Posted July 11, 2024

Our Badge of Honour

Villa Tugendhat
Maison Cazenave
Villa Winternitz
Haus Esters
Mies van der Rohe Haus
Paimio Sanatorium
Paimio Sanatorium
Villa Savoye
Wall House #2

Villa Tugendhat
Maison Cazenave
Villa Winternitz
Haus Esters
Mies van der Rohe Haus
Paimio Sanatorium
Paimio Sanatorium
Villa Savoye
Wall House #2

The Iconic Houses plaque is becoming a familiar sight

Slowly but surely, our distinctive black-and-white Iconic Houses plaques are multiplying among the modern house museums that make up our membership.

The three Alvar Aalto Foundation houses in Finland have them, as do the Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht, De Kiefhoek in Rotterdam, Villa Tugendhat in Brno, the Eames House, Neutra's VDL Studio and Residences and the Gamble House in Los Angeles, the Van Schijndel House in Utrecht, Villa Stenersen in Oslo, and many more.

The plaque, which unites a strong identity with a neutral, updated Modernist aesthetic, was designed by the creator of the Iconic Houses website: Willie van Burgsteden of Dutch creative agency Mixed Flavours.

Most of our member houses are listed monuments, some are even UNESCO World Heritage sites, so nothing can be attached to their facades. Nevertheless, most of our members find some ingenious way or other of showcasing their links to Iconic Houses. Our plaques pop up on the fence, on the garage wall or outside the ticket office.

With some houses, however, there’s just no possibility of attaching a plaque anywhere. For these places, we have come up with a transparent sticker which can be attached to a window. Sometimes, member houses opt instead to include our plaque design in their own signage, as in the case of Villa Savoye, where the Iconic Houses badge is included in their information board on the fence.

Could it be that the Iconic Houses plaque will become an icon in its own right? Only time will tell…. Meanwhile, if you have a photo of your own plaque, or one you've spotted, we’d love to see it!