The Farnsworth House was built outside of Chicago as a rural retreat for a businessman by the German born architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Mies, his middle name that he preferred to go by in most settings, was a German immigrant who helped pioneer modernist architecture in America. Using glass, steel, and straight lines, the Farnsworth House was a model and template for further explorations of architecture in America.

The Bauhaus was a revolutionary art school, which sought to unite various forms of art under one roof and one set of guidelines based around clean lines, modern techniques, and functionality. The Bauhaus was most influential in the world of architecture, where its modern and simple style inspired achitects around the world. Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party banned the Bauhaus, and forced its teachers and leaders to find refuge in other nations, which furthered their influence internationally.

Socialist realism was an artistic movement that grew up hand in hand with communist governments, and particularly Joseph Stalin's rule in the Soviet Union. While called "realism," the artistic style was dedicated to glorifying the working classes and promoting revolution. The "realism" was done in the simplicity of the figures, both in painting and sculpture, as well as in the utility of its architecture.

Le Corbusier was one of the most influential modernist architects, not only for the buildings he designed but also for his influential writings on architecture. Le Corbusier's sparse, clean, and functional style was outlined in his manifesto known as The Five Points of Architecture. First published in L'Esprit Nouveau, and found in his longer book Vers un architecture, the points are best expressed in his 1931 building Villa Savoye.

The "Bauhaus," German for House of Construction, was a school of arts and architecture in the Weimar Period between the two World Wars. The school was so influential that it gave its name to an entire movement, focusing on modern design, efficiency, and a cohesive approach to art between architecture, design, and crafts.

Philip Johnson was a modernist architect who sought clean lines, used steel and glass construction, and valued function in his design. Inspired by the Farnsworth House designed by Mies van der Rohe, Johnson designed his own house in Connecticut as made almost entirely of glass. The rectangular abode is now a tourist site, along with Johnson's entire property, including other buildings and his massive art collection.

Gehry, a modernist architect well known for flowing lines and unusual shapes, has built concert halls, museums, and government buildings around the world. Among his most notable works is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, constructed out of titanium and glass, in shapes that are meant to evoke the countryside of Bilbao's Basque region.

La Sagrada Familia was planned as a massive church in Barcelona that would rival its Cathedral in size. After breaking ground in 1882, the church is still not totally finished. Importantly, its architect Antoni Gaudí was killed in a 1926 tram accident, and the work had to continue on under architects with different design aesthetics than its singular original designer.

Fallingwater is generally considered Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, as the residence was constructed above and incorporated a waterfall. The residence, built in 1939, blended the interior and exterior of the building into Wright's perfect distillation of his "organic" philosophy of architecture. The property remained a residence for many years, but became a protected site in the mid-1960s.

John Augustus Roebling, a German immigrant, was the leading designer of bridges throughout the mid-nineteenth century in America. His masterpiece, however, was the Brooklyn Bridge, which was the first steel-wire suspension bridge ever built. Unfortunately, Roebling died in 1870, just as it was beginning construction, and his son Washington Roebling had to take over construction.