Windshield: Richard Neutra’s House for the John Nicholas Brown Family examines one of a group of American houses built in the 1930s that fundamentally redefined ideas about contemporary architecture in this country. Completed in 1938 and named for the large expanses of glass on its exterior, the house was inspired by both recent architectural developments in Europe and a desire to find a uniquely American expression of modern life through the use of new materials and technologies.  Windshield’s modernity was manifest not only in its physical form, but also in its furnishings and other appointments.  It housed what was probably the largest American collection of furniture by Finnish designer Alvar Aalto, and was one of only a handful of buildings that incorporated engineer R. Buckminster Fuller’s prefabricated Dymaxion bathrooms.

Born and trained in Vienna, Richard Neutra moved to the United States early in his career and is widely recognized as an early and very influential importer of the new European architectural style—Modernism. Windshield was one of his largest residential commissions and the product of an unusually collaborative relationship between the architect and his clients, who were very knowledgeable about contemporary art and culture. Sadly, the house was severely damaged in a hurricane soon after its completion; though immediately rebuilt, it was eventually destroyed by fire in 1973. Through drawings, models, photographs, furnishings and housewares, ephemera, and a video compilation of home movies, this exhibition reconstructs the story of Windshield and the extraordinary partnership that produced it.