Farnsworth documentary on WTTW Thursday
November 30th 1999
Beacon News
September 10, 2007
Farnsworth documentary on WTTW Thursday
BYLINE: Christine S. Moyer
PLANO—The iconic, glass-walled Farnsworth House, tucked between trees and the Fox River in Plano, will soon be explored from the family rooms of homes across the country.
On Thursday, a 30-minute documentary on the modernist structure—Saved from the Wrecking Ball—will air on WTTW TV at 8 p.m.
This is the first film on the Farnsworth House to be broadcast in the United States, according to Whitney French, the home’s historic site director.
The documentary will usher viewers through the house’s history, from construction and intrigue of the building, to the multiple owners and the ongoing efforts to preserve it.
Its title references the 2003 auction when a group of philanthropists managed to secure $7.5 million to purchase the building on behalf of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and save it from the rumored intent of a bidder to relocate it to Pennsylvania.
Laurie DiBerardino, public relations director for the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, believes the documentary will increase exposure of the structure nationally and locally.
“There are people in the Fox Valley who I speak with who don’t even know it’s here. Even in our own back yard there are people who don’t know it exists,” DiBerardino said.
Designed in 1951 by German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the Farnsworth House—enveloped in glass and framed in steel and travertine marble—is considered one of the most beautiful modernist homes in the world.
For more information on the Farnsworth House, visit www.farnsworthhouse.org
