The Smith House, one of the most iconic structures of the twentieth century designed by Richard Meier, celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. The original owner of the property had planned on building a one-story house, but due to exorbitant demolition costs the architectural world gained a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Meier worked around the clock for a year and a half to draft plans for a residence that complements the its location along the Long Island Sound. “The site was all rock so it would have been much too expensive with the blasting costs to make a house that was spread out,” Meier explains. “In fact, the high building cost estimates is what led the owners to sell the site to the Smiths.” Leave it to nature to intervene in such a magnificent way.

Recently, architectural photographer Mike Schwartz completed a new suite of photography capturing the Smith House on its milestone anniversary. Scroll through to see the property as you never have before.