Breuer was named a prodigy after designing the now-iconic, tubular Wassily Chair in 1925, when he was just 23. The future architect was inspired by the handlebars of his bike and gave one of the early prototypes to Bauhaus faculty member Wassily Kandinsky, but had not, as is often assumed, designed it with the painter in mind.

Among Breuer's earliest architecture commissions were the Doldertal Apartment Houses, designed in collaboration with Alfred and Emil Roth and completed in 1936. The steel frame structures initially alarmed the neighbors, but the pair of white buildings survive to this day.

In 1938, Breuer's mentor, Walter Gropius, built a white box house in the quiet Boston suburb of Lincoln, Mass. In 1939, Breuer followed suit, constructing the Breuer House I on a nearby lot. Helen Storrow, “a wealthy Boston-based supporter of modern art and architecture,” paid for the construction. Listed on the National Register in 1988, the house is still in private hands.

Breuer worked with a slew of other prominent architects on the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, but the "Three"—Breuer, Bernard Zehrfuss, Pier Luigi Nervi—were chosen to design the initial phase in 1953. This project brought Breuer to worldwide prominence.

One of Breuer's most recognizable works, the St. John's Abbey was designed as part of a competition that included fellow luminaries Richard Neutra, Walter Gropius, Eero Saarinen, and Pietro Belluschi. Breuer drafted the campus master plan over a 15 year period, but the iconic belltower was completed early, in 1955.

A most elegant Brutalist design, the sprawling IBM Research Center was completed in 1962. Thanks to strategically placed columns, one arm of the building, a heavy concrete form, seems to float above the countryside, linked to the ground by a simple staircase.

Shortly after completing the Whitney, Breuer turned his attention to designing a giant steel-and-glass tower to top the existing Grand Central Station. The plans, never realized, were vehemently opposed by preservationists and led, eventually, to solidifying the power of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Breuer penned the designs for this beautiful Brutalist tower, the headquarters for Armstrong Rubber, in 1968. By 1980, Armstrong was bankrupt and Pirelli Tires acquired the company and structure. IKEA recently demolished the low-rise section to make way for a massive parking lot, but preserved the tower, which is clearly visible from Interstate 95.

In the 1960s, Breuer committed to the Brutalist style for which he is now famous. In 1966, the architect was tapped to design a D.C. headquarters for the newly formed Department of Housing and Urban Development. The resulting structure, a concrete-fronted giant, remarkably came in under budget thanks to the ample use of pre-cast concrete.