Fallingwater Frank Lloyd Wright

We visited Fallingwater, a Frank Lloyd Wright home in Pennsylvania, during our recent trip to see family and friends in the East. In the 1930s the owners of the largest department store in Pittsburgh, Edgar and Lillian Kaufman, contracted Wright to build a country home. Kaufman wanted his home built with a view of the waterfalls. Wright told him the house should be built over the falls with steps from inside the house leading down to the water. Kaufman agreed. The water flows beneath the living room and bedrooms which jut out over the falls. Wright incorporated a fixed boulder as the fireplace hearth and extended it with a flagstone floor across the living room. Using flat stones and wood from the surrounding forest, Wright designed a sleek and modern home with bold horizontal lines. Along the whole west corner he included a three story window.Inside the upstairs office, the tour guide demonstrated the unique window and pointed out the desk built beside it. Wright created art in which people happened to live. He wanted furniture done his way and kept where he placed it.Kaufman looked at the desk, “It’s too small,” he told Wright. Wright insisted the desk fit the room. It is too small for me to write your check,” Kaufman replied.Wright redesigned a larger desk, according to the guide said.Wright had his own ideas about furniture. In this house, as in others, he built in the furniture so it stayed where he wanted it to be. He offered to make furniture for Mrs. Wright’s bedroom. She did not like his furniture. She brought a comfy stuffed chair for her space. Using the area’s large flat rocks, the house reminded me of a stone castle. Stone floors, stone stacked walls and no polished railings beside the stairs to break the flow of stone. Wright thought handrails would disrupt the feeling of the house. Sounds so artistic and earthy, until a person like me who has fallen down stairs, seeks points of stability and only finds a few rocks jutting out here and there on that narrow stairway.Wright used the compress and expand philosophy for halls and entrances. It’s supposed to give an expansive feeling as one enters a room. It felt cramped and awkward to me. Thinking of today’s visitors with disabilities I said, “It is not very accessible for wheelchairs.”The guide agreed and added “There is one home that Wright designed for wheelchairs.” Later Wright added a guest house. The path leading to it has an overhang to protect folks when it rains. “The roof (flat like all the roofs at Fallingwater) is sloped over this open area in such a way that all the rain falls off to the side. In a heavy storm you walk behind a wall of water.” the guide said.We did not see all of the house due to the nearly finished 25 year renovation. The roof has always leaked in certain spots. When the Kaufman’s pointed out the leaks, Wright shrugged it off, “That’s what happens when you leave a work of art out in the rain.”Flippant, but water always deteriorates anything it touches. So every 20 to 25 years the roof is sealed again to prevent the leaks and stones are regrouted to maintain stability. We visited near the end of the seven million dollar maintenance project. In 1963 Edgar Kaufman Jr. donated the house for future generations to enjoy. The visitor center includes a gift shop and an informative series of videos taken in the 1920s and 30s highlighting the site’s history as a modern house built 90 years ago. We came. We saw. We checked it off Hubby’s buckle list.