Robert Venturi’s house for his mother has come to define the Postmodern style of architecture.
Venturi’s firm described the 1,800-sf house as a “small building with big scale.” Its use of symbolism, distorted symmetry, and multiple contrasting historical styles was defiantly against the tenets of modernism, and has made the house loathed and loved by architects and design historians. Keast & Hood provided structural engineering for the light wood frame and masonry structure of the house. Spaces are centered around a chimney, symbolically the heart of the home.
In 1989, the Vanna Venturi House received the American Institute of Architects Twenty-Five Year Award as a design “of enduring significance that has withstood the test of time.” In 2005, the U.S. Postal Service featured the house on one of 12 “Masterworks of modern American Architecture” stamps. In 2012, AIA Philadelphia and the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia recognized the house with the Landmark Building Award.
Robert Venturi’s house for his mother has come to define the Postmodern style of architecture.
Venturi’s firm described the 1,800-sf house as a “small building with big scale.” Its use of symbolism, distorted symmetry, and multiple contrasting historical styles was defiantly against the tenets of modernism, and has made the house loathed and loved by architects and design historians. Keast & Hood provided structural engineering for the light wood frame and masonry structure of the house. Spaces are centered around a chimney, symbolically the heart of the home.
In 1989, the Vanna Venturi House received the American Institute of Architects Twenty-Five Year Award as a design “of enduring significance that has withstood the test of time.” In 2005, the U.S. Postal Service featured the house on one of 12 “Masterworks of modern American Architecture” stamps. In 2012, AIA Philadelphia and the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia recognized the house with the Landmark Building Award.
CLIENT: Venturi and Rauch (now VSBA, LLC)
LOCATION: Philadelphia, PA
TYPE: Residential, SERVICES: New Construction, MATERIALS: Concrete, Wood, SUSTAINABILITY: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Photography © Rollin LaFrance
