In Celebration of Mies

The weather that morning of August 16, 1994, was typical; already sunny, and promising to be warm.  What was taking place in Elmhurst was atypical, however, as it was moving day for the former Robert H. McCormick residence, designed by Mies van der Rohe. The house was being transported on this day from its site at 299 Prospect Avenue to a site in Wilder Park where it would become a part of the new Elmhurst Art Museum, and to be known in the future, as a former curator termed it, "the most significant piece in the museum’s permanent collection."

The move was yet another chapter in the history of this particular house, designed by a world famous architect, built of brick, glass and steel, completed in 1952, and meant to be studied as a prototype for a group of row houses planned for Melrose Park. Robert McCormick had worked before with Mies, joining as land developer and architect to create the glass and steel towers at 860 and 880 Lake Shore Drive. Mr. McCormick is reported to have said that he would like a one-story horizontal slice of one of the towers to form the design for the prototype, which, when constructed, would also serve as a weekend and summer home for the McCormick family.

Mies had long been associated with materials that spelled luxury, both in Europe and the United States. From his meticulous suits, made of the finest woolens, to the travertine marble he chose for many of his buildings, along with draperies of raw silk, came the use of the adjective "Miesian" to denote style and elegance. The Barcelona, Tugendhat and Brno chairs, named for the buildings for which they were designed, were formed from polished steel, with cushions covered in prime leather.

This house, however, was to be different. A simple, straightforward design would prevail, but it would be made "affordable" with the row houses in mind. Stock millwork was used for the moveable partitions, and single pane glass for the windows. The floors were to be concrete, covered with cork; the kitchen, a simple gallery plan, and there would be no air conditioning. The landscaping was planned by Alfred Caldwell, one of Mies’ colleagues at Illinois Institute of Technology, and planted by his students.

Even in a town that can lay claim to having residences by Walter Burley Griffin and Frank Lloyd Wright, a house designed by Mies van der Rohe is a rare distinction, as there are only two others in the United States; one in Plano, Illinois, and the other in Westport, Connecticut. Mies is more commonly associated with the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he chaired the department of architecture for twenty years, and for which he designed, along with other classroom and administrative buildings, one of his masterpiece structures S. R. Crown Hall.

The son of a stone mason, Mies was born in Aachen, Germany in 1886. It is assumed that the young lad became inspired to build while working with his father and by studying the interior of the cathedral while attending daily mass with his mother. His formal education was received at the cathedral school, and he learned the skills of architecture by apprenticing himself to several leading architects. He continued to practice in Germany until the stranglehold of Nazism threatened the existence of modern art and architecture, prompting Mies to emigrate and accept an offer from the Illinois Institute of Technology and chair the architecture department.

The hallmark of Mies van der Rohe’s architecture is simplicity, achieved by purity of design. He designed his first house at age 21, receiving plaudits for his refined sense of proportion. As he matured, he was able to translate his love of clean, unencumbered structures into buildings that are termed elegant by some, and austere by others. Reflecting on the works of the twentieth century’s three most renowned architects, namely Mies, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier, Mies is the most frequently mentioned by architecture practitioners, scholars and critics as the most significant architect of the century.

The presence of the house as part of the Elmhurst Art Museum stands as a tribute to those citizens of Elmhurst who realized that this landmark house, looking as modern today as it did almost a half century ago, had to be saved from destruction, regardless of the cost. Thanks to their tireless efforts, the McCormick house stands proudly in Wilder Park, as an integral part of the emerging cultural campus of Elmhurst.

Jane Deuble, Board Member