Designed by Philip C. Johnson in 1948 and built in 1949-50, the former Rockefeller Guest House is one of the earliest buildings in New York City to reflect the influence of the modern movement in architecture. Built without the use of traditional ornament, the striking two-story street facade is articulated with precisely arranged structural elements, including a symmetrical first story consisting of a wood door and flanking polished reddish brown ironspot brick walls surmounted by a grid of fixed windows faced with steel H-sections. The house was commissioned by Blanchette Rockefeller, wife of John D. Rockefeller III and a major patron of the Museum of Modern Art, to display her collection of modern painting and sculpture and to entertain guests.