Frank Lloyd Wright’s Most Beautiful Work
Fallingwater, a southwest Pennsylvania house designed by the famous architect, allows residents to live within a waterfall
- By Eric Jaffe
- Smithsonian magazine, January 2008, Subscribe
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."
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Related topics: Architecture Frank Lloyd Wright Pennsylvania
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Comments (13)
I went to Falling Water last summer (2010); I had wanted to visit for a few years. It is out-of-the-way but the drive is pleasant and the destination is well worth the effort. The guided tour groups are limited in size and that makes the whole visit very intimate and very personal. The guides love their job of showing visitors around.
The setting is spectacular and the house is a marvel.
Posted by Jack Hanna on August 4,2011 | 02:20 PM
If you are driving by, do indeed stop.
Posted by David Sucher on September 12,2010 | 01:05 AM
My mother, husband and I are planning our first trip to Fallingwater. We're tempted to forgo the longer 2 hour tour for the regular tour and the lecture on Frank Lloyd Wright. I've read several posts on how the longer tour is amazing, is it more technical and geared towards architects? The longer tour takes you to secondary areas of the house -- does anyone know which sort of places are solely available through the longer tour?
Thanks!
Posted by gaby on May 6,2010 | 12:48 AM
In the late ninties I, along with my daughter, Bitsy Spencer and her two small children, visited Falling Waters. I amfrom Ky and we have some great views here, but this was one of the greatest adventures I have had the priviledges of my life time. One must see it to appreciate the work of Mr. Wright
Posted by Gloria S Thomas on February 20,2010 | 05:49 PM
Fallingwater ripples through many inspirational dimensions. My friend, Suzanne Martinson, collaborated with Jane Citron and Robert Sendall to write a wonderful cookbook entitled The Fallingwater Cookbook: Elsie Henderson’s Recipes & Memories (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008). Elsie Henderson was the cook at Fallingwater for the Kaufmann family for fifteen years. If you love Fallingwater, you’ll love Elsie Henderson and this unique insight into this “most architecturally significant private residence in the United States.”
Posted by Garland Long on February 19,2010 | 07:17 PM
Rand was an immature moron with her notions that the rest of us are 'second-handers' simply because we aren't creative geniuses like her story book characters. A bunch of bologna. Wright was merely an above average architect compared to his contemporaries back then and architects of today. He had the good fortune to become the 'darling of the media'. The cold humid mist emanating from the running water will be sufficient enough to give the healthiest human a serious case of arthritis and rheumatism. It would make the building expensive to heat, not to mention the corrosive effects on the steel encased concrete structure supporting the cantilevered terraces. Finished repairs? Humbug I say. This building would be more suited to a western semi-arid climate where it might look 'above average'. I can only visualize the green mold, mildew and slime coating the underneath side of the lower terrace. Give me a break!
Posted by Ray Murray on November 5,2009 | 07:14 PM
So you say this: "Ayn Rand based much of her 1943 classic, The Fountainhead, on Wright and the house he had wrought." But I've also read this: "A common, unfounded, speculation is that Roark was inspired by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright; a claim both Rand and Wright denied. Rand did, however, once commission Wright to design a summer cottage for her; it was never built. The most that may be suggested is that some of the descriptions of Roark's buildings resemble those of Wright: a notable example being the "Heller House" - the first of Roark's designs to be built - cantilevered over the edge of a cliff in a descriptive image reminiscent of Wright's famous Fallingwater in Pennsylvania." If you had taken a few hours to sit and read the book before spouting off about its content (or at the least an educated article) you'd realize it goes way beyond architecture. Rand used it as an analogy to the "Objectivist" philosophy she developed in both "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged". -PM
Posted by Paul Whitfield on December 4,2008 | 04:58 AM
On a recent trip west we were able to arrange a visit to Fallingwater on our way back home. It was wonderful. The house is incredible, a true work of art to be enjoyed by all who go there. The knowledgable tour guide provided extra details. We noticed cars from all over the country. Well worth the trip to the house located in such a beautiful area.
Posted by Kathleen S Ely on October 23,2008 | 10:10 AM
I thought the house fallingwater was built near sandy lake pa. in the 1930 . Then moved to mill run . A i wrong.
Posted by leo on July 27,2008 | 04:56 PM
When is the next trip to Fallingwater from DC? Thank you.
Posted by toni on March 14,2008 | 01:21 AM
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 | 03:20 PM
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 | 05:53 PM
good thing it was successfully repaired.
Posted by paul on January 14,2008 | 11:32 AM
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 | 11:11 AM