If the skyscraper is America's most iconic building, a small personal residence in southwest Pennsylvania might be its most ingenious. Frank Lloyd Wright completed Fallingwater in 1937, and months later Time magazine put the house on its cover, proclaiming it the architect's "most beautiful job." Ayn Rand based much of her 1943 classic, The Fountainhead, on Wright and the house he had wrought.
Wright designed it in 1935, at his professional nadir, as a mountain retreat for Pittsburgh retail mogul Edgar J. Kaufmann, who wanted a home near the waterfalls of Bear Run. Wright took that notion to its extreme. "I want you to live with the waterfall," he is said to have told Kaufmann, "not just to look at it." Cantilevered concrete terraces hover some 30 feet above the falls. The incessant sound of rushing water permeates the home, yet never overwhelms. A boulder juts through the living room and doubles as a hearth. Low ceilings direct attention outside. During a visit to the house a couple of years ago, I was struck by Wright's vanishing windows, which open outward from wall corners, leaving no panes to obstruct the wilderness view.
Together these elements create a building that's timeless, organic and quintessentially American, says Franklin Toker, author of Fallingwater Rising: Frank Lloyd Wright, E.J. Kaufmann, and America's Most Extraordinary House. "You've never seen a building that fits with nature so tightly," Toker says. "It's not merely nature, it's animated. You've seen Vegas and Times Square, but you've never seen a building that's in constant motion."
Please take the long tour, it is worth the early hour (for me). The approach hides the house until it springs into view. Great! My favorite - Is on the lower floor where two windows forma corner, without any corner support. Just very clean lines. Now I know that there are many more spectacular parts, but for some reason those windows just stand out.
Posted by Wilson F. Gartner on December 23,2007 | 08:11AM
good thing it was successfully repaired.
Posted by paul on January 14,2008 | 08:32AM
If anyone would like to visit a work of art to be walked through, this is it! How could one person have so many good ideas for a human dwelling place! Guess it's called genius!
Posted by Martha on January 17,2008 | 02:53PM
I visited Fallingwater some years ago, when the repairs had just begun. Even with the construction work and scaffolding, the place was breathtaking. How good to know it has been fully restored and will remain an iconic Pennsylvania landmark!
Posted by Joyce on March 11,2008 | 12:20PM
When is the next trip to Fallingwater from DC? Thank you.
Posted by toni on March 14,2008 | 10:21PM