Fall for Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater

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MILL RUN, Pa. — Don’t just look at Fallingwater, live within it.

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That’s what Frank Lloyd Wright wished for his clients, the Kaufman family, in 1935 when they asked the renowned “organic” architect to apply his vision to their weekend getaway in the leafy Laurel Highlands.

The 90-minute drive south from Pittsburgh still takes a visitor through some scenic – and isolated – Allegheny country roads, best experienced a few weeks into autumn. But with GPS and guides such as longtime local resident Joe, we’re now among nearly six million people who’ve come to “the middle of nowhere” since Fallingwater opened to the public in 1963 to see nature and architecture, hand-in-hand.

Fallingwater is best experienced on separate leisurely paced grounds and house tours, each about an hour and half, with time to rest and take in both the solitude, built over three- and six-metre pure spring waterfalls, and interior features of the multi-level home that still marvels 90 years later.

Wright was in his 60s when accepting the Fallingwater commission and was considered past his peak. But the 1,300 square metres of the main house and guest residence (585 of those are terraces larger than any bedroom) would re-invigorate his career. He appeared on the cover of Time for his triumph of “celebrating national resources” and took on a slew of new projects: Private homes, the landmark Guggenheim Museum in New York, office towers, civic centres and houses of worship.

Wright was inspired by his very first visit to the stream known as Bear Run, which had been a popular summer camp ravine. He envisioned the residence emerging from the surrounding Columbia bedrock, like a cantilever diving board, supported by three channels chiselled into the earth lines.

No detail was overlooked, Wright first asking the Kaufmans, who owned Pittsburgh’s largest department store, to identify every type of tree on their property. A small army of local craftspeople descended, utilizing hand-cut Pottsville sandstone for its walls and a light ochre paint that blended with the various shades of leaves.

A six-flue chimney was scoped out to counterbalance the foundation, with natural convection for heating and cooling, a babbling rock garden within, all part of Wright’s ever-intuitive engineering. As he intended, you can hear the falls everywhere from the centrifuge of the house to the far reaches of the property.

Using “compression-and-release” effect with nooks and crannies, guests move through cave-like passages that open dramatically to large rooms unobstructed by any pillars.

Wright insisted on designing nearly 200 pieces of furniture, assembled on site, all original, with his subtle touches, such as low Japanese-style seating to accent the views. The windows are seamless with the stone and what small square panes do exist fold near-invisibly inward for continuity’s sake. The whole concept is best seen in the offices Wright created for Edgar Kaufman Sr. and Jr.

VIPs, curious about the home, were frequent guests, such as Albert Einstein and artist Frida Kahlo. The Kaufmans’ cook, who lived to be 107, kept notes on what all the celebs ate. Brad Pitt and Tom Hanks toured it in recent years and, like all tourists, they admired the Picassos and Audobon nature prints that accent the house, though its preservation has been an ongoing challenge.

IF YOU GO

The website fallingwater.org has information on tours and winter hours.

Driving from southern Ontario – many sports fans often go to Pittsburgh for baseball, hockey and football games or shopping at the Grove City outlets — Fallingwater is part of the “Great Wright Road Trip,” nine structures linked to his legacy.

Start at the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo, N.Y., six connected, yet distinct structures. A Wright-designed filling station from 1927 – a copper roofed “ornament to the pavement” is preserved at the Buffalo Transportation/Pierce – Arrow Museum.

A Wright commission for the Martin family that was shelved by the Great Depression, the Blue Sky Mausoleum, is among other notable memorials such as 13th U.S. President Millard Fillmore’s grave, at Forest Lawn Cemetery. A half hour south of Buffalo in Derby is Graycliff, the Lake Erie summer home of Darwin’s wife Isabelle.

Fallingwater is surrounded by 20 miles of hiking trails in Ohiopile State Park, three ski resorts – and two more Wright commissions.

Kentuck Knob, completed in 1956, saw his work fully embrace native materials, in this case red cypress. Built for the Hagans, close friends of the Kaufmans, it has a unique sculpture garden that includes a red British phone box and a slab of the Berlin Wall.

At Polymath Park, four different Wright homes, two original to the property and two moved there, occupy 50 hectares of a rural setting, with a chance to spend the night in one.

The Westmoreland, Pa., Museum of American Art in Greensburg now has an exhibition of planned or unfinished Wright works, through animation, until Jan. 14, 2024.

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