People in Glass Houses...
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Join Planet Fitness today and save $28 or more. Just $1 down, $15 a month. Cancel anytime. DLN's January 10th. See Home Club for details. What are you doing, Ray? I'm taking a selfie here in New Canaan, Connecticut. Hurry up. We need to keep moving. Just a minute. I'm posting to the gram. Hashtag New England Legends. Hashtag on the road. Hashtag selfie. Hashtag come on, man. Okay, okay. I'm done. What's the hurry? All right. So it's not so much a hurry as it's kind of

annoying to wait for you taking a selfie on the street. Well, if we don't take pics, did it really ever happen?

You know, that is kind of like the existential question of our time, isn't it? Yes, I guess so. Which brings us to our destination here on this pretty 49-acre piece of land in New Canaan. We've come to look at that house right over there. What? That's a house? Yeah. It's completely see-through. It is, and it's been here since 1949. We've come to New Canaan, Connecticut to explore a roadside oddity known as the Glass House.

Hello and Happy New Year. I'm Jeff Belanger. And I'm Ray Osher. Happy New Year, Jeff. Thank you. And thank you for joining us on the New England Legends podcast. Thanks for riding along as we chronicle all the wicked strange things in New England one story at a time. We can't do it without you. Please reach out to us anytime through our website with your story leads. We love hearing from you. We'll explore New Canaan's glass house right after this word from our sponsor. Marketing is hard.

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Yes, this is a glass house. There's no question about that. Yeah, and it's a pretty spot, too. Now, I'm not an architect or an artist for that matter, but yeah, this glass house building looks amazing. It's one story, and I looked this up, it's 55 feet long and 33 feet wide, so just over 1,800 square feet of space.

It sits on a hill overlooking a pond down below. It is a very pretty spot, and it looks like it belongs right here nestled in nature. All right, looking inside, I can see the kitchen, a couch, some chairs, a desk with a chair in front of it.

It's all very minimalist. The floor is red brick and what was that? I think a bird just flew into one of the walls. Oh, poor bird. Anyway, there's a row of closets and a bed and I don't see... A bathroom? Yeah, I was just thinking that. All right, if we walk around this way...

I see a round brick structure within the glass house. Oh, okay. The door's open so I can see that there's a toilet, a shower, and a sink inside. Okay, so you're not completely exposed inside the glass house. But otherwise, yeah, you can see whatever is going on inside. You can't see this house from the street. I mean, it's got enough land around it for privacy, and considering the cost of land in New Canaan, this is a pricey spot for...

What was that? Another bird flew into the side of the glass. Oh, man. Poor thing. Okay. Well, to find out how this glass house got here, let's head back to 1949 and meet the builder. ♪

It's January of 1949. World War II is thankfully starting to become a memory. Harry S. Truman is President of the United States. And A Little Bird Told Me by Evelyn Knight and the Stardusters is number one on the radio. It's a time for rebuilding and innovation. It's an exciting time for architect Philip Johnson. He's the director of the Department of Architecture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. People have been clamoring for his work.

Johnson was born and raised in Cleveland, but went to school at Harvard University, where he studied art and design. He has a passion for modern art, sculpture, and architecture. In fact, he's designed so many structures and buildings for others that he's feeling the urge to make something for himself.

you know, to be his own client. So a few years ago, he purchased some land in a short train ride away in New Canaan, Connecticut. And for most people, this would be an estate. But not for Johnson. He refers to the land as a compound. It's got a pond, trees, some hills. It really is a pretty spot for a unique architecture project. So Johnson pictures a glass house that perfectly fits into the landscape, a place that would allow him to gaze at the nature all around him while he's inside. So he gets to work.

and realizes his vision: a glass house. Minimalistic. Room for a few of his sculptures and a 360-degree view of all the beauty around him. As for privacy, the glass house is set far enough in the property that it can't be seen from the road. So unless someone is trespassing, he won't be seen inside. Very quickly, Johnson's glass house starts to get noticed.

What was that? Bird. Right. So yeah, even if the birds aren't noticing the glass house, design magazines and newspapers sure are. It's really impressive. It really is. It's got a low profile. It works with the lines of hill all around it in the palm below. It's a real sharp building. Yeah. Johnson claims this is really only his weekend bachelor pad. He spends his week working in Manhattan and comes out to New Canaan to get away from the city.

With the glass house complete, some of his friends ask to come see it. I mean, if you're rich with a compound containing a house everyone wants to see, you need a place for them to stay. You need a guest house. You need a guest house. There obviously isn't extra bedrooms in the glass house. No, there isn't. What are you going to do? Roll out some sleeping bags on the floor for your rich friends? Heavens no. You need a guest house. So Johnson gets to work constructing his next architectural achievement, his guest house, just a short distance from the glass house.

What do you think? Hmm. Yeah. Maybe we should walk around it? Sure. Yeah, it looks the same over here, too. It's the Brick House. Also 55 feet in length, but about half as wide as the Glass House. It's also a one-story, all-brick building with a black door that runs the height of the building in the middle. Hmm.

But I don't see any windows. Okay, wait. On the backside, there's some circular windows. Almost like portal windows of a ship. Oh, yeah, yeah. But yeah, otherwise, it's all brick. Just red brick. Kind of the antithesis of the glass house. Yeah, in the brick house, you have nothing but privacy. But let's go inside.

Okay. I see some skylights in the roof to light the place up. And it looks like there's three bedrooms. Again, I'm no designer, but the rooms are nice. Clearly no expense was spared in building any of this. Johnson wanted the brick house to be an anchor for the hillside above it, but also an anchor that draws your attention over to the glass house. Between the brick and glass house, he's made an artistic statement. That he has. This is some rich people stuff right here. Totally. And this land wasn't cheap. And

And obviously, nothing but the best materials were used. And this is only a weekend playground for Philip Johnson. Still, there's something about good art and architecture that endures. And that... Oh, poor bird. And that brings us back to today. Obviously, it endures because the glasshouse and brickhouse are still here. Today, you can buy a ticket and take a guided tour of the property between the months of April and December. So Philip Johnson died in 2005. He was 98 years old.

And we said it before, great art and architecture endures. Yeah, it does. Great music is timeless. Great visual art, great stories. Sometimes these things just work. I know next to nothing about architecture, but I have noticed architecture from like the 60s to the 80s seems to not hold up.

I mean, not every building, of course, but remember the modern house designs we saw in like the 70s and 80s? Oh, yeah. Once in a while, I'll pass one. They just look dated. Yeah. Like, whereas a colonial house, whether if it was built 10 years ago, 100 years ago, or 200 years ago, I mean, the design still works. It may not be your taste, but it doesn't stick out. It's a recipe that, you know, works every time. Sure. But if not for people like Philip Johnson, who push boundaries and throw out some radical ideas and concepts, we'd all be living in the same boring houses. Yeah.

Oh, another poor bird. Poor bird. Yeah, good point, Ray. There's no question the glass house is pleasing to the eye. It looks like it belongs on this property. Just don't throw stones. Or orgies. That's a good point. So today, so many of us have willingly moved into a metaphorical glass house. I mean, we post our every move on social media. We post what we're eating for lunch. We post where we are. We post, we post. Endless selfies is a way to let others gaze in at us.

but also to stick our flag in the ground and say, see me, I'm here. Maybe Philip Johnson was ahead of his time by making his glass house literal. Maybe he was. And that takes us to After the Legend, where we take a deeper dive into this week's story and often veer off course. After the Legend is brought to you by our Patreon patrons. We can't thank our patrons enough. Many of them have been with us for years, financially supporting what we do. They help with our hosting and production costs, our marketing, travel,

everything it takes to bring you two stories each week. Just three bucks per month, though some choose to give more. And for that, they get early ad-free access to new episodes, plus bonus episodes and content that no one else gets to hear. To sign up, go to patreon.com slash newenglandlegends or click on the link in the episode description. And to see some pictures of Philip Johnson's glass and brick houses, click on the link in our episode description, go to our website and click on episode 378.com.

And also, to be fair, the brick house was actually built first. But we flipped it for the sake of a good story. Yeah.

Artistic license? Yeah, that's a little license there, but the glass house is the star, right? Exactly. And when you go there, you're just like, that's the thing you want to see, but the brick house, you're like, oh? I think he felt lonely, like, I can't see anything in this brick house, so I'm going to do the glass, I'm going to do the complete opposite. Or you think it was for the sake of art? What do you think? No, it was art. You think it was totally art? I can tell you, because I've read quotes from him. So it was for the sake of art, it was always the intent to build both. He started in 1944,

five or six and then finished in 1949. And then that was his weekend home. And eventually it expanded to 49 acres. I think it started as like five. And then, um, eventually it became a place that you could tour. So you can go buy a ticket as an artist. Do you see that? Do you see that coming? Is it like, I would like to build this so that some days people will come here, pay an admission fee and see my art. I, so architecture's a funny thing, right? You, uh,

I don't pretend to be any sort of aficionado. However, when it's good, you notice. Yeah. When it's bad, you notice. Oh, sure. You know, when you're like, oh. Which is all subjective, by the way. To a point. Right, right? I mean, like, there's certain buildings that people will go way out of their way to see. Yeah. For example, if you go to Paris, what's the one building you absolutely must not just. Paris? The Eiffel Tower? Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

When it was put up, it was only supposed to be up for like a couple of years, maybe even months, right? A very short time. And they called it a scar, like in the skyline of Paris, because Paris sprawls. It's not like a bunch of high rises. It just goes out forever. And it took, people were so furious about it. The locals, like, this is ugly. It's a scar up into the sky. It commands your attention. It's awful. It's gaudy. It's terrible.

now it's a worldwide icon yeah enough time went by so i think architecture sometimes you just look and you're like wow that's a sharp building you don't even know i mean i don't know why like when i look at certain buildings i'm like wow that is really well whoever did that well done whatever you did it works uh and sometimes like the modern house design like the 80s yeah it looks so cool in the 80s but now when you pass one oh sure yeah you're like it's dated that looks like

Brady Bunch. I was just thinking of the Brady Bunch. How cool was that house in the 70s? Wicked cool. 60s and 70s. And now very outdated, but in a kitschy kind of way. I think it sold for a lot of money recently. Sure. But architecture should never be trendy.

Right? Right, right, right. Fashion can be trendy because you're not going to keep a shirt forever. You've got to think of the longevity of that house. Right. And the image of that house. I'll say this, though. The glass house looks amazing today. It looks, I mean, it's obviously photographed really well, too. But, you know, it looks like nature was built around the house, which is perfection. Right? Like, this is like Frank Lloyd Wright stuff, right? Where, you know, you incorporate architecture with nature. Right.

And I think Johnson had a vision and he realized his vision. And the house still works. Like you would be like, all right, assuming no one's staring at me from like,

10 acres away, it would be pretty cool to be in there. Although I prefer not to be completely on display. Well, now with satellites and cameras everywhere and drones, there's no privacy. There's none. But I wonder, like, was he thinking that in 1949? Well, probably not. I'm sure it was a little safer back then to conceal your identity. Do you think he was thinking about cleaning the place when he built it? Like...

A lot of cleaning companies will say, we'll clean your house, but we don't do windows. We don't do windows. Do you think he was thinking about the birds? Oh, no, probably not. There were so many things I'm sure he went, ooh, I didn't think of that. What was that? Oh, no. Another one. Bats and birds. The bats will be okay. They'll be all right. They got their radar. They'll be all right. But no, the poor birds. I mean, birds fly into my windows and they're just regular windows. That's a small window. Imagine having a house that is a window. Yeah. I'm like, oh, it must just be like...

Hey, Ray, I cleaned up the dead birds yesterday. It's your turn today. Is it two floors? I forget. No, one floor. One floor. So that's not too bad because you've got the shrubbery and the trees and everything. So it might be hard even from 20, 30 feet away to see through. Yeah, I don't know. I can't imagine. I would love to call them and be like, give me a number.

And you know how, like when you know there's a camera on you, cause you're on camera a lot, right? But if you're in front of a camera or in front of a microphone for more than 20 minutes, a half hour, you forget that you're on camera. So to be in that house and forget that anybody could see you at any time.

I mean, you're nose-picking, you're talking to yourself. Well, you heard of like hot mics, right? Where celebrities get caught on hot mics. Oh, yeah, yeah. If you have a mic on all afternoon... You forget. You're like, hey, I gotta use the bathroom. Like...

It's on. And let's say you take a phone call and you're like, oh my God, this director is such an idiot that I'm working with. I can't even believe it. I promise you that happens on the daily. Well, it happened to, was it Billy Bush in Trump? Oh, right. On the bus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that happened to them. And he lost his career over it. So, yeah. Crazy. Hot mics, man. They're always on. Beware. But that's the world we live in now. Not just hot mics, but hot everything. Like you said, ring cameras, security cameras, drones. Like, we are being watched and listened everywhere.

And I think the glass house thing, we're all in glass houses now, whether we like it or not. Well, we put ourselves, like you mentioned before, we put ourselves in that glass house through social media. Voluntarily. However, I think at least sometimes, like this is what makes this such a great story, right? Like we're like, oh, I didn't ask to live in a glass house. I just do now. And then you look at that brick, ugly brick house next door and you go,

maybe it's not so bad in there. Yeah. You know, like maybe I'd like to spend a week in there where nobody, where nobody sees me, where I can have total privacy and just do whatever I want. Maybe that's the key to life. Keep yourself exposed. You need a glass house. Yeah. But we also need a brick house. Johnson, you're a genius. You're a genius. Well done, sir.

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