Considered a foremost influence of 20th century American architecture, Philip Cortelyou Johnson (1906–2005) was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He was curator of the Museum of Modern Art before following his passion for design. He created his first building at age 36.

“If you are going to be an architect,” he said, “you'd better have a feeling inside that you can't help it, a calling.”

For his master's thesis, Johnson designed the famous Glass House (1949) in New Canaan, Connecticut, one of the most beautiful homes in the world. Designed for himself, the house was inspired by the work of Mies van der Rohe.

“All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space,” he explained.

Over five decades, Johnson’s bold visions reshaped skylines—from New York’s sleek Seagram Building (1958) to Houston’s gleaming Transco Tower (1983). At Yale, his Kline Biology Tower reached skyward (1965); at AT&T, he defied convention with a broken pediment crown (1984). But it was the shimmering Crystal Cathedral (1980), crafted in glass and light, that whispered his architectural soul.

“A room is only as good as you feel when you're in it,” he said.

The first architecture and design director of New York's Museum of Modern Art, Johnson mentored a new generation of architects. In 1979, he received the first Pritzker Prize for his “imagination and vitality” expressed through museums, theaters, libraries, houses, gardens, and corporate structures.

“I hate vacations,” he once admitted. “If you can build buildings, why sit on the beach?”