Masters of Modern Architecture and their Dogs

Most lovers of modern architecture–given sufficient funds–have a very pronounced taste in design. They do not live in a modernist home by accident, but by careful choice.

They may have spent quite a few hours on the web, and even more with some poor Realtor who didn’t know Mashimoto from Matsushita, only to utter to the right house what Paul McCartney said to Linda when he saw her the first time: “Where have you been?”

So if the structure is asthetically appealing and visually pleasing, one wants the items that enliven the space to be as congruent with the architecture and perhaps even the architect’s vision as possible. It can’t and doesn’t end with furnishings, door handles, silverware and the dust collectors. Understandable then that creators of modern architecture are even more specific, including in their choice of pets. 

But what was previously unknown is that many of the modernist masters – including James Walter Fitzgibbon, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, I.M. Pei, Pierre Koenig, Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier  – were united in their love for one specific dog breed: the Scottish Terrier. 

However, if you look at the similarities between design elements of modern architecture and Scotties, the parallels are obvious, the match is clear. Recently discovered photographs, many of them taken by the architects themselves, are proof:

Fitzgibbon, Paschal residence, Raleigh, NC

Mies, Farnsworth residence, Plano, IL

Mies, Kandinsky residence, Dessau, Germany

Koenig, Stahl residence, Los Angeles, CA

Le Corbusier with friends, believed to be NY at the UN, ca. 1951

Breuer, Breuer residence, Lincoln, MA

Wright, Kaufman residence "Fallingwater", near Mill Run, PA. Terrier on left under cantilever

Pei, Newhouse school, Syracuse U, Syracuse, NY

Gropius in his office, undated

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the weekend as well as the First of April. 

Photos © by TMH, suttonhoo, Stadt Dessau, meatiesmyrtle, unknown, Matthews, lipingzeng, Jordan, unknown.