Fallingwater is a house museum in Stewart Township in the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania, United States. Designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, it is built partly over a waterfall on the Bear Run stream. The three-story residence was developed as a weekend retreat for Liliane and Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr., the owner of Kaufmann's Department Store in Pittsburgh. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC), which has operated Fallingwater as a tourist attraction since 1963, maintains surrounding the house.
Edgar Kaufmann Sr. had established a summer retreat at Bear Run for his employees by 1916. When employees stopped using the retreat, the Kaufmanns bought the site in July 1933 and hired Wright to design the house in 1934. Several structural issues arose during the house's construction, including cracked concrete and sagging terraces. The Kaufmanns began using the house in 1937 and hired Wright to design a guest wing, which was finished in 1939. Edgar Kaufmann Jr., the Kaufmanns' son, continued to use the house after his parents' deaths. After the WPC took over, it began hosting tours of the house in July 1964 and built a visitor center in 1979. The house was renovated in the late 1990s and early 2000s to remedy severe structural defects, including sagging terraces and poor drainage.
The house includes multiple outdoor terraces, which are cantilevered, extending outward from a chimney without support at the opposite end. Fallingwater is made of locally–quarried stone, reinforced concrete, steel, and plate glass. The first story contains the main entrance, the living room, two outdoor terraces, and the kitchen. There are four bedrooms (including a study) and additional terraces on the upper stories. Wright designed most of the house's built-in furniture. Many pieces of art are placed throughout the house, in addition to objects including textiles and Tiffany glass. Above the main house is a guest wing with a carport and servants' quarters.
Fallingwater has received extensive architectural commentary over the years, and it was one of the world's most discussed modern–style structures by the 1960s. The house has been the subject of books, magazine articles, films, and other media works over the years. Fallingwater is designated as a National Historic Landmark, and it is one of eight buildings in "The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright", a World Heritage Site.
Site
Fallingwater is situated in Stewart Township in the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania, United States, about southeast of Pittsburgh. The house is located near Pennsylvania Route 381 (PA 381), It is variously cited as being either in Bear Run, the stream that runs below the house, or in Mill Run, though the building's deeds give the locale as Stewart Township. Nearby are the Bear Run Natural Area to the north, as well as Ohiopyle State Park and Fort Necessity National Battlefield to the south. The nearest city is Uniontown, to the west. as well as Duncan House and Lindholm House at Polymath Park in Acme, Pennsylvania.
Geography and structures
Fallingwater is named for the location of the main house, which is oriented roughly south-southeast. It sits above the Bear Run stream, a tributary of the Youghiogheny River, which has an upper falls about high (where the main house is situated) and a lower falls about high. At the house, Bear Run is above sea level; contrary to common perceptions, it does not pass through the house. There is a layer of buff and gray sandstone under the site, which is part of the Pottsville Formation. In contrast to other country estates, Fallingwater is not located on a geographically prominent site and is not easily visible. Canopy cover from the surrounding forest hangs above the house. The guest wing, an "L"-shaped building, is connected to the main house by a curved outdoor walkway (see ).
The grounds include a small mausoleum for Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann, which has doors designed by Alberto Giacometti. Edgar Jr. was cremated after his death, and his ashes are spread around the house. Wright designed a set of gates for the house's driveway, though these were never installed. it weighed and measured across.
Previous site usage
In the 1890s, a freemasonry group from Pittsburgh developed a country club on a plot of land that includes the Fallingwater site. By 1909, this clubhouse had been acquired by another group of masons who turned it into the Syria Country Club. The club went bankrupt in 1913. A map from that year shows that the grounds included the clubhouse, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Bear Run station, and 13 other buildings (none of which are extant). One of the structures was a cottage on the site of Fallingwater's guest wing, while the clubhouse was about to the southeast.
Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr., the president of Kaufmann's Department Store in Pittsburgh, had established a summer retreat at Bear Run for his employees by 1916. Up to one thousand employees used the retreat each summer. In 1922, Edgar and his wife Liliane built a simple summer cabin on a nearby cliff, which was nicknamed the "Hangover" and lacked electricity, plumbing, or heating. The Kaufmanns' permanent residence, at the time, was La Tourelle in Fox Chapel. Kaufmann's employees eventually bought the Bear Run site in 1926, the Kaufmann family bought the site in July 1933.
Development
Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann became familiar with Wright's work through their only child, Edgar Kaufmann Jr..