1 hour from New York | The Glass House, a home without walls
Last week I visited the famous Glass House in a small town in Connecticut. We drove from NJ for over an hour to the visitor center. You must book the tour in advance on the official website. Park in the nearby lot, then take their shuttle bus into the park. No eating or drinking is allowed inside, and there are no restrooms, so I strongly recommend arriving about ten minutes early to check in and use the restroom, or the two-hour tour might be a bit tough.
This time I booked the 2-hour tour, which includes the Glass House itself, the Brick House across the way, the underground Painting Gallery, the Sculpture Gallery with amazing light and shadow effects, and finally passing by the red quirky building Da Monsta near the entrance.
Visiting in winter means the scenery isn’t as lush as in summer, but the advantage is fewer people and easier ticket booking.
Architect Philip Johnson was the first head of the architecture department at MoMA, and he and his wife donated many modern artworks to MoMA.
The Glass House has glass on all four sides, and when there’s light, the whole house reflects the natural landscape. Even the glass table in the middle looks like part of the scenery. The only exception is the brick cylinder in the center housing the bathroom and fireplace. My favorite part is the bathroom: green small square tiles + dim yellow lighting + hanging white curtains, and the ceiling is made of some reddish-brown leather that looks like animal scales, very lifelike. As someone who has done renovations: this probably isn’t waterproof... but the artist had his own insistence, and it really looks beautiful.
The furniture inside is minimal and carefully arranged, described as “a home that can also be a livable sculpture.” What impressed me most were the two Barcelona chairs. The guide said they are the genuine originals, the same batch that the King and Queen of Spain sat on in 1929. Other visitors nearby joked, “Now every household in New York has one.” But most are replicas. I like them too, but my home really doesn’t have the space; furniture needs some breathing room.
Because there are no walls, the space is divided entirely by cabinets. The wooden cabinets with round handles are a design from over fifty years ago that still looks timeless today. When I saw them, I couldn’t help but tell my little guard: “Look, we use these handles at home too, we do have good taste, haha.”
Outside the house is a small pond with a miniature palace in the middle, which I call a “floating ancient ruin.” The height is just right for me, but two big men can only sit to have breakfast.
The Brick House across the way is mainly for guests and has two completely different rooms: one is a white vaulted cocoon-like space with a unified color tone, very much like a soft nest; the other study has grass-green walls and an indigo carpet with full saturation. I won’t spoil the underground Painting Gallery and the skylight-filled Sculpture Gallery, leaving those for everyone to see themselves.
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Show More ReviewsThe Americana Inn is a decent choice if you just need a budget-friendly place to crash in the middle of the city. While the bathrooms are shared, the staff is diligent about keeping them clean, though housekeeping for the actual rooms can be a bit hit-or-miss depending on the day.The location is excellent for being central, but it comes with a lot of noise; expect typical New York sounds like sirens and constant honking until about midnight. It usually quiets down enough to get some solid sleep between midnight and 6:00 AM. A nice modern touch is the Smart TV in the room, which lets you log into your own Netflix or YouTube accounts.