A little-known lakefront home, designed by modernist architect, Philip Johnson, is on the market for only the third time since it was completed in 1949.

The 3,812-square-foot house in Willsboro, NY, sits on 20 acres, with 850 feet of water frontage on Lake Champlain.

Glass walls frame the spectacular surroundings.

“The interesting part about this house—and the whole point of modernism—is really bringing the outside in,” explains listing agent Jo Anna Giltner, with Covered Bridge Realty. “When you’re in these rooms, you just feel the outside. It’s really a beautiful sensation of looking in every direction.”

The home was built the same year as Johnson’s iconic Glass House in New Canaan, CT, and is listed for $3.5 million.

Little-known home

Johnson is also known for other glass-centric homes, several commercial towers, and the sculpture garden at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

As for the lake house, the esteemed architected designed it with his partner, Landis Gores, for the Paine family. The couple divorced before the house was finished in 1949, so they sold it to a family who kept it until 2006, when the current owners bought it. The original sale was private, so there was not much publicity about the home at the time.

“So it’s been the two families, and neither of them have done anything to alter the structure,” Giltner says. “The house is in very good shape and has been well maintained. The thing that really matters is the structure—the actual way that the walls were designed; no one has changed them. No one has altered the windows.”

Modern marvel

Giltner explains that the home’s design was ahead of its time.

“The house has huge steel beams running through it to support these big open spaces, which was very novel back in the day,” she says.

A simple fireplace appears to be floating between two glass walls and near the updated kitchen.

There are two primary structures—a main house and a guest wing that the owners called the summer wing. A covered walkway connects the two.

“The family that commissioned this house was a young couple, and they expected to have family and friends visiting mostly during the summer months,” Giltner explains.

Two bedrooms and two bathrooms are in the main house, with six more bedrooms and four more bathrooms in the summer wing.

“They’re like little guest rooms, designed to give privacy and separation from the main house,” she says.

Both structures were built at the same time.

The next owner could take a gander at Johnson’s original plans for the property, available for viewing at the Avery Architectural Archives at Columbia University.

A third structure—a game and storage area—was added in 2006 and looks similar to the other parts of the house.

Both the setting and structure create a harmonious effect.

“The first thing when you walk in, you’re just blown away with the view,” Giltner says. “This view just stops you. It’s really stunning. Just the fact that [Johnson] actually designed this structure makes it very important, as well as [it] sitting on a very beautiful piece of waterfront.”

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