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The Farnsworth house is for sale. For sale? How, you ask, could this iconic structure by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, arguably one of the greatest works of 20th century architecture, be on the block? Could his transparent vision be demolished, altered, or closed to the public? It could, if it were to pass into unsympathetic private hands. Despite the enlightened stewardship of its current owner, Lord Peter Palumbo, the ultimate plight of this occasional residence and house museum, like the future of other historic masterworks, is as tenuous as the next real estate transaction, as fragile as a legislative roll call. In the world of historic properties, there are no guarantees.
Dirk Lohan, Chicago architect and Mies van der Rohe's grandson, considers the Farnsworth house ``quintessential Mies, [a structure that] makes no compromise.'' Raised like a dialogue between the human intellect and nature above the banks of the Fox River in Plano, Ill., the steel and glass structure hovers above the ground, as a Greek temple rests...