The glass room simon mawer the wellresearched and melodramatic in a good way novel is set in and around a modernist villa in the czech city of brno. You also wrote mendels dwarf, a novel about gregor mendel, the father of genetic science, who lived in a monastery in the 19th century in brno. In this book, the main character is a house a beautiful, sleak, glass house. What better way to frame this discussion than to create some characters who are.
The tugendhat house monograph is the first comprehensive work on the history of the worldfamous icon of modern architecture, from its inception to renewal and restoration in 20102012. As someone who stood outside the famous functionalist tugendhat house in brno a quarter of a century ago, delivering a silent tribute to its power to inspire freedom in what was then a closed world, i couldnt resist the thrilling and satisfying conceit simon mawer has woven around his fictional landauer house. The glass room premiered at the hampstead theatre in november 2006. Poulet accepted an invitation from the frick collection to. Mawers version, the landauer house, is commissioned by the wealthy viktor landauer, a jewish car manufacturer in the new country of czechoslovakia between the world wars. Yes, that famous gay artist bears a striking resemblance to maurice sendak, but glass has been inspired rather than constrained by her prototype. Simon mawers the glass room and villa tugendhat in a. After seeing miess german pavilion at the international exposition in barcelona of 1929, johnson ordered the furniture for his own new york living room and then used it in the glass house. And this book, the glass room, is not your first book set in brno. Architect of the new national gallery in berlin and the tugendhat house in brno, he was famous for his dictum less is more. This area also houses an exhibition presenting the architect, the owners and the family life in.
It is a fictional story inspired by villa tugendhat, and takes it title from the extensive living space, with its plate glass windows. It deals with important subject matter in the nazi era, atrocities and evil science included, is rather heavy and. Glass bookcupboard from fritz tugendhats suite family collection, zurich. Shop for vinyl, cds and more from daphne dumas at the discogs marketplace.
Villa tugendhat is an architecturally significant building in brno, czech republic. Glass house in brno villa tugendhat, brno traveller. A continental breakfast is available daily at guest house krpole. The precisions of science, the wild variance of lust, the catharsis of confession and the fear of failure these are things that happen in the glass room. All you need to know about the iconic lalbaghs glass house built in 1889 11 aug, 2016, 06. Usually historicalliterary fiction uses people to illustrate the changes that history brings. He is also the chairman of the advisory council of the glass house and the joseph urban professor of design and architecture at the new school. At that reception, the british novelist simon mawer, read some extracts from his novel, first published in 2009, entitled the glass room.
Onetime director of the bauhaus, he also produced the farnsworth house in plano, illinois and the lake shore drive apartments in chicago. The seattle times a saga of a family and a nation at warmawer moves with grace among multiple points of view and establishes sympathy. The brno chairs which sit around bruce waynes dining table are covered in black italian leather. Ccalled the landauer house in the book, its based on the real life villa tugendhat. Simon mawers 2009 booker prizeshortlisted novel, the glass room, is a fictional account of a house inspired by the villa. The glass room is a novel about a house, a real and remarkable one, although the story and characters are fictional. The sudden death of a successful childrens author leaves the survivors to grapple with his legacy and consider the secrets we all keep in this radiant latest from glass and the dark sacred night, 2014, etc. Onyx wall and glass room of the restored laundauer house actually, the villa tugendhat. He teaches courses in the history of art, architecture, urbanism, the decorative arts, and design at the city university of new yorks baruch college and at. The ford world headquarters, also known as the henry ford ii world center and popularly known as the glass house, is the administrative headquarters for ford motor company, a 12story, glass faced office building designed to accommodate a staff of approximately 3,000. Liesel, ottilie, hana, zdenka as well as tomas and lanik, now a chairman of the. The book is considered to be a good literary novel and rightly so.
It begins with the return of liesel landauer, now elderly and blind, to the house that she, a gentile, shared with her husband viktor. Simon mawers the glass room and its spell over private. Simon mawers the glass room i cant remember exactly how i found out about simon mawers the glass room. The globally renowned architect philip johnson built a home for himself in 1949 in new canaan, connecticut, that became known as the glass house. Simon mawer talks about the glass room radio prague.
The glass room of the title is in a modernist house built by a wealthy couple in a nonspecified middle european country in the interwar years. Villa tugendhat, brno and the novel by simon mawer. Chairman of the board everythings tuesday i cant find myself. What they got for their money was a pioneering steelframed house, equipped with glass walls that could slide down into the floor, a special. President tomas masaryk has stepped down 1935, and edvard benes succeeds him. Goldberger is also completing a new book on the architecture of american baseball parks to be published next year. The stability of the building contrasts against the shifting politics and emotions flowing through it.
We had a guided tour of the villa and it was fascinating to hear the history of the building and about its restoration. High on a czechoslovak hill, the landauer house shines as a wonder of steel and glass and onyx built specially for newlyweds viktor and liesel landauer, a jew married to a gentile. The glass room of the landauer house appears in every chapter of the novel, or is referred to. You aint livin unless youre lovin the glass house inside the glass house. It was johnsons residence during the latter years of his life and it was in the. Mawers version, the landauer house, is commissioned by the wealthy viktor landauer, a jewish car manufacturer in the new country of czechoslovakia between the world wars, and. The glass room, by british author simon mawer, was published in 2009 by other press in the. But as her guilt becomes apparent, myles is forced to doubt his most sacred principles, question his belief in the right to free speech and acknowledge that he too has been denying the past. Simon mawers thoughtful seventh novel centres on a house in the. Barcelona chair type bamberg mr 809 from the livingroom. It was published in late 2012 as the first publication from the book series by the study and documentation centre in villa tugendhat sdcvt. Mies specified all the furnishings, in collaboration with interior designer lilly reich two armchairs designed for the building, the tugendhat chair and the brno chair, are still in production. The novel follows the conception of the house, and its subsequent story as well as that of the owners, one of whom is jewish, and takes us through the second world war and beyond.
He teaches courses in the history of art, architecture, urbanism, the. Other press 2009 paperback edition one of the sloan technology series books. The building is located at 1 american road at michigan avenue in dearborn, michigan, near fords historic rouge plant. It was johnsons residence during the latter years of his life and it. The nearest airport is brno turany, 10 miles from guest house krpole, and the property offers a. One wall is a sliding sheet of plate glass that descends to the basement the way an automobile window does. The frames are made from high quality solid stainless steel. Barcelona chair, whose colors it based on original records the brno chairs. The glass house itself was directly inspired by a model of miess farnsworth house in illinois. Onyx wall and glass room of the restored laundauer house actually, the villa tugendhat in brno, per wikipedia acknowledgment. Now restored, the gleaming concrete, steel and glass villa is open to the public, with booking recommended such is the global interest from. The huffington post an oldfashioned, beautifully constructed novel of history, passion and ideas.
The new yorker the glass room is a story that will stay with me for a long, long time. President of knoll international, for his personal interest in. I use the web to help me find great books and then to bring them alive while im reading. This work has been summarized using the other press 2009 paperback edition one of the sloan technology series books. I think that simon mawers book is proving as interesting to czech readers. Quotations are for the most part taken from that work. Tugendhat villa in brno unesco world heritage centre. She has been charged with denying the holocaust, and he has agreed to defend her in court. Two sculptures one that ticks in 1984, as a young curator at the museum of fine arts, boston, anne l. Maciuika specializes in the history of modern architecture and design.
1097 868 719 724 147 932 847 1404 1452 445 1477 1379 879 861 153 86 248 497 1459 424 887 353 260 1378 275 883 446 156 827 157