: The breathtaking architectural icon that is Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe's Farnsworth House narrowly avoided a grievous fate when it
sold at auction to the National Trust for Historic Preservation
last winter. When the house came up for sale in the fall, the
developers began to circle. One prospective buyer would move the
house to Pennsylvania, perhaps to a theme park. Another wanted to
take it to Wisconsin. Others eyed the 61-acre parcel on which it
sits with visions of a subdivision dancing in their heads.
The threat of loss galvanized John H. Bryan, arts patron and
chairman of the Sara Lee Corporation, to form the Friends of the
Farnsworth House, which campaigned to have then-Illinois Governor
George Ryan acquire Farnsworth House for the state for $8
million. Ryan left office before the deal was done, and the house
went up for sale. Bryan and the Friends of Farnsworth House
engaged with the National Trust and the Landmarks Preservation
Council of Illinois (LPCI) to mount a campaign to raise the funds
to purchase the house, to guarantee that it remain on its
original site and to maintain public access to the house.
Friends of the Farnsworth, the National Trust and LPCI managed to
raise enough money to win Farnsworth House for $7.5 million in
December at a Sotheby's sale in New York City, but it was a very
near thing. The house was estimated at between $4.5 million and
$6 million, but the preservation groups had raised only $3.5
million by the morning of the auction. Devoted members dug in
their heels, dug into their pockets and worked the phones like
demons to come up with the additional $4 million. One anonymous
Mies fan pledged $750,000; John H. Bryan pledged $500,000 above
his prior $500,000 donation; Richard Gray, the art dealer who bid
for the house on behalf of the preservation groups, was prepared
to contribute another sizable chunk. Another $500,000 was raised
even as the bidding proceeded.
