Mackintosh’s Hill House Becomes an International Iconic House!

Obituary and Interment: The Death and Disposition of Irving J. Gill

Iconic Houses in the Media

Interview in Leading Catalan newspaper ARA

Bauhaus Villa in Berlin For Sale

Historical Exhibition, Marie-Laure de Noailles, Painter, Conversation

Our Badge of Honour

Istanbul’s Modernist Ataköy Housing Estate is At Risk

Early Furniture Designs by Le Corbusier on Permanent Display in Maison Blanche

Photo Report City Icons Amsterdam

Healing Through Architecture

Reopening An Iconic Modernist Landmark

City Icons Kick Off with Talk by Linda Vlassenrood

MORE MIES - Pure Architecture in Haus Lange Haus Esters

Through a Bauhaus Lens: Edith Tudor-Hart and Isokon

Modernism Week Lecture: 10 Years of Iconic Houses

Aluminaire House Grand Opening

Exhibition Icons of the Czech Avant-Garde

An Elementalist and Mediterranean Architecture

Icon for Sale - Loos Villa: Haus Horner

SPECIAL – Iconic Dreams Europe - Sleep in an Iconic House!

SPECIAL – Iconic Dreams North America - Sleep in an Iconic House!

SPECIAL – German Greats!

SPECIAL - Vacances en France!

SPECIAL - Casas Icónicas en España!

SPECIAL – Dutch Delights!

SPECIAL – Iconic Artist Residencies

SPECIAL – Northern (High)Lights!

SPECIAL – Iconic Collective Housing

SPECIAL – Women & Iconic Houses

Public Screenings and Private Streaming of Pioneers of the Dutch Modern House

Winy Wants a World Wonder

Welcome Atelier Volten!

Sleep in a Modernist Gem – Huis Billiet in Bruges

Iconic Houses in The Netherlands - 100 Years Van Zessen House

Exclusive Tour and Film Screening Package

The Last House Designed by Adolf Loos Will Be Built in Prague

Icons of the Czech Avantgarde

Icon for Sale - Casa Legorreta

Rietveld Day: 200 Enthusiasts Explored 3 Utrecht Icons

Hurray! 10 Years Iconic Houses

7th International Iconic Houses Conference A Huge Success

Meet Conference Co-Chair Iveta Černá

Meet Conference Co-Chair Maria Szadkowska

Eighteen Iconic Houses Under One Roof

17 June - 'Pioneers-film' Screening Amersfoort

Iconic Houses in The Netherlands - Van Eesteren House Museum

Welcome Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky Zentrum in Vienna!

Welcome Vila Volman! Jewel of Czech Functionalism

Movie Night: Adolf Loos- Revolutionary Among Architects

'Inside Iconic Houses' Case Study House #26 Webcast in Webshop

Inside Iconic Houses at Taut’s Home in Berlin

Rediscovering Forgotten Loos Interiors in Pilsen

'Inside Iconic Houses' - Online Tour Program

Iconic Houses in The Netherlands - The Diagoon House

Iconic Houses in The Netherlands - Rietveld Schröder House

Rietveld Houses Owners Association

Corberó Space: New Life for Hidden Jewel

Iconic Houses in The Netherlands - Pierre Cuypers' House and Workshops

Reeuwijk Celebrates Completion of Restoration Rietveld Homes!

Iconic Houses in The Netherlands - Van Doesburg Rinsema House

Welcome Rietveld's Van Daalen House!

Architect Harry Gessner Passed Away at 97

Watch Pioneers of the Dutch Modern House Now On Demand

Icon Saved: Dorchester Drive House

Welcome Umbrella House!

Iconic Houses in the Netherlands – Berlage’s Masterpiece

Iconic Houses in The Netherlands - Het Schip

Inside Iconic Houses - Tour of Maison Cazenave

Inside Iconic Houses Tours Vizcaya Museum & Gardens in Miami

Casa Masó Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary

Inside Iconic Houses tours Roland Reisley's Usonian Frank Lloyd Wright House

Rietveld’s Experimental Housing in Reeuwijk Saved

Serralves Villa after restoration

Portraits of the Architect - Interview with Gennaro Postiglione

Test Labs for New Ideas - Interview with Natascha Drabbe

Inside Iconic Houses - Isokon Building

Inside Iconic Houses - 16 December: Sunnylands with Janice Lyle

BCN-BXL Coderch-De Koninck - Beyond Time

New Chairman Architect Nanne de Ru on The Perfect Platform

Health and Home - Interview with Beatriz Colomina

A Life Less Ordinary – Interview with Valentijn Carbo

Invisible Women - Interview with Alice T. Friedman

Winy Maas on the Green Dip

Anita Blom on Experimental Housing of the 1970s

Women’s Worlds - Interview with Natalie Dubois

The Culture of Living - Interview with Robert von der Nahmer

Hetty Berens: A Fresh Take on Modernism

Niek Smit on Supporting Modern Heritage

Alice Roegholt on Amsterdam’s Working-Class Palaces

July is Iconic Houses Month

Hans van Heeswijk on The Pioneers of the Dutch Modern House

Wessel de Jonge on Dutch Icons at Risk

Save Maison Zilveli - Sign the Petition!

How a Building Tells a Story - Recorded Event

Toolkit for Owners of a Modern House

13 Aalto Sites Nominated for UNESCO World Heritage

Villa Beer At Risk - Sign the Petition!

Business Cards of Stone, Timber and Concrete in the Brussels Region 1830-1970

Exhibiting & Visiting Modernist Monuments

Fostering Well-Researched Responsible Design

ICONS AT RISK

Enjoy a virtual visit to the California House and a Q&A with architect Peter Gluck

Exhibition 'Modernism and Refuge'

A Hidden Gem of Postmodernism

New Centre for Historic Houses of India

An Online Chronicle of the Douglas House

Villa Henny, geometric style icon in The Netherlands

A Mendini temple in Amsterdam

IH-lectures USA & Canada Feb 2020 on Melnikov House

Sponsors and Friends

An Afternoon with the Glucks

Chandler McCoy on Making Modern Houses Sustainable

Catherine Croft: Getting Away from the Demolition Mentality in the UK

Patrick Weber on Discovering an Unknown Icon

Fiona Fisher on Iconic Interiors

Jocelyn Bouraly on Villa Cavrois

Mireia Massagué on finding success through a new kind of partnership

Danish Moderns – Looking Back at Our Mini-Seminar

Venturo house complements Exhibition Centre WeeGee’s offering

Lecture report: Remembering Richard Neutra

Hôtel Mezzara and the Guimard Museum project

We welcome 13 new members!

BREAKING NEWS: 8 Wright Sites Inscribed on Unesco World Heritage List!

LECTURE 29 August - Raymond Neutra: My Father and Frank Lloyd Wright

Iconic Reads

Iconic Houses End Year Message

City-ordered rebuild of landmark house stirs debate: Appropriate or overreach?

Kohlberg House Restoration in Progress

Planned Demolition of Rietveld Homes in Reeuwijk

Renovation Gili House in Crisis

An Iconic Saga

Restoring Eileen Gray’s Villa E-1027 and Clarifying the Controversies

Modernism on the East Coast

Iconic Houses in Latin America

Conference testimonials

House Tours May 2018 

Expert Meetings

Natascha Drabbe - Iconic Houses: The Next Chapter

Terence Riley -KEYNOTE SPEAKER- on Philip Johnson

New era for Villa E-1027 and Cap Moderne

Hilary Lewis on Philip Johnson and his Glass House

John Arbuckle on Great House Tours

William D. Earls on the Harvard Five in New Canaan

Stover Jenkins on Working for Philip Johnson

Frederick Noyes on his Father’s House

Scott Fellows and Craig Bassam on their Passion for Preservation

Jorge Liernur -KEYNOTE SPEAKER- on Latin American Modernism(s)

Fabio Grementieri on Modernism in Argentina

Catalina Corcuera Cabezut on Casa Luis Barragán

Renato Anelli on Lina Bo Bardi’s Casa de Vidro

Tim McClimon on Corporate Preservation

Amanda Nelson on Building Donor Relationships

John Bacon on Planned Giving

Jean-Paul Warmoes on the Art of Fundraising in America

Chandler McCoy on Why Less is More

Katherine Malone-France on Moving with the Times

Anne Mette Rahbæk on Philanthropic Investments and Preservation

Peter McMahon on Saving Modern Houses on Cape Cod

Toshiko Kinoshita on Japanese Modern Heritage Houses

Roland Reisley on Life in a Frank Lloyd Wright House

5th Iconic Houses Conference May 2018

Kristin Stone, Pasadena Tour Company

Restoring the past: The Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Home Studio

Behind the Scenes: Hendrick de Keyser Association

Crosby Doe, Architecture for Sale

Latin America Special – Focus on Mexico

De Stijl in Drachten

Preserving the Nancarrow House-Studio

Meet the Friends - Nanne de Ru

Latin America Special – Focus on Brazil

Jan de Jong’s House is Latest Hendrick de Keyser Acquisition

Stay in a Belgian Modernist Masterpiece

In Berlin’s Modernist Network

Rietveld-Schröder House Celebrates De Stijl Anniversary

Meet Our New Foundation Board Members

Maintaining Aalto's Studio – Linoleum Conservation

Virtual Tour of a Papaverhof Home in 3D

Getty Grant for Villa E-1027

Plečnik House in Ljubljana

Iconic Dacha

Iconic Houses: A Bohemian Road Trip

Work in Progress: Capricho de Gaudí

11 Le Corbusier Homes now on Unesco World Heritage List

At home with Le Corbusier

Henry van de Velde’s Study in Haus Hohe Pappeln Restored

Lynda Waggoner reports

A Conference to Remember

4th International Iconic Houses Conference

Guest of Honor - Harry Gesner

Fallingwater: European Lecture Tour

Wright Plus 2016 Walk

Susan Macdonald, Getty Conservation Institute

John Mcllwee, Garcia House

Meet the Friends – Elisabeth Tostrup

Iconic Houses: The Story So Far

Willie van Burgsteden, designer Iconic Houses

Buff Kavelman, Philanthropic Advisor

Meet the Friends - Frederick Noyes

Sheridan Burke, GML Heritage

Meet the Friends - Raymond Neutra

Sidney Williams, Frey House

Franklin Vagnone and Deborah Ryan, Museum Anarchists

Meet the Friends - James Haefner

Toshiko Mori, architect

Malachi Connolly, Cape Cod Modern House Trust

Meet the Friends - Penny Sparke

Lucia Dewey Atwood, Eames House

Cory Buckner, Mutual Housing Site Office

Jeffrey Herr, Hollyhock House

Speaking Volumes: Building the Iconic Houses Library

Sarah Lorenzen, Neutra VDL Studio and Residences

Ted Bosley, Gamble House

Keeping It Modern - Getty Conservation Grants

Meet the Friends - Thomas Schönauer

Wim de Wit, Stanford University

Linda Dishman, Los Angeles Conservancy

Jesse Lattig, Pasadena Heritage

Join us in Los Angeles! Update

Work in Progress: Casa Vicens

Work in Progress: Van Wassenhove House

Work in Progress: Villa Cavrois

Work in Progress: The Pearlroth House

Conference calls!

Follow us!

Third Iconic Houses Conference a huge success

Conference House Tours Barcelona

Marta Lacambra, Fundació Catalunya-La Pedrera

Natascha Drabbe, Iconic Houses Foundation

Special speaker Oscar Tusquets

Jordi Tresserras, UNESCO Network ‘Culture, tourism and development’

Christen Obel, Utzon Foundation

Elena Ruiz Sastre, Casa Broner

Fernando Alvarez Prozorovich, La Ricarda

Tim Benton, Professor of Art History (Emeritus)

Susana Landrove, Docomomo Spain

Rossend Casanova, Casa Bloc

Conference Program 25 November 2014

Jordi Falgàs, Casa Rafael Masó

Documentary La Ricarda

Marga Viza, Casa Míla/La Pedrera

Celeste Adams, Frank Lloyd Wright Trust

Conference 25 November 2014 at La Pedrera

Henry Urbach, The Glass House

Victoria & Albert Museum London November 12

Tommi Lindh, new director of the Alvar Aalto Foundation and Museum

Iveta Černá, Villa Tugendhat

Lynda Waggoner, Fallingwater

Kimberli Meyer, MAK Center

Rent a house designed by Gerrit Rietveld

Barragán House on Screen

Gesamtkunstwerk – An Icon on the Move

Triennale der Moderne 27 September - 13 October 2013

Prestigious Art Nouveau mansions in Brussels open

September 14 + 15: Heritage Days in Paris

June's New Arrivals: Museum Apartments

Iconic Houses is now on Twitter and Facebook

Corbu’s Cabanon: Reconstruction and Lecture

Projekt Mies In Krefeld: Life-sized model of the Krefeld Clubhouse

New arrivals: Spain special

MAMO: Le Corbu’s ‘Park in the Sky’ open 12 June

Taut's Home wins Europa Nostra Award

Annual Wright Architectural Housewalk: 18 May

Frank Lloyd Wright Homes on Screen

Message from the Editor

Neutra’s House on Screen

Michel Richard, Fondation Le Corbusier

Symposium The Public and the Modern House

Melnikov House on Screen

Iconic Houses in the media

Message from the Editor

Round Table Review

Eileen Gray House on Screen

Copy Culture

At Home in the 20th Century

New 20th century Iconic Houses website launches

Philippe Bélaval, Centre des monuments nationaux

September 18, 2024

Interview in Leading Catalan newspaper ARA

Natascha Drabbe: "I don't understand why Barcelona doesn't buy Casa Gomis and donate it to a museum"

The founder of Iconic Houses warns that Antoni Bonet Castellana's house Casa Gomis, known as La Ricarda in El Prat is in danger, and welcomes three recent Spanish members to the network: Cases Barates Bon Pastor in Barcelona, Joan Miró's Sert Studio in Palma and Mas Miró in Mont-roig del Camp.

Cases Barates Bon Pastor in Barcelona 

Joan Miró's Sert Studio in Palma 

Mas Miró in Mont-roig del Camp 

The international house museum network Iconic Houses has more and more members and more recognition. A few weeks ago, Joan Miró's workshop in Palma, the work of Josep Lluís Sert, joined two recent Catalan members: the Cases Barates Bon Pastor - one of the headquarters of the Barcelona History Museum (Muhba )– and another site from Miró, the Mas Miró. On the other hand, it has been ten years since Iconic Houses held the international congress at La Pedrera. "It's great that these three buildings are so different from each other, because what I like about Iconic Houses is that it covers the entire 20th century," says the network's founder, architectural historian Natascha Drabbe. "People might think that iconic houses are just mansions like Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye and Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, but I want to show the whole range of typologies of how ordinary people lived in the throughout the 20th century", she explains, giving another Barcelona member of the network, Casa Bloc Museum Apartment, as an example.

Casa Bloc Museum Apartment 

Despite everything, heritage recognition has not managed to stop another iconic Catalan house, La Ricarda, from being in danger. The first expansion of El Prat airport made it unusable, and the future expansion project could worsen the situation, or make it disappear. "It seems very strange to me that the city of Barcelona does not offer to buy it or give it to the Design Museum or the Muhba and make it a satellite museum, because it is intact and the furniture is preserved", laments Drabbe. "And it played an important cultural role during the Franco regime," she emphasizes.

Although the story of Iconic Houses began more than fifteen years ago, there are still clichés about museum houses such as that neighbors think that the owners make a lot of money and that they steal their privacy. But the reality is that the teams in many of these houses are small and have modest budgets. Likewise, if they are too small to host cultural events that bring benefits, those responsible look for spaces nearby to be able to do so. "Factories and offices you can renovate. In a house the first thing you renovate is the kitchen, and the bathroom is the first thing you change, and then you lose an important part of the history of the house, because they are the places where lots of new technology," says Drabbe.

On the other hand, designer houses can become an endangered species. "Throughout the last century, architects made houses for private clients. But now famous architects don't want to make houses because it takes a lot of time and makes them lose money. And if they make a house, they make it for a very rich client . Instead, you often find innovations in houses whose budgets were restricted, which forced the architects to be creative," she explains. Another case is the houses that architects make for themselves, as was the case with Drabbe's own home, Van Schijndel House, designed by her husband, Mart van Schijndel (1943-1999), in Utrecht. "When architects build a house, they want to impress, but they do it with a smaller budget than their clients. And that's when they're innovative and use new atypical materials," says Drabbe.

A network with a lot of potential
Currently the network has almost 200 members worldwide. Among the countries with the most homes are the United States (37), the Netherlands (26), France (18), Germany (15), the Czech Republic (13) and Spain (12). 151 are homes of architects, 18 are of artists and 28 are available for stays. "From the research I've done, we could double membership," says Drabbe. As for future, she is working to bring the sculptor Xavier Corberó's studio in Esplugues de Llobregat online and to organize a meeting again in Barcelona in 2026, coinciding with the World Capital of Architecture.

The home of Mart van Schijndel and Natascha Drabbe, completed in 1992, has become the most recent monument in the Netherlands. This coincides with the fact that there, and throughout Europe, the protection of the architecture of the second half of the 20th century is still a pending subject. "We're almost in 2030, three decades into the 21st century, and heritage is evolving with us," says Drabbe. While the pioneering buildings of the Modern Movement are institutionally recognized, up to the level of UNESCO World Heritage, the situation of later architecture is very different. "We are now at a time when the owners of the homes from the second half of the 20th sometimes they are so old that they are forced to move to a smaller apartment, or they die, and the houses remain empty." That they remain uninhabited can be a problem, rather than an opportunity. "We found that there are a lot of houses that come on the market when their owners die, and then they are in danger because they are not listed, and the new owner can tear them down. We must be very aware of everything that happens.", she assures.

Another factor that puts these houses in danger is the location: their authors had very good judgment when choosing the places. It may happen that the new owner doesn't want the house but wants the lot to build another one. "Most of the time modern houses are in amazing locations, but they were built on a shoestring budget. So now there are buyers knocking down a simple modern house to make a big McMansion out of it," says Drabbe.

For all this, she says, action must be taken. "People still don't understand that Postmodern architecture is in danger, and that the best examples, including Brutalism and Deconstructivism, should be cherished and saved. Now is the time to discover the architecture of the last three decades of the 20th century and decide which buildings are worth restoring and preserving," she underlines.
Another future challenge affecting heritage buildings is how to implement measures to improve their energy efficiency and what to do when they no longer meet regulations. "It's impossible for these houses to meet current regulations, it's ridiculous," warns Drabbe. "Doors in houses built today in the Netherlands have to be 1.20 meters wide to allow a wheelchair to pass through. But you can't widen the corridors of a modernist house, because you ruin the uniqueness of the design. On the other hand, the window frames of these homes, made of stainless steel or aluminium, tend to be very thin, and it is very difficult to fit double or triple glazing. Therefore, I think it is impossible for most of them to meet all the regulations.", she emphasizes.

More sustainable tourist attractions
For Drabbe, museum houses represent a less massive model of tourism. "It is very good that the mayor of Barcelona wants to ban tourist apartments. Barcelona residents can no longer rent a flat because so many of them are for tourists. It is important that tourism is distributed throughout the country. Amsterdam is almost like Venice, capitals that have become theme parks," laments Drabbe.

Likewise, she believes that museum houses offer historical content without the large dimensions, which can become overwhelming, of large museums such as the Louvre or the Metropolitan. If one is not clear about what one wants to see, the magnitude of the museum can be daunting. Instead, Drabbe sees modern house museums as "time capsules in many different ways." "Tours are very much appreciated, because they can be experienced in very different ways, which makes them interesting for audiences of all ages. Tours can be educational and at the same time fun," says Drabbe. "The non-specialist public can consider how the inhabitants of the house lived - she concludes -, as if they had been their neighbours. Those interested in lifestyle can be inspired by it for their own houses, and architects, interior designers and designers can pay more attention to technical innovations and look at construction from the point of view of engineers. And the houses also provide a lesson in political and social history, so they are a very accessible and entertaining way to learn something about the past."

Posted September 18, 2024

*This article by Antoni Ribas was first published in ARA newspaper on 8 September 2024. This English translation of the article is done by Google Translate and Iconic Houses.