Hurricane Ike floods iconic Modernist house

Hurricane Ike, on the heels of tropical storm Lowell, has flooded Mies van der Rohe's iconic Farnsworth House, built in 1951 in Plano, Ill., as a country retreat for a Chicago physician. The Chicago Tribune reports that floodwaters from the Fox River have risen 2 feet inside the house, which already stands on 5-foot-high risers. Reportedly, this is the sixth time the house has flooded in the last 57 years.

--Christopher Knight

Photo: National Trust for Historic Preservation