It Floats!

Okay, it doesn't float, but the Farnsworth House sure did come close to getting submerged in the latest flooding that hit Chicago and the Fox River bordering Mies van der Rohe's famous house in Plano, Illinois.



According to Landmarks Illinois, where the above image was found,

Floodwaters crested on Friday afternoon, August 24, just below the main floor of the house, which was constructed in 1951 on six-foot high piers along the banks of the Fox River. Following torrential rains during the previous week, the staff of Landmarks Illinois—which operates the historic site—implemented an emergency flood plan, raising the house’s furniture on crates and removing other valuable articles.

Mies located the house within the river's floodplain, though the height of the house has twice been insufficient for high waters, in 1954 and 1996. According to Michael Cadwell in his recent Strange Details, these floods can be attributed to water runoff from increased development in the Chicago area. Cadwell states that the house "testifies to our ability to look at nature with respect, [potentially] swallowed by nature run amuck through our willful ignorance."

(via The New Modernist)