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Booth House (Bedford, New York)

Coordinates: 41°12′03″N 73°37′01″W / 41.20086°N 73.61684°W / 41.20086; -73.61684
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Booth House
Map
General information
TypeHouse
Architectural styleModernist
LocationBedford, New York
Coordinates41°12′03″N 73°37′01″W / 41.20086°N 73.61684°W / 41.20086; -73.61684
Construction started1946
Technical details
Floor area1,440 square feet (134 m2)
Design and construction
Architect(s)Philip Johnson

The Booth House is a single-story modernist house in Bedford, New York. Built in 1946, the house was American architect Philip Johnson's first residential commission,[1] and is a stylistic precursor to Johnson's better-known 1949 Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.[2]

The house's concrete block and plate glass exterior is supported by steel beams and columns, and its interior features a large masonry fireplace.[3] Its design was influenced by Johnson's mentors. Landis Gores described the house as a "cross-breed in concrete block between [Johnson's] Lincoln project for [Professor] Bogner and [Le Corbusier's] De Mandrot house from which it had taken its origin: a raised podium."[4]

Johnson designed the house for Richard and Olga Booth, a young couple who wanted a weekend house near Manhattan.[5] Architectural photographer Robert Damora and architect Sirkka Damora purchased the house in 1955 for $23,500 and lived there for 55 years.[3] In 2010, the widowed Sirkka Damora put the 1,440-square-foot (134 m2) house, an 800-square-foot (74 m2) studio building, and their 1.92-acre (0.78 ha) lot up for sale, with an asking price of $2 million.[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Harrison, Ivy (October 29, 2010). "It Started With the Booth House". Metropolis. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  2. ^ Pope-Chappell, Maya (June 1, 2010). "Philip Johnson's First House on Market". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
  3. ^ a b Britton, Karla Cavarra (March 2010). "Philip Johnson's First Foray" (PDF). Modern Magazine (PDF). Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  4. ^ Schulze, Franz (1996). Philip Johnson: Life and Work. University of Chicago Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-226-74058-4.
  5. ^ Montebello, Joseph (November–December 2010). "Modernist Hideaway". TownVibe. Ridgefield, Connecticut. Archived from the original on October 30, 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
  6. ^ Ardino, Anthony. "Signature Mid-Century Modern: Philip Johnson's First House, Bedford, NY 10506". William Raveis Real Estate. Archived from the original on February 8, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2016.