Editing Philip Johnson (section)

==Early Modernist period (1946–1960)==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180px">
File:Glasshouse-philip-johnson.jpg|The [[Glass House]] (1949)
File:Living.jpg|Interior of the [[Glass House]] (1949)
File:Farnsworth House by Mies Van Der Rohe - exterior-6.jpg|[[Farnsworth House]] by [[Ludwig Mies van der Rohe|Mies]] (designed 1945–7) for comparison
File:Four Seasons Restaurant- The Brilliant Pool Room.JPG|The Four Seasons' restaurant of Seagram Building in its original form (1956)
</gallery>

In 1946, after he completed his schooling and his military service, Johnson returned to the Museum of Modern Art as a curator and writer. At the same time, he began working to establish his architectural practice. He built a small house, influenced by the work of Mies, in [[Sagaponack, New York|Sagaponack]], [[Long Island]]. In 1947, he published the first [[monograph]] in English on the architecture of Mies.

In 1947, he curated the first exhibition of modern architecture of the Museum of Modern Art including a model of the glass [[Farnsworth House]] of Mies.<ref name=atf>Friedman, Alice T., [https://books.google.com/books?id=-WXuEAwKcSQC ''Women and the Making of the Modern House''], p 130, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press (2006), {{ISBN|978-0-300-11789-9}}, retrieved via Google Books on August 8, 2010</ref>

In 1949, he began building a new residence, the '''[[Glass House]]''' in New Canaan, Connecticut, that was completed in 1949. It was clearly influenced by [[Farnsworth House]] of Mies, an influence which Johnson never denied, but looked quite different.{{Sfn|Taschen|2016|page=314}}

The Glass House is a 56-foot by 32-foot glass rectangle, sited at the edge of a crest on Johnson's estate overlooking a pond. The building's sides are glass and charcoal-painted steel; the floor, of brick, is not flush with the ground but sits 10&nbsp;inches above. The interior is an open space divided by low walnut cabinets; a brick cylinder contains the bathroom and is the only object to reach floor to ceiling. ''The New York Times'' described it in 2005 as "one of the 20th century's greatest residential structures. "Like all of Johnson's early work, it was inspired by Mies, but its pure symmetry, dark colors and closeness to the earth marked it as a personal statement; calm and ordered rather than sleek and brittle."<ref name=NYT-obit />Philip wrote that the burnt wooden homes he had seen in Poland "where nothing was left but the foundations and chimneys of brick," were a further source of inspiration.<ref name="Mashiach"/>

Johnson continued to add to the Glass House estate during each period of his career. He added a small pavilion with columns by the lake in 1963, an art gallery set into a hillside in 1965, a postmodern sculpture gallery with a glass roof in 1970; a castle-like library with a rounded tower in 1980; and a concrete block tower dedicated to his friend [[Lincoln Kirstein]], the founder of the [[New York City Ballet]]; a chain-link "ghost house" dedicated to [[Frank Gehry]].<ref name=NYT-obit />

After completing the Glass House, he completed two more houses in New Canaan in a style similar to the Glass House; the [[Richard and Geraldine Hodgson House|Hodgson House]] (1951) and the Wiley House (1953). In New York City, He designed two major modernist additions to the Museum of Modern Art; a new annex, and, to complement it, the [[Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden]] (1953){{Sfn|Taschen|2016|page=314}}

In 1954–56, he made the [[pro bono]] design for '''[[Congregation Kneses Tifereth Israel]]''', a synagogue for a [[conservative Judaism|conservative Jewish congregation]] in [[Port Chester, New York]]. It had a simple interior and a ceiling of curving plaster panels.{{Sfn|Taschen|2016|page=317}}
[[File:Soreq Nuclear Research Exterior.jpg|thumb|Soreq Nuclear Research Center, [[Nahal Soreq]], [[Israel]]]]
In 1957, Johnson designed the [[Soreq Nuclear Research Center]] in [[Israel]] at the invitation of [[Shimon Peres]].<ref name="Mashiach"/>

Johnson joined Mies van der Rohe as the architect of record (Mies did not have NY license) for the 39-story '''[[Seagram Building]]''' (1956). Johnson was pivotal in steering the commission towards Mies by working with [[Phyllis Lambert]], the daughter of the CEO of [[Seagram]]. The commission resulted in the iconic bronze-and-glass tower on Park Avenue. The building was designed by Mies, and the interiors of the Four Seasons and Brasserie restaurants (later redesigned), as well as office furniture were designed by Johnson.<ref>{{cite web |title=Four Seasons & Brasserie Restaurants, Seagram Building, NYC |work=NYIT Architectural History |publisher=YouTube |date=May 4, 2012 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqMmPJ6O2K0 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/HqMmPJ6O2K0| archive-date=November 18, 2021 | url-status=live|access-date=January 29, 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In December 1955, the city of New York denied an architect's permit to Mies. He moved back to Chicago and put Johnson fully in charge of construction. Mies returned in late 1956 and finished the building.

In 1989, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Seagram's exterior, lobby, and The Four Seasons Restaurant as official city landmarks. In 2006, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.