Should the date for Farnsworth House be 1945 – when Chicago doctor Edith Farnsworth commissioned the design from German-American architect Mies van der Rohe – or 1951 when the house was finally complete? Doubtless that will be teased out in the newly announced movie about its construction starring Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Dr Farnsworth wanted the house as a bolthole, where she could relax and have nature all around her on the site in Plano Illinois, and so he designed what would become a much copied example of the international style, with its horizontal planes, steel columns and external walls of floor-to-ceiling glass.

Deceptively simple

“When you see nature through the glass walls of the Farnsworth House, it gets a deeper meaning than outside,” said van der Rohe of his sleek, deceptively simple design which really does bring the outside in.

The architect and client initially had a close relationship but it soured as the build went on, culminating in a court case over construction costs. Farnsworth House, which was lived in for 50 years, is now a museum, run by a trust. It can be rented for events – the ideal wedding venue for young architects perhaps?