BROKEN GLASS Mies van der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the Fight Over a Modernist Masterpiece

Narrator Kimberly Farr makes all the right choices in delivering this audiobook. The inflections she gives Dr. Edith Farnsworth, the original owner of the famed house at the center of this story, sound spot-on. Her understated delivery of architect Mies van der Rohe's quotes--he had a strong German accent--keeps the biography from descending into parody. The battle between the great internationalist architect and his client had plenty of drama and tension. Van der Rohe designed the iconic glass house in Plano, Illinois, an hour outside of Chicago, in 1945. It took years from the initial idea to its completion in 1951. The client and architect were originally friends, but by the time the glass house was completed, they had entered into a long, tortuous suit and countersuit. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2020]