In fact, the number and repetition of vertical beams openly exposing the support of the building reminds one of a temple even though the pediment and other parts are missing. Unfortunately the Greeks did not have the advantage of walls of glass or columns of steel, but the golden or divine section continues on in with Philip Johnson.

In speaking about architecture, Philip Johnson famously said:

“All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space.”

This is an intuitive understanding among human culture. Even a prehistoric village adapted the available materials useful to construct shelter into something inviting and as comfortable as possible. Great architecture successfully furnishes something more satisfying than just protection from storm or marauder. Unlike contemporary art, great architecture demands a sense of beauty combined with inspiration while insisting on a high degree of practicality. A house must be a useful machine for living. (Not to sound too much like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.) The degree to which architecture satisfies the desire to be cuddled, exalted or stimulated, determines the magnitude of greatness. The genius of Philip Johnson comes from the further step of reducing these principles to a simple visual feast.

For many architects during the modern era, the house, much like the chair in furniture design, challenges the intellect and spirit more than monumental skyscrapers. Philip Johnson accepted this idea: “Doing a house is so much harder than doing a skyscraper.” The intrigue in designing a residence over other structures comes from the intimate nature of the dwelling. Here is a place where families live their daily lives, raise a family and grow old together. The surrounding landscape also has the same intimate nature. It is the difference between the painted cathedral ceiling and a small portrait. The former tells us of grand, awesome events and concepts, the latter speaks to us of a person and who that person is and how one might feel about him or her.

The most significant and obvious distinction of the Wiley house concerns the stone clad bedroom and private areas and the upper glass encased upper activity areas that includes the kitchen and dining spaces. The upper area is taller, but shorter by about a 3rd to the lower area whose roof also forms the deck. Of course, the upper area is perpendicular to the lower overhanging it on both sides. Why is there such a profound difference between the two stories? Yet the difference does not look so great from the front access. In fact, from this angle the stone appears as a foundation rather than a complete first floor. The landscape inclines to reveal the doors and windows of this floor or what is called the podium.

In Philip Johnson’s words, he tried to harmonize, “the (perhaps) irreconcilable: modern architectural purity and the requirements of living families. Why can’t people learn to live in the windowless spheres of Ledoux or the pure glass prisms of Mies van der Rohe? No, they need a place for Junior to practice piano while mother plays bridge with her neighbors.” (Architectural Record, June 1955.) Although Philip Johnson could live in his Glass House, he recognized that some needed a bit more seclusion while maintaining a personal view of surroundings.

The tall glass walls of the public area allows for a clear view of the trees as well as the sky. This area has also been called “the bird-cage” due to all the vertical beams encasing the upper story. The views from the bedroom areas are much more restricted and closer to the ground. In spite of the reasonable, logical nature of the house, at times it looks as though a giant hand has lifted a Johnson house and placed it across another dwelling. This fantastical image does not detract from the whole in so much as the mental picture lasts only fleetingly especially as one moves around the building.

This building was tremendously influential in America. Everyone has seen an office or commercial building of some sort that has many of the design features, at least as far as the exterior is concerned. In America, the offices and commercial buildings can be very modern, the more modern the better. Modernity in this respect denotes affluence and economic advancement. A car dealership can boast a modernist architecture or a bank can brag about a wide expanse of glass reaching stories tall, while the workers go home to dull, look-a-like houses with Victorian or Tudor references or Craftsman houses that, like a repetitive noise, follow one after another.

We have not looked at the interior. In this case, an extensive look at the interior is unnecessary since, for the purpose of this article, we exam the overall form of the house. The interior, as with many International Style, modernist houses, has a central core that contains the kitchen, for instance. However, here are a few pictures of interior spaces: