The architectural legacy of the Rockefeller family in Manhattan is well-known, most obviously demonstrated in the slab-like Art Deco towers of the Rockefeller Center and the ever-expanding campus of the MoMA. But in a city that is filled with landmarks and historic buildings, it's easy for even the most remarkable projects to go unrecognized. Philip Johnson's Rockefeller Guest House in Manhattan was completed in 1950, just one year after the construction of his better known Glass House in New Canaan. The Glass House is an obvious cousin to the later guest house: both feature largely empty glass and steel boxlike forms, where structural work is exposed and celebrated.
The Rockefeller Guest House was commissioned by Blanchette Ferry Hooker Rockefeller, a passionate art collector who favored works by the likes of Alberto Giacometti and Willem de Kooning. Pieces from her collection later found fitting homes on the walls and floors of the guest house, after being relegated out of Blanchette's primary residence by her husband John D. Rockefeller III. See the artworks and sparse furniture of the home's interior in a T Magazine video above.
To learn more about the Rockefeller Guest House and its history, read the full article from The New York Times Style Magazine here.
