Fallingwater

It was a perfect day to take a trip to Fallingwater. The weather was warm, but not overly warm. The sky was a beautiful blue and the sun made it easy to drape a light sweater across my arm. Even the leaves had started to change into their fall colors.

 

Fallingwater was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, in 1935, for the Kaufmann Family; Edgar J. Kaufmann, Sr., and his wife Liliane. Kaufmann owned Pittsburgh’s Kaufmann Department Store. The home was built as their mountain retreat. It sits among 5,100 acres of lush land in Bear Run Nature Reserve in Mill Run, Pennsylvania. The house is considered the crown jewel in Wright’s many architecture masterpieces.

 

Wright’s innovated style of the home included open floor plans, low ceilings, narrow hallways, and floor to ceiling steel framed windows, gravity floor heat, carports, cantilevered roofs, and the use of flagstone rocks. It is built over the water and the falls and the home is one with  the scenery and the area. This was a contemporary home before its time and included tables that opened for eating extensions, wall seats and the Wright signature ceiling lighting design. It also contained buttons discreetly installed by the bedsides to summon the servants.

 

The Kaufmann’s art collection was something to behold with priceless art pieces of Picasso, Rivera, Hiroshige, and more, along with Tiffany lamps. Room after room brought an exclamation from the visitors. The out-door decks were privy to the beauty of the environment and the sound of the water and falls.

 

The house inspired me and I could see myself in the rooms or on the deck sitting in a chair writing or just enjoying the beauty of the surroundings. So, as a tourist, all I could do was take out my camera and snap a number of out-door shots. Indoors, cameras and cell phone cameras are prohibited. I even saw myself in the servant quarters or visitors quarters or even enjoying a dip in the swimming pool.

 

After the tour, my friend and I followed the sign to the view and what a view! To our amazement and delight, we found a perfect camera shot of Fallingwater rising majestically above the water and falls where the trees seemed to have parted. The house was in full view; a definite achievement to Frank Lloyd Wright and a perfect photo op for myself and my friend.

 

This was my third trip to Fallingwater and now I have visited the home in three different seasons, except winter. I can only imagine how cold it would be in winter but how beautiful Falling water would look with snow on the house, grounds and trees. A proverbial winter wonderland! I could also imagine how much I would enjoy the scenery from the house, with a fire going and looking out the windows at all the beauty outside.

 

If you have never been to Fallingwater, I think you would love to tour the place. For more information about the place try (www.fallingwater.org).