# 2020 - 1982 20c American Architecture: Illinois Institute of Technology

U.S. #2020
1982 20¢ Illinois Institute of Technology
American Architecture

• From the fourth and final block of stamps in American Architecture Series
• Tribute to modern architecture of the 20^th century
• Marked the 125^th anniversary of the American Institute of Architect

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  American Architecture
Value:  20¢, first-class rate
First Day of Issue:  September 30, 1982
First Day City:  Washington, DC
Quantity Issued:  41,335,000
Printed by:  Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method:  Engraved
Format:  Panes of 40 in sheets of 160
Perforations:  11
Color:  Black and brown

Why the stamp was issued:  Issued to honor the entire architectural profession, the block of four stamps this comes from features unique architecture by four 20th-century architects.  Also marked 125^th anniversary of the American Institute of Architects.

About the stamp design:  Walter D. Richards designed the 1982 American Architecture stamps as well as all previous stamps in the series.  Richards’ intricate black-and-white drawing fills the stamp area, capturing as much of each building’s unique style as possible in such a small space. 

Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) – Illinois Institute of Technology – Chicago, Illinois – This was Mies’ favorite building that he designed – an example, of his “skin and bones” architecture.”  The building is one glass-walled room measuring 120 feet by 220 feet surrounded by four large trusses.  This was one of the 20 buildings Mies designed for the institute’s 100-acre campus.

First Day City:  The First Day ceremony for the American Architecture stamps was held at the headquarters of the American Institute of Architects in Washington, DC. The stamp’s issue coincided with the 125th anniversary of that organization.

Unusual fact about the stamp:  Some error stamps have been found with the red engraving omitted.

About the American Architecture Series:  Introduced on June 4, 1979, the American Architecture Series was created to honor the evolution of American architecture over the last two centuries. Walter D. Richards designed all of the stamps and each includes the name of the architect, their birth and death years, and the name of the building.  A total of four blocks were issued between 1949 and 1982.  Get the entire set here.

Other stamps in the 1982 American Architecture block feature:

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) – Fallingwater – Mill Run, Pennsylvania – shows Wright’s building, which was dedicated to nature.  Built over a stream and waterfall and resting on a massive rock, the home was intended to flow with the natural surroundings.

Walter Gropius (1883-1969) – Gropius House – Lincoln, Massachusetts – This stamp depicts Gropius’ own home, which he designed with his collaborator Marcel Breuer.  The house features white-painted wood and fieldstone, a modern interpretation of the traditional New England architectural style.

Eero Saarinen (1910-61) – Dulles Airport – Washington, DC – Saarinen’s Dulls Airport was the first airport designed with jet travel in mind.  The view on the stamp shows the curved roof, air traffic control tower, and a plane speeding away.

History the stamp represents:  German-born Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) never received any formal architectural training. He was apprenticed to architects while still a teenager and opened his own office in Berlin in 1912.

Mies moved to the U.S. in 1937. As director of architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago for twenty years, he trained a new generation of American architects. His philosophy of “less is more” became the guiding principle of mid-twentieth century architecture.