National Historic Landmark · single-family detached home · Plano, Illinois

Farnsworth House

Modernist house in Plano, Illinois. Built 1951 by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Added to the National Register in 2004, and a National Historic Landmark.

Open to visit National Historic Landmark Built 1951 Listed 2004Neues BauenLudwig Mies van der Rohe

Photos via Wikimedia Commons · 6 in the Commons category

What it is

The Edith Farnsworth House is a historic house museum along the Fox River near Plano, Illinois, United States. Completed in 1951, it was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the International Style and built as a weekend retreat for the nephrologist and physician Edith Farnsworth. It is one of three private residences Mies designed in the U.S. and is cited as a major modernist work. The house is raised 5+1⁄4 feet (1.6 m) above the floodplain, with a minimalist exterior and a mostly open plan interior. The surrounding 62-acre (25 ha) estate also includes a visitor center and exhibit gallery. The estate is owned and operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The record

Property type	Building
Address	14520 River Rd., Plano vicinity, IL
County	Kendall County
Listed	Oct 7, 2004
Listed for	Architecture
Level of significance	National
Reference number	04000867
Built	1951 · more from the 1950s
Architect	Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Type of place	single-family detached home
Style	Neues Bauen
Designations	National Historic Landmark
Contributing resources	1 building, 1 site
Standing	Yes

The nomination form, the document that argues why this place matters, is in the National Archives: Read the nomination ↗

Visiting

Address	14520 River Rd., Plano, IL
Coordinates	41.6350° N, 88.5357° W · Directions ↗
Nearest national park unit	Pullman National Historical Park · 48 miles · on Park Atlas

This one you can go inside. Hours and admission change with the season; the website above has the current schedule.

At a glance

State: Illinois
County: Kendall County
Listed: 2004
Type: Building
Landmark: Yes
Architect: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Built: 1951

Cell signal

Verizon: 5G (fast)
AT&T: 4G LTE
T-Mobile: 4G LTE

Outdoor coverage as modeled by carriers in FCC filings as of 2025-12-31. This product uses FCC APIs and/or Data but is not endorsed or certified by the FCC.

Official links

Sister site

Park Atlas

Every unit of the National Park System, with its fees, hours, alerts and campgrounds.

Open Park Atlas →

This record is built from National Park Service sources, re-read every Saturday, and Wikidata, re-read on the first Saturday of each month. Register Atlas is independent and is not affiliated with any agency, and a listing does not mean a place is open to visitors. How the data is built →

Explore

Drawings & photographs

Edith Farnsworth House, 14520 River Road, Plano, Kendall County, IL

1. General view from the southwest, showing south elevation

2. South elevation, detail of porch, seen from southwest

3. General view from the southeast, showing south elevation

Measured drawings and photographs from the Library of Congress. Public domain. All 4 records ↗

Map

Nearby in Kendall County

All listings in Kendall County →

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Guidebooks to historic places and travel in Illinois

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

Looking for Lincoln in Illinois
Erika Holst, 2018
Find at Bookshop.org
Route 66 In Springfield
Cheryl Jett, 2010
Find at Bookshop.org
Cemeteries of Illinois
Hal Hassen and Dawn Cobb, 2017
Find at Bookshop.org

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

When was Farnsworth House listed on the National Register?

Oct 7, 2004. It is also a National Historic Landmark, the higher of the two designations.

Source: National Park Service

When was Farnsworth House built?

1951, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, in the Neues Bauen style.

Source: Wikidata

Can I visit Farnsworth House?

Yes. Farnsworth House is recorded as open to the public.

Source: Wikidata

Where is Farnsworth House?

14520 River Rd., Plano vicinity, Kendall County, Illinois. The nearest national park unit is Pullman National Historical Park, 48 miles away.

Source: Pullman National Historical Park

What does the Farnsworth House listing include?

The listing counts 2 contributing resources. Those are 1 building and 1 site. A contributing resource is a part of the listed property that carries its historic significance.

Source: National Park Service

Are there historic photographs or drawings of Farnsworth House?

Yes. The Historic American Buildings Survey at the Library of Congress has drawings or photographs of it.

Source: Library of Congress

Where is the nomination form for Farnsworth House?

The National Archives holds the nomination form, the document that made the case for listing.

Source: National Archives

Is there cell service at Farnsworth House?

FCC coverage maps show Verizon 5G, AT&T 4G LTE, and T-Mobile 4G LTE at the listed point. Coverage indoors and behind old masonry is another matter.

Source: FCC Broadband Map

Sources

Location, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Listing dates come from the National Register office's spreadsheet where it carries the listing. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 04000867. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The nomination form and photographs ↗ at NPGallery are the original nomination as filed with the National Park Service, and the form is often the best description of the place. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA. Drawings and photographs are Historic American Buildings Survey records at the Library of Congress, public domain.