Historians can change the fact of history. While the Farnworth House, which Miesvan der Rohe designed outside of Chicago for Dr. Edith Farnsworth has long achieved the status of an architectural icon, extensively photographed, and documented, its counterpart, the McCormick House is hardly known outsider of the circle of modernism enthusiasts. Now, that Heritage Architecture Studio is in the process of restoring the modernist prefabricated house, which Mies designed in 1952 for Robert McCormick, Jr., a sales agent, and his wife, poet Isabell Gardner, it has come to the center of attention. It was created as a prototype for a single-family home, but it had never been duplicated, perhaps due to the high cost of the steel frame. It has been a part of the Elmhurst Museum or Art since 1994, but with the new restoration, it will be utilized as an exhibition space, beginning with a “Mies in Chicago” exhibit in 2018 organized by Barry Bergdoll.
