Happy Fourth of July! In recognition of Independence Day in the United States, ArchDaily has assembled six of our favorite "American Classics." Featuring projects by Louis Kahn, Mies van der Rohe, Richard Neutra, Paul Rudolph, Eero Saarinen, and Richard Meier, each of these canonical works occupies a prominent place in twentieth-century American architecture. See them all after the break.
Salk Institute / Louis Kahn. Monumental without being ostentatious, the Salk Institute is among Kahn's most famous projects in the United States. The research complex, named for the inventor of the polio vaccine, is symmetrically arranged about a strong, elegantly articulated central axis that extends into the ocean seemingly without end. Read more.
The Atheneum / Richard Meier. One of Richard Meier's most important early projects, this community center in the post-utopian Indiana town of New Harmony helped launch his career. It is a beautiful exercise in geometric construction and a pioneering example of Meier's distinctly personal brand of modernism. Read more.
Farnsworth House / Mies van der Rohe. Along with Fallingwater and the Glass House, the Farnsworth House is one of the United States' most famous private residences. Located in the Chicago suburb of Plano, Illinois, it is remarkable for its radical simplicity and transparency. Read more.
Lovell House / Richard Neutra. Built in the late 1920s in Los Angeles, Neutra's hilltop residence helped import a European-dominated strand of modernism to the United States. Read more.
North Christian Church / Eero Saarinen. Located in the town of Columbus, Indiana, the North Christian Church was the final building of Saarinen's distinguished career. It articulates the architect's personal religious and moral polemics through its processional arrangement, heavenward gestures, and moody ambiance. Read more.
Orange County Government Center / Paul Rudolph. Currently faced with the threat of demolition, this late-brutalist project is characteristic of Rudolph's tendency toward complex, intersecting massing schemes. Read more.
