Fallingwater

Mill Run, PA: Western Pennsylvania Cons.. VG PB. (1988). "Fallingwater is perhaps Frank Lloyd Wright's most widely acclaimed work. It has been called 'the best American building . of the last 125 years,' and 'unquestionably the most famous private residence ever guilt." At the least it is one of the finest examples of Wright's concept of organic architecture: a house shaped by and conforming to its site.' It was designed in 1936 for the family of the Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar J. Kaufmann on the site of his family' mountain property at Bear Run where they enjoyed weekend and summer vacations. The Kaufmann's son had studied for a time in Wright's Taliesin Fellowship, and it was through this association that Mr. and Mrs. Wright and the Kaufmanns developed a great mutual respect. The son has written that Wright was intrigued by the Bear Run area which combined the beauty of a mature forest, massive sandstone boulders, a wild free-flowing stream, and a forest understory covered with native rhododentron, laurel and Appalachian wildflowers. The ciritical element in this setting is the waterfall over which the house is built. Although the waterfall was long a focal point of the family's activities, they were unprepared for the architect's suggestion that the house rise overe the waterfall rather than face it. But Wright's original scheme was adopted almost without change. Completed in 1939 stone piers serve to separate reinforced concrete "trays" dramatically cantilevered over the stream to form the living and bedroom levels. Tanning to outer edge of back cover. .