Architect, Author, Teacher. An icon of the twentieth century, considered by many as the dean of American architects. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he was the son of Louise (Pope) and Homer H. Johnson, a well-to-do lawyer and is survived by one sister Jeannette Dempsey, of Cleveland, 102 at the time of his death. He received his bachelor's degree in philosophy from Harvard University, his father's alma mater, in 1927 where from his early studies in Greek he became fascinated with architecture. Traveling widely in Europe after he was graduated he returned to found and became the first Director of the Department of Architecture at the newly created Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1930. Returning to Harvard in 1940 he would earn a degree architecture. He was a Fellow of both the AIA (American Institute of Architects) and The American Institute of Arts and Letters and was the first recipient of the Pritzker Prize for a distinguished career in Architecture. Two of his most important monuments are his own Glass House (1949) and it's surrounding compound where he lived until his death and the Seagram Building (1958) and the Four Seasons Restaurant (1959). Without him the New York City skyline would not be the same, but his strength was less the individual buildings than his architectural theory and his unquenchable curiosity. He claimed that he had no interest in buildings except as works of art. Often quoted he said "I would rather sleep in Chartres Cathedral with the nearest toilet two blocks away than in a Harvard house with back-to-back bathrooms." He also said "I am a whore" when he was so anxious to build that he would take commissions from developers who would not meet his aesthetic standards. While he has been criticized for changing styles, this in some ways has been his strength, when others would stay constant to one period. His greatest fascination was the idea of what was new. Early on his writings helped establish Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and European Modernism in this country. He pioneered and championed first the International Style and later "postmodernism" where he took historic styles and reintroduced them in contemporary architecture beginning with his unveiling of his design for the AT&T Headquarters building in New York City in 1978, completed in 1984, and now the Sony Building the so-called "Chippendale skyscraper." Always driven by his social connections it was when he introduced Mies to Phyllis Lambert, the Seagram heiress, in the early 1950's that soon after they were commissioned to design the landmark building. His lifelong friendship with Lincoln Kirstein led to his design of the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center (1964). He was always absorbing through and from anyone he met and would take threads from disparate and contradictory sources to combine a design idea from Vincent Fourcade the international interior designer known for excess to a minimalistic idea from Le Corbusier to another from the French visionary architect Étienne-Louis Boullée. His art collecting brought him a steady stream of requests to design museums. He also designed the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California and the Museum of Television and Radio on West 52nd Street in New York City. Perhaps the most socially prominent New York architect since Stanford White, he often held court daily surrounded by other prominent and powerful New Yorkers at his own special table in the corner of the Grill Room at the Four Seasons. Often he would be seen with a young architect in whom he had taken an interest. His evenings were more often at exclusive social events that he would attend alone. Only in the last decade of his life was he more open about his long standing companion of 45 years, David Whitney with whom he had lived in several Manhattan apartments as well as at his New Canaan, Connecticut compound, where he died. Over the years he kept adding buildings with styles as diverse as his own temperament, but always crowned by his masterpiece of the Glass House. The final building, "Da Monsta," as he called it, was finished in 1995. A deep red curving amorphous building is set at the gate of the estate and was intended to serve as a visitor's center when the public would be admitted after his death. He willed the compound to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which intends to run it as a museum.
Architect, Author, Teacher. An icon of the twentieth century, considered by many as the dean of American architects. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he was the son of Louise (Pope) and Homer H. Johnson, a well-to-do lawyer and is survived by one sister Jeannette Dempsey, of Cleveland, 102 at the time of his death. He received his bachelor's degree in philosophy from Harvard University, his father's alma mater, in 1927 where from his early studies in Greek he became fascinated with architecture. Traveling widely in Europe after he was graduated he returned to found and became the first Director of the Department of Architecture at the newly created Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1930. Returning to Harvard in 1940 he would earn a degree architecture. He was a Fellow of both the AIA (American Institute of Architects) and The American Institute of Arts and Letters and was the first recipient of the Pritzker Prize for a distinguished career in Architecture. Two of his most important monuments are his own Glass House (1949) and it's surrounding compound where he lived until his death and the Seagram Building (1958) and the Four Seasons Restaurant (1959). Without him the New York City skyline would not be the same, but his strength was less the individual buildings than his architectural theory and his unquenchable curiosity. He claimed that he had no interest in buildings except as works of art. Often quoted he said "I would rather sleep in Chartres Cathedral with the nearest toilet two blocks away than in a Harvard house with back-to-back bathrooms." He also said "I am a whore" when he was so anxious to build that he would take commissions from developers who would not meet his aesthetic standards. While he has been criticized for changing styles, this in some ways has been his strength, when others would stay constant to one period. His greatest fascination was the idea of what was new. Early on his writings helped establish Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and European Modernism in this country. He pioneered and championed first the International Style and later "postmodernism" where he took historic styles and reintroduced them in contemporary architecture beginning with his unveiling of his design for the AT&T Headquarters building in New York City in 1978, completed in 1984, and now the Sony Building the so-called "Chippendale skyscraper." Always driven by his social connections it was when he introduced Mies to Phyllis Lambert, the Seagram heiress, in the early 1950's that soon after they were commissioned to design the landmark building. His lifelong friendship with Lincoln Kirstein led to his design of the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center (1964). He was always absorbing through and from anyone he met and would take threads from disparate and contradictory sources to combine a design idea from Vincent Fourcade the international interior designer known for excess to a minimalistic idea from Le Corbusier to another from the French visionary architect Étienne-Louis Boullée. His art collecting brought him a steady stream of requests to design museums. He also designed the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California and the Museum of Television and Radio on West 52nd Street in New York City. Perhaps the most socially prominent New York architect since Stanford White, he often held court daily surrounded by other prominent and powerful New Yorkers at his own special table in the corner of the Grill Room at the Four Seasons. Often he would be seen with a young architect in whom he had taken an interest. His evenings were more often at exclusive social events that he would attend alone. Only in the last decade of his life was he more open about his long standing companion of 45 years, David Whitney with whom he had lived in several Manhattan apartments as well as at his New Canaan, Connecticut compound, where he died. Over the years he kept adding buildings with styles as diverse as his own temperament, but always crowned by his masterpiece of the Glass House. The final building, "Da Monsta," as he called it, was finished in 1995. A deep red curving amorphous building is set at the gate of the estate and was intended to serve as a visitor's center when the public would be admitted after his death. He willed the compound to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which intends to run it as a museum.
Fulfill Photo Request for Philip Cortelyou Johnson
Photo Request Fulfilled
Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request
There is an open photo request for this memorial
Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request?
Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s).
Oops, something didn't work. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again.
Make sure that the file is a photo. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced.
All photos uploaded successfully, click on the <b>Done button</b> to see the photos in the gallery.
General photo guidelines:
Photos larger than 8.0 MB will be optimized and reduced.
Each contributor can upload a maximum of 5 photos for a memorial.
A memorial can have a maximum of 20 photos from all contributors.
The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional 10 photos (for a total of 30 on the memorial).
Include gps location with grave photos where possible.
No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments.)
There is no plot information for this memorial. Your photo request is more likely to be fulfilled if you contact the cemetery to get the plot information and include it with your request.
You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial.
Memorial Photos
This is a carousel with slides. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel.
Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried.
Show Map
If the memorial includes GPS coordinates, simply click 'Show Map' to view the gravesite location within the cemetery. If no GPS coordinates are available, you can contribute by adding them if you know the precise location.
Photos
For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab.
Photos Tab
All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer.
Flowers
Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button.
Family Members
Family members linked to this person will appear here.
Related searches
Use the links under See more… to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc.
Sponsor This Memorial
Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option.
Share
Share this memorial using social media sites or email.
Save to
Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print.
Edit or Suggest Edit
Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager.
Have Feedback
Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you.
You may not upload any more photos to this memorial
"Unsupported file type"
Uploading...
Waiting...
Success
Failed
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
Invalid File Type
Uploading 1 Photo
Uploading 2 Photos
1 Photo Uploaded
2 Photos Uploaded
Added by
GREAT NEWS! There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery.
Sorry! There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request.
Enter numeric value
Enter memorial Id
Year should not be greater than current year
Invalid memorial
Duplicate entry for memorial
You have chosen this person to be their own family member.
Reported!
This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates.
0% Complete
Saved
Sign in or Register
Sign in to Find a Grave
Sign-in to link to existing account
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
We’ve updated the security on the site. Please reset your password.
Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Please contact Find a Grave at [email protected] if you need help resetting your password.
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
Email not found
Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person.
Sign in to your existing Find a Grave account. You’ll only have to do this once—after your accounts are connected, you can sign in using your Ancestry sign in or your Find a Grave sign in.
We found an existing Find a Grave account associated with your email address. Sign in below with your Find a Grave credentials to link your Ancestry account. After your accounts are connected you can sign in using either account.
Please enter your email to sign in.
Please enter your password to sign in.
Please enter your email and password to sign in.
There is a problem with your email/password.
A system error has occurred. Please try again later.
A password reset email has been sent to EmailID. If you don't see an email, please check your spam folder.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
Password Reset
Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code.
Registration Options
Welcome to Find a Grave
Create your free account by choosing an option below.
or
Ancestry account link
To create your account, Ancestry will share your name and email address with Find a Grave. To continue choose an option below.
or
If you already have a Find a Grave account, please sign in to link to Ancestry®.
New Member Registration
Email is mandatory
Email and Password are mandatory
This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Resend Activation Email
Your password is not strong enough
Invalid Email
You must agree to Terms and Conditions
Account already exists
Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox
Internal Server error occurred
If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map
You must select an email preference
We have sent you an activation email
Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters.
We just emailed an activation code to
Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.
cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
Within 5 miles of your location.
Within 5 kilometers of your location.
0 cemeteries found in .
0 cemeteries found.
Add a cemetery to fulfill photo requests
You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below.
Search above to list available cemeteries.
Getting location…
Loading...
Loading...
No cemeteries found
Find a Grave Video Tutorials
Default Language
Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [email protected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Thanks for your help!
Preferred Language
We have set your language to based on information from your browser.