Fallingwater
This famous home, designed by the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the most spectacular works of modern architecture in the United States. You would expect a masterpiece like this to be perched on a cliff in California, but this hidden gem is over the river and through the woods of rural southern Pennsylvania.
Commissioned in 1935 by Edward J. Kaufmann Sr., owner of Kaufmann department stores. The weekend getaway home was originally intended to cost $35,000, but in the end, ran a total of $155,000 (more than $2.5 million today)
The home is situated on top of a waterfall along the Bear Run River. The incredible shape of the house is a result of the many cantilevered balconies that float over the surrounding landscape. The design of the house has been referred to as an architectural tour de force. Wright believed the home should be connected to nature, and built the house directly into the rock on site. A boulder along the river even sticks up into the living room. The ceilings are intentionally low and windows cover all possible walls so that you are drawn outdoors onto one of the many large patios. A staircase from the main floor leads directly into the creek below. Where glass meets rock there is not metal frame, but a caulked channel cut into the rock so that the building ties directly into the land. Corner windows with ingenious custom interlocking frames eliminate corner posts that would interrupt the window lines, yet the windows still open, seemingly magically.
Fallingwater is just over an hour’s drive south-east of Pittsburgh. Standard 1hr tours are $30 (children $18) and run from 10am to 4pm daily, except on Wednesdays and holidays. In depth tours are two hours long and cost $80. For other tours and details see the Fallingwater website:
https://fallingwater.org/visit/tours/fallingwater-tours/
