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59-620: The 17-acre (69,000 m) Philip Johnson -designed complex includes three 24-story buildings, 1 Post Oak Central (2000 Post Oak Boulevard), 2 Post Oak Central (1980 Post Oak Boulevard), and 3 Post Oak Central (1990 Post Oak Boulevard), and a parking garage. The complex includes 1,300,000 square feet (120,000 m) of Class A office space and retail. The complex includes a 90,000-square-foot (8,400 m) retail center and parking for 4,200 cars. 1 Post Oak Central opened in 1975. 2 Post Oak Central opened in 1979. 3 Post Oak Central opened in 1982. In 2011 Crescent announced that it plans to build, on

118-479: A correspondent for Social Justice , he witnessed Hitler's invasion of Poland , which he later described as "a stirring spectacle". In 1941, after the U.S. entered the war, Johnson abruptly renounced his earlier views, quit journalism, organizing anti-Fascist league at Harvard Design School . He was investigated by the FBI , and was eventually cleared for military service. He evaded indictment and jail by cooperating with

177-522: A grove of oak trees. The third fountain is the Active Pool, which challenges fit visitors to walk down 38 feet (12 meters) to the pool at the bottom, with water cascading all around them. In 1977, Johnson completed a much quieter garden in Dallas, Thanks-Giving Square . It features a non-denominational chapel in a spiral form, a meditation garden and cascading fountains, tucked between buildings in

236-590: A half acres. The centerpiece is the 40-story tower, One PPG Place, which has a crown of spires at the corners which suggest the neogothic tower of the Houses of Parliament in London. During the 1980s, Johnson and Burgee completed a series of other notable postmodern landmarks. The TC Energy Center (formerly Republic Bank Center, later, Bank of America Center), in Houston (1983), was the first postmodern skyscraper in

295-441: A pond. The building's sides are glass and charcoal-painted steel; the floor, of brick, is not flush with the ground but sits 10 inches above. The interior is an open space divided by low walnut cabinets; a brick cylinder contains the bathroom and is the only object to reach floor to ceiling. The New York Times described it in 2005 as "one of the 20th century's greatest residential structures. "Like all of Johnson's early work, it

354-779: A seminal role in introducing modern architecture to the American public. When the rise of the Nazis in Germany forced the modernists Marcel Breuer and Mies van der Rohe to leave Germany, Johnson helped arrange for them to come to work in the United States. He created a small organization called the Gray Shirts, styled after the Nazi Brownshirts. The amount of power he yearned for was inversely proportional to

413-543: A simple interior and a ceiling of curving plaster panels. In 1957, Johnson designed the Soreq Nuclear Research Center in Israel at the invitation of Shimon Peres . Johnson joined Mies van der Rohe as the architect of record (Mies did not have NY license) for the 39-story Seagram Building (1956). Johnson was pivotal in steering the commission towards Mies by working with Phyllis Lambert ,

472-646: A small pavilion with columns by the lake in 1963, an art gallery set into a hillside in 1965, a postmodern sculpture gallery with a glass roof in 1970; a castle-like library with a rounded tower in 1980; and a concrete block tower dedicated to his friend Lincoln Kirstein , the founder of the New York City Ballet ; a chain-link "ghost house" dedicated to Frank Gehry . After completing the Glass House, he completed two more houses in New Canaan in

531-535: A solo practitioner, Johnson invited Alan Ritchie to join him as a partner. Ritchie had been a partner for many years in the Johnson-Burgee office and was the partner-in-charge of the AT&;T building and the 190 South LaSalle office building, a skyscraper designed as an homage to the demolished Masonic Temple of Chicago. In 1994, they formed the new practice of Philip Johnson-Alan Ritchie Architects. During

590-783: A style similar to the Glass House; the Hodgson House (1951) and the Wiley House (1953). In New York City, He designed two major modernist additions to the Museum of Modern Art; a new annex, and, to complement it, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden (1953) In 1954–56, he made the pro bono design for Congregation Kneses Tifereth Israel , a synagogue for a conservative Jewish congregation in Port Chester, New York . It had

649-573: Is a good example of his work in the period; it is supported by eight external ferro-concrete piers, or two on each side. The exterior structural members are clad in bronze and "black" Canadian granite . The windowless cube is set above the office areas, which recessed in a dry moat, giving a "floating" effect. A model of the building was exhibited in the United States Pavilion at the Brussels' World's Fair of 1958 ,as an example of

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708-545: Is a skyscraper with an eight-story high arched entry and a split pediment at the top which resembles an enormous piece of 18th-century Chippendale furniture . It was not the first work of postmodern architecture , as Robert Venturi and Frank Gehry had already built smaller scale postmodern buildings, and Michael Graves had completed the Portland Building (1980–82) in Portland, Oregon , two years earlier. But

767-436: Is an urban landscape where visitors experience water in distinct ways. The gardens cover 4.3-acres (1.7 hectare), and comprise three very different kinds of water features; One offers a quiet meditation pool, surrounded with cypress trees and high walls, with a thin sheet of water cascading downward to the pool, making the sound of a rain shower. The second pool is an aerating pool with multiple illuminated spray fountains, beneath

826-416: Is covered with more than 10,000 rectangular pieces of glass. The Glass panels are not bolted, but glued to the structure, with a silicon based glue, to give it greater ability to resist Southern California earthquakes. Johnson and Burgee designed it to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 8.0. The tower was added in 1990. The cathedral quickly became a Southern California landmark, but its costs helped drive

885-410: Is engaged in agitating racial animosities or propagating racial hatreds." Furthermore, in an interview with Eddie Doherty , Coughlin stated: "My purpose is to help eradicate from the world its mania for persecution, to help align all good men. Catholic and Protestant, Jew and Gentile, Christian and non-Christian, in a battle to stamp out the ferocity, the barbarism and the hate of this bloody era. I want

944-655: Is now at 5718 Westheimer Road , out of the complex. The Consulate of India was previously in Suite 600. It had been located in the 11,353-square-foot (1,054.7 m) space since the consulate opened in October 1995. On August 30, 2011, the consulate moved into a new standalone facility at 4300 Scotland. The consulates are in 3 Post Oak Central. 29°44′46″N 95°27′43″W  /  29.746°N 95.462°W  / 29.746; -95.462 Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005)

1003-545: The Harvard Graduate School of Design , where he studied with Marcel Breuer and Walter Gropius , who had recently fled from Nazi Germany. In 1941, Johnson designed and built his first building, a house at 9 Ash Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The house, strongly influenced by Mies van der Rohe, has a wall around the lot which merges with the structure. It was used by Johnson to host social events and

1062-603: The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and in 1932 he was named its curator. As curator he arranged for American visits by Gropius and Le Corbusier, and negotiated the first American commission for Mies van der Rohe. In 1932, working with Hitchcock and Alfred H. Barr, Jr. , he organized the first exhibition on Modern architecture at the Museum of Modern Art. The show and their simultaneously published book International Style: Modern Architecture Since 1922 , published in 1932, played

1121-568: The 1980s were clad in granite and marble and usually had some feature borrowed from historic architecture. In New York he designed the Museum of Television and Radio (now the Paley Center for Media) (1991). In 1982, working in collaboration with John Burgee, he finished one of his most famous buildings, 550 Madison Avenue , (first known as AT&T Building, then the Sony building before taking its present name). Built between 1978 and 1982, it

1180-734: The 2-acre (0.81 ha) park property, buildings for retail operations. The former headquarters of APA Corporation was at 1 Post Oak Central, Suite 100. 2 Post Oak Central has the headquarters of the Stewart Title Guaranty Company . In addition the headquarters of the Uptown Management District are in Suite 1580. 3 Post Oak Central has the headquarters of GDF Suez Energy Resources NA. In addition it contains three consulates, those of Qatar (Suite 810), South Korea (Suite 1250), and Turkey (Suite 1300). The Houston Korean Education Center, belonging to

1239-678: The Elders of Zion . Coughlin claimed that Marxist atheism in Europe was a Jewish plot against America. The December 5, 1938, issue of Social Justice included an article by Coughlin which reportedly closely resembled a speech made by Joseph Goebbels on September 13, 1935, attacking Jews and Communists, with some sections being copied verbatim by Coughlin from an English translation of the Goebbels speech. Coughlin, however, stated, "Nothing can be gained by linking ourselves with any organization which

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1298-518: The German government, he traveled on a press tour which covered the invasion of Poland in 1939. Schulze dismissed these early political activities as inconsequential, concluding they merited "little more substantial attention than they have gained" and his politics "were driven as much by an unconquerable esthetic impulse as by fascist philosophy or playboy adventurism". In 1941, at the age of 35, Johnson abandoned politics and journalism and enrolled in

1357-471: The Houston skyline. Fifty-six stories high, it has two setbacks creating what appear to be three different buildings, one against the other. The three triangular gables were inspired by Flemish Renaissance architecture. The interior and exterior are covered with rough-textured red granite, which also covers the surrounding sidewalks. The new building for the Hines College of Architecture (1985) of

1416-483: The Johnson building, adjoins the original Boston library built in the 19th century by the celebrated firm of McKim, Mead & White . Johnson harmonised his building with the original landmark by using similar proportions and the same pink Milford granite. In the late 1970s, Johnson combined architecture and landscape architecture to create two imaginative civic gardens. The Fort Worth Water Gardens opened in 1974,

1475-542: The Museum of Modern Art and began pursuing a career in journalism and politics. He first became a supporter of Huey Long , the populist governor of Louisiana. He tried and failed to recruit Long to join the National Party, which he founded. Johnson unsuccessfully ran for representative of New London in the Ohio state legislature. After Long was assassinated in 1935, Johnson became a correspondent for Social Justice ,

1534-520: The Museum of Modern Art as a curator and writer. At the same time, he began working to establish his architectural practice. He built a small house, influenced by the work of Mies, in Sagaponack, Long Island. In 1947, he published the first monograph in English on the architecture of Mies. In 1947, he curated the first exhibition of modern architecture of the Museum of Modern Art including a model of

1593-533: The Museum of Modern Art, which gave name to the subsequent movement known as International Style . In 1934, Johnson resigned his position at the museum. During the 1930s, Johnson became an ardent admirer of Adolf Hitler , openly praised the Nazi Party , and espoused antisemitic views. He wrote for Social Justice and Examiner , where he published an admiring review of Hitler's Mein Kampf . In 1939, as

1652-636: The University of Houston paid homage to forms drawn from earlier periods of architectural history, using modern materials, construction methods, and scale. The facade of the Hines building resembles, on a larger scale, the neoclassic facades of the French architect Claude Nicolas Ledoux . 400 West Market (1993) in Louisville, Kentucky, is a 35-story office tower built of reinforced concrete rather than

1711-611: The amount he actually attained. In politics, he proved to be a trifler, the dilettante he earlier feared himself to be, a model of futility who sought to find a messiah or to pursue messianic ends but whose most lasting following turned out to be the agents of the FBI—who themselves finally grew bored with him. In short, he was never much of a political threat to anyone, still less an effective doer of either political good or political evil. Franz Schulze, Philip Johnson: Life and Work (1994), p.144 In December 1934, Johnson abruptly left

1770-450: The architectural masterpieces of the 20th century". In 1930, Johnson became the first director of the architecture department of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. There he arranged for visits by Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier and negotiated the first American commission for Mies van der Rohe , after he fled Nazi Germany . In 1932, he organized with Henry-Russell Hitchcock the first exhibition dedicated to modern architecture at

1829-638: The building's Manhattan location, size, and originality made it the most famous and recognizable example of postmodern architecture . It was designated a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2018. Between 1979 and 1984, Johnson and Burgee built PPG Place , the postmodern headquarters of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company . It is a complex of six buildings within three city blocks, covering five and

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1888-706: The building. In 1989, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Seagram's exterior, lobby, and The Four Seasons Restaurant as official city landmarks. In 2006, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Throughout the 1960s, Johnson continued to create in the vocabulary of the modernist style, designing geometrical theatres, a monastery, art galleries and gardens. The Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute (1960)

1947-605: The center of the city. In 1980, Johnson and Burgee completed a cathedral in a dramatic new style: the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, is a soaring glass megachurch originally built for the Reverend Robert H. Schuller . The interior can seat 2,248 persons. It takes the form of a four-pointed star, with free-standing balconies in three points and the chancel in the fourth. The cathedral

2006-793: The church and opens the chapel to light. During daytime the interior is lit entirely with natural light. In 1995, Johnson added a postmodern element to his own residence, the Glass House . This was a new entry pavilion in a sculptural form, which he called the "Monsta", or "Monster". Other late works include the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas , the Habitable Sculpture (a 26-story apartment tower in lower Manhattan), The Children's Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico, and The Chrysler Center . The Urban Glass House in lower Manhattan

2065-629: The church into debt. When the church declared bankruptcy in 2012, it was purchased by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange and became the Roman Catholic cathedral for Orange County. Working with John Burgee, Johnson did not confine himself to a single style and was comfortable mixing elements of modernism and postmodernism. For the Cleveland Play House , he built a Romanesque brick structure. His skyscrapers in

2124-546: The consulate, is in Suite 750. The Cox Radio Houston cluster of KKBQ , KGLK , and KHPT , occupy Suite 2300. Gymboree Play & Music has a classroom location in Suite C. From its founding on May 25, 1982 to April 1988, the Consulate-General of Indonesia in Houston was located in Post Oak Central. The Consulate-General of Egypt in Houston was located in Suite 2180. As of 2008 the consulate

2183-589: The daughter of the CEO of Seagram . The commission resulted in the iconic bronze-and-glass tower on Park Avenue. The building was designed by Mies, and the interiors of the Four Seasons and Brasserie restaurants (later redesigned), as well as office furniture were designed by Johnson. In December 1955, the city of New York denied an architect's permit to Mies. He moved back to Chicago and put Johnson fully in charge of construction. Mies returned in late 1956 and finished

2242-474: The feud between Burgee and Johnson continued to grow. In 1988, the firm's name was changed to John Burgee Architects with Johnson as the "design consultant". In 1991, Johnson responded by establishing his own firm. The feud ended badly for Burgee; he was saddled with all of the firm's debts, while Johnson no longer had any responsibility. Burgee was eventually forced to declare bankruptcy and to retire, while Johnson continued to get commissions. After four years as

2301-454: The first time. Years later he would describe the event to his biographer, Franz Schulze: "You simply could not fail to be caught up in the excitement of it, by the marching songs, by the crescendo and climax of the whole thing, as Hitler came on at last to harangue the crowd". He told of being thrilled at the sight of "all those blond boys in black leather" marching past the Führer. Sponsored by

2360-465: The glass Farnsworth House of Mies. In 1949, he began building a new residence, the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, that was completed in 1949. It was clearly influenced by Farnsworth House of Mies, an influence which Johnson never denied, but looked quite different. The Glass House is a 56-foot by 32-foot glass rectangle, sited at the edge of a crest on Johnson's estate overlooking

2419-594: The good Jews with me, and I'm called a Jew baiter, an anti-Semite." After America's entry into World War II , Coughlin's broadcasts were ended by the National Association of Broadcasters . In 1942, the periodical's second class mailing permit was revoked under the Espionage Act of 1917 as part of Attorney General Francis Biddle 's efforts against "vermin" publications. The paper remained available on newsstands in cities such as Boston, where it

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2478-755: The new trends in American architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. Another major project of the period was the Atrium of the David H. Koch Theater (formerly the New York State Theatre, the home of the New York City Ballet , at Lincoln Center in New York. In 1967, Johnson entered a new phase of his career, founding a partnership with architect John Burgee . He began to design office building complexes for large corporations. The most prominent of these

2537-482: The newspaper of the radical-populist and anti-Semitic Father Charles Coughlin . Johnson traveled to Germany and Poland as a correspondent, where he wrote admiringly about the Nazis. In Social Justice , Johnson expressed, as The New York Times later reported, "more than passing admiration for Hitler". In the summer of 1932 Johnson attended one of the Nuremberg Rallies in Germany and saw Hitler for

2596-600: The next 10 years, they worked closely together and explored new directions in architecture, designing buildings as sculptural objects. The Gate of Europe in Madrid (1989-1996) was originally a collaboration with Burgee and one of his rare works in Europe. It features two office buildings leaning toward each other, the first example of this style, which spread to America. The towers are 26 stories each, and both lean by 15 degrees from vertical. 191 Peachtree Tower in Atlanta

2655-549: The prosecution, though, according to some critics, it may have been because of his social connections, but no evidence of this was ever produced. Years later he would refer to these activities as "the stupidest thing I ever did   [which] I never can atone for". In 1978, he was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal . In 1979, he was the first recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize . Today his skyscrapers are prominent features in

2714-475: The skylines of New York, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Madrid, and other cities. Johnson was born in Cleveland , Ohio, on July 8, 1906, the son of a lawyer, Homer Hosea Johnson (1862–1960), and the former Louisa Osborn Pope (1869–1957), a niece of Alfred Atmore Pope and a first cousin of Theodate Pope Riddle . He had an older sister, Jeannette, and a younger sister, Theodate. He

2773-522: The state of Michigan. The Chapel of St. Basil at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas (1992) is a notable late work. The design includes a domed chapel, a campanile, and a meditation garden, a labyrinth. Its structure is a combination of the basic forms: a cube, a sphere, and a plane. The cube contains the worship area, beneath a semi-sphere, which is presented as the symbolic opening to heaven. The vertical rectangular granite plane divides

2832-515: The typical steel. It is topped by a concrete cupola, a vestige of the building's original owner and builder, Capital Holding. In 1986, Johnson and Burgee moved their offices into one of their new buildings, the elliptical Lipstick Building at 885 Third Avenue in New York, nicknamed because of its resemblance to the color and shape of a stick of lipstick. A feud was beginning between the two architects, with Burgee demanding greater recognition. As their business flourished and number of clients grew,

2891-543: The work of the Pre-Socratic philosophers. Upon completing his studies in 1930, he made a series of trips to Europe, particularly Germany, where his family had a summer house. He visited the landmarks of classical and Gothic architecture, and joined Henry-Russell Hitchcock , a prominent architectural historian, who was introducing Americans to the work of Le Corbusier , Walter Gropius , and other modernists. In 1928, he met German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe , who

2950-492: Was Pennzoil Place (1970–76) in Houston, Texas. The two towers of Pennzoil Place have sloping roofs covering the top seven floors and are trapezoidal in form, planned to create two large triangual areas on the site, which are occupied with glass-covered lobbies designed like greenhouses. This idea was widely copied in skyscrapers in other cities. The new building of the Boston Public Library (1972), known as

3009-405: Was a project begun with Burgee. It is composed of two 50-story towers joined and crowned with two classical pavilions. The Comerica Tower (1991-1993) was also begun with Burgee. Like their earlier Postmodern works, it featured elements borrowed from historical architecture, particularly the triangular gables, borrowed from Renaissance Flemish architecture . It is the second tallest building in

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3068-897: Was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture . Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut ; the postmodern 550 Madison Avenue in New York City , designed for AT&T; 190 South La Salle Street in Chicago ; the Sculpture Garden of New York City's Museum of Modern Art ; and the Pre-Columbian Pavilion at Dumbarton Oaks . His January 2005 obituary in The New York Times described his works as being "widely considered among

3127-585: Was at the time designing the German Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition . The meeting formed the basis for a lifelong relationship of both collaboration and competition. Johnson had a substantial fortune, largely due to his father's successful investment in Alcoa , the Aluminum Company of America. With this fortune, in 1930 he financed the new architecture department of

3186-448: Was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal . In 1979, he became the first recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize the most prestigious international architectural award. Social Justice (periodical) Social Justice was a topical political periodical published by Father Charles Coughlin from 1936 to 1942. Social Justice was controversial for printing antisemitic polemics such as The Protocols of

3245-794: Was descended from the Jansen family of New Amsterdam. His ancestors include the Huguenot Jacques Cortelyou , who laid out the first town plan of New Amsterdam for Peter Stuyvesant . He grew up in New London, Ohio . He had a stutter and was diagnosed with cyclothymia . He attended the Hackley School in Tarrytown, New York , then studied as an undergraduate at Harvard University where he focused on learning Greek, philology , history and philosophy , particularly

3304-473: Was eventually submitted as his graduate thesis; he sold the house after the war, and it was purchased by Harvard in 2010 and restored by 2016. In 1942, while still a student of the architecture school, Johnson tried to enlist with Naval Intelligence , and then for a federal job, but was rejected both times. In 1943, after his graduation from Harvard, he was drafted to the Army and was sent to Fort Ritchie, Maryland , to interrogate German prisoners of war . He

3363-433: Was inspired by Mies, but its pure symmetry, dark colors and closeness to the earth marked it as a personal statement; calm and ordered rather than sleek and brittle." Philip wrote that the burnt wooden homes he had seen in Poland "where nothing was left but the foundations and chimneys of brick," were a further source of inspiration. Johnson continued to add to the Glass House estate during each period of his career. He added

3422-495: Was investigated by the FBI for his involvement with the German government, Coughlin and Lawrence Dennis , an American fascist economist, and was cleared for continued military service. After the trial of Dennis and his collaborators , Johnson was relieved of his interrogation duties and transferred to Fort Belvoir, Virginia , where he spent the rest of his military service doing routine duties. In 1946, after he completed his schooling and his military service, Johnson returned to

3481-447: Was one of last designs with Alan Ritchie, and was not completed after Johnson's death. It is a condominium building in lower Manhattan whose form was inspired by Johnson's most famous early work, the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. The final building he designed with Richie was the Pennsylvania Academy of Music building in Lancaster, Pennsylvania , which was completed in 2008, three years after his death. In 1978, Johnson

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