Résumé

Director, Museum of Modern Architecture (MoMA), Architecture Department, New York, NY, 1930-1936, 1946-1954. In 1949, MoMA merged its Departments of Architecture and Industrial Design to form the Department of Architecture and Design. Johnson was made Director of this in 1949.

Johnson saw service in the US Army during World War II, in spite of his mid-to-late-1930s fascination with Hitler and Fascism, both in Germany and the US.

Principal, Philip Johnson, Architect, Cambridge, MA, 1942-1956. Johnson worked with architect Landes Gores (1919-1991) on two houses in 1951, the Oneto House, Irvington, NY, and the Hodgson House, New Canaan, CT.

Principal, Philip Johnson, Architect, New York, NY, 1954-1964. He worked with associate Richard T. Foster (1919-2002) following his graduation from Pratt Institute's School of Architecture in 1950 until 1962.

Partner, Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, Architects, New York, NY, 1964-1967. Johnson and Foster worked again for some time during the mid-1960s into the 1970s on the planning of buildings for the New York University Campus.

Partner, Johnson-Burgee Architects, New York, NY, 1967- 1983.

Partner, John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson, New York, NY, 1983-1991. The Johnson-Burgee partnership began to fade in the mid-1980s, when the two were practicing together in name only. It was completely over by 1991. By the mid-1980s, Johnson had opened his own office in the "Lipstick Building" at 885 3rd Avenue in New York, doing his own commissions. (See Paul Goldberger, New York Times.com, "Philip Johnson, Architecture's Restless Intellect, Dies at 98," published 01/27/2005, accessed 08/27/2018.)

Partner, Philip Johnson/Alan Ritchie Architects, New York, NY, 1992-2004.

Professional Activities

Trustee, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, 1958-2004.

Professional Awards

Recipient, Architectural League of New York, Silver Medal of Honor, New York, NY, 1950.

Recipient, Boston Arts Festival, Grand Festival Award, Boston, MA, 1955.

Reipient, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Merit Award, 1956.

Recipient, AIA, First Honor Award, 1956.

Recipient, Architectural Record, Award of Excellence, New York, NY, 1957.

Co-recipient, Architectural League of New York, Gold Medal of Honor, New York, NY, 1960; this prize was for the Seagram Building.

Recipient, AIA, First Honor Award, 1961 (two prizes).

Recipient, Architectural Record, Award of Excellence, New York, NY, 1962

Recipient, Pratt Institute, Honorary Doctorate, Brooklyn, NY, 1962.

Recipient, Progressive Architecture, Design Award, New York, NY, 1964.

Academician, National Academy of Design, New York, NY, 1970. (See "Academicians: Architects," National Academy of Design 162nd Annual Exhibition, March 24-April 29, 1987, [New York: National Academy of Design, 1987], n.p.)

Recipient, AIA, 25-Year Award, 1975.

Recipient, Bricklayers, Masons, and Plasterers International Union of America, Louis Sullivan Award, 1975.

Recipient, AIA, Gold Medal, 1978.

Recipient, University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson Medal, Charlottesville, VA, 1978.

Recipient, City of New York, Bronze Medallion, New York, NY, 1978.

Inaugural Recipient, Pritzker Prize for Architecture, Hyatt Foundation, Chicago, IL, 1979.

Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA).

Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY.

College

A.B, Harvard University, cum laude, Cambridge, MA, 1930.

M.Arch., Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA, 1940-1943.

Relocation

Born in Cleveland, OH, Philip Johnson grew up in a wealthy family that split its time between residences in Cleveland Heights, at 2171 Overlook Road, a family farm residence in New London, OH, and a cold-waether retreat in Pinehurst, NC. His mother focused on cultivating Philip's intellect, engaging tutors to help him with Latin, Greek and other subjects. She actually ran an informal home school in Pinehurst. A noted by his biographer Franz Schulze, Johnson's sensitive nature was deeply affected by his family's nomadism; it proved highly destabilizing to get along with other children after being so frequently uprooted. Yet, in order to please his controlling mother (and absent father), Johnson took on some of his parents' determination, curiosity and class and ethnic prejudices.

During his teenage years, Johnson moved to Tarrytown, NY, where he attended the small Hackley School, a prep school of choice for wealthy WASPs of the period. Hackely began as a Unitarian-affiliated school, unlike most preparatory academies that were founded by Episcopalian ministers. Johnson thrived at Hackley, becoming a leading intellect on campus and was voted the "most likely to succeed" in his senior class of 1923.

Parents

His father was Homer Hosea Johnson, a wealthy, sociable and connected Cleveland, OH, lawyer, and Louise Pope Johnson, an intellectually curious and demanding woman who was his third wife. (His previous two had died of tuberculosis.) The Johnson had four children: Jeannette Johnson Dempsey (born 07/26/1902), Alexander (born 06/18/1903-d. 1908), Philip and Theodate Johnson Blanpain (born 08/13/1907-d. 03/13/2002 in New York, NY). Alexander died at a age five of mastoiditis, a bacterial ear infection, a death that profoundly influenced the whole family. His death caused his parents to be very vigilant with the health of their remaining children, to the point of obsession. Their desire to saturate them in salubrious fresh air (year-around) led them to move seasonally between OH and NC. While this existence may have proven phsycially beneficial, it was, at the same time, emotionally destabilizing.

Spouse

Johnson was gay, and had a series of relationships among generally well-educated, upper-echelon aesthetes met in New York, Ivy League circles and Europe.

• Cleveland, OH (Architect's Birth)
  Cleveland, OH

  ---

  ---

• New Canaan, CT (Architect's Death)
  New Canaan, CT

  ---

  ---