It's been a minute since I updated here, but since we visited a couple of Frank Lloyd Wright sites recently, I thought it was time to share a little about those.
Frank Lloyd Wright is a very well-known name as an influential American architect. But did you know? Wright didn't graduate from high school, and he got his start as a part-time draftsman for a civil engineering professor. He started at the University of Wisconsin in 1886, studying engineering, but changed his focus to architecture. In 1887, at just 20 years old, he went to Chicago and put his architectural talent to work as part of the rebuilding effort in the city after the Great Chicago Fire.
A year later he was hired by Adler & Sullivan as Chief of Design for all their residential work, and the following year he built what is now known as the Frank Lloyd Wright Home in Oak Park, Illinois. He was soon working as an independent architect, sharing office space with several others, including the first woman licensed as an architect in the USA. The group went on to form the Prairie School, designs characterized by low buildings with gently sloped roofs, crisp lines, and using unfinished materials. This movement also featured open floor plans and made them popular.
In 1934, Edgar Kaufmann Jr read Wright's autobiography and soon went to Taliesin to apprentice. Kaufmann had no plans to become an architect but his enthusiasm for Wright's ideas led him to make introductions between the architect and his parents, Edgar Kaufmann Sr and Liliane. The Kaufmanns were wealthy business owners from Pittsburgh who wanted a weekend home built on forested land they owned in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. Wright's design wasn't just a country house near the Bear Run river, it was cantilevered directly over the falls, made to function and feel like a part of its natural surroundings.
When you visit Fallingwater, you walk from the visitor center to the house, crossing a bridge over Bear Run to the entrance. Wright built the house around a central core, so that this living space and steps could be cantilevered over the river. The steps go right down the water and are open so when the river rises it simply flows over and through them. There is even a cold plunge pool beside the house.
The open living room and dining room area, with smaller spaces defined by furniture groupings and differences in ceiling height rather than with walls.
Wright's designs always make use of large windows that bring the outside in, and allow for air flow that would keep the house naturally air conditioned. Even in this kitchen that would have been used by household staff, the windowed wall makes it feel almost like an outdoor space and those corner windows all open completely to allow maximum air flow. The same window design is used in Mr Kaufmann's study on the second floor, but photos aren't allowed in that part of the house.
This is a patio area off the living room.
Wright used four elements in the design of Fallingwater - steel, reinforced concrete, sandstone, and glass. The building is constructed so that it blends into the hillside and even incorporates some of the large existing boulders into the house.
In 1955, Edgar Kaufmann Sr passed away, and left a large part of his estate to charity. In 1963, Edgar Kaufmann Jr deeded the Fallingwater house and 469 acres of land in Bear Run to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy as a memorial to his parents. He also supplied an endowment fund to care for and preserve the house, and personally took the lead in administration and developing educational programming for Fallingwater, even leading some tours. The house was open for tours beginning in 1964. Edgar Jr had enjoyed a long a successful career as a curator and director at the Museum of Modern Art, and a professor of Architecture and Art History at Columbia University. He was a writer and lecturer and authority on industrial and interior design, and on the work and influence of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Fallingwater was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1976. In 2019, Fallingwater and several other Frank Lloyd Wright buildings were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Visit the Fallingwater website to learn more.
Thanks for joining me as I looked back on this tour! Hope you enjoyed it, and maybe even learned something. Have you visited any Frank Lloyd Wright buildings? Leave a comment and let me know!
See my related posts: A Kentuck Knob PhotoJournal; Frank Lloyd Wright - Blogging Through The Alphabet; A National Building Museum PhotoJournal
A version of this post will also appear on A Fresh Cup of Coffee.
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