My-pavilion.com

The Grand-daddy of American getaway space has to be Henry David Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond, built in Massachusetts in 1856. Thoreau’s philosophy and writings underscore a lifestyle of simplicity and resonance with nature. He is also often cited as a legendary example of rugged American individualism and personal independence.

Thoreau built his cabin himself with simple hand tools, and he cut and dressed his own lumber on-site. Although the original cabin no longer stands, a replica has been built near the pond. His heat source was a cast-iron wood-burning stove, set within a masonry hearth.

Now part of the Massachusetts Forests and Parks system, Walden Pond State Reservation maintains a rebuilt copy of Thoreau’s cabin and 462 acres of protected open space. Visitors from all over the world visit the pond and woods that inspired Thoreau.

In 1968, at the age of 51, Dick Proenneke left his engineering job in the Pacific Northwest and moved to a remote area of Alaska – alone, and in the wilderness. Between spring and fall seasons, he hand-hewed a personal “Go-2” near Twin Lakes, where he lived for over thirty years. In addition to this miraculous feat of rugged individualism and self-sufficiency, he set up a 16mm camera and filmed himself during the entire building process!
Proenneke’s story is one of awesome wonder, and his home site is now a national landmark. See a summary of his life and times in Alaska on you-tube.

The ultimate pavilion has to be Philip Johnson’s “Glass House”, designed by him and built in 1949. Aside from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, this is probably the most well-known modern “house” in America, and perhaps beyond.

Interestingly however, the house is in many ways more of a viewing and entertainment pavilion, than it is a house. The steel structure and large expanses of glass would make the temperature, humidity and sun extremely difficult to control. Built in 1949, the then-innovative hot-water radiant floor needed to be kept at 140 degrees Fahrenheit, in order to keep the interior space comfortable. Not a place to kick off your shoes.

Johnson also designed and built other notable structures on the premises, and in some ways, the various small buildings combined together to form the total “house”. Indeed, Johnson’s partner David Whitney often referred to these other buildings as one would refer to rooms within a house, like the “kitchen” and “bedroom” and so on. So the Glass House was by no means Johnson’s shelter of last resort.

If nothing else, the Glass House did one thing for “Flip”, as he would have his close friends call him. It made him world famous. Some of the most talked-about “go to” parties of the movers and shakers of the day were held at the Glass House.

From an architectural point of view, it’s a masterful “set piece”, sited perfectly, of magnificent proportions, and detailed in a way that would make any architect pale with envy. One can easily see the lineage of Mies van der Rohe in the design and detailing of the Glass House.

Johnson donated the house and surrounding buildings to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and now anyone can visit – with advance ticket purchase.