Two Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings

My wife and son in front of Fallingwater.
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It was a cold June and the leaves on the trees were still only half way out. The road leading into Fallingwater goes through heavy woods and as we approached the  location, my son Craig, who has loved architecture all his life, said, "I can't believe we are actually going to see this!" Even today, Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings seem startlingly modern and one has been featured in a science fiction movie, where it seems perfectly at home.

We had about three quarters of an hour before our tour began and we spent the time walking around the property. The stream that flows underneath the house was loud and in full spate and you can see it, in the back of the picture of Craig and my wife, tumbling over a small escarpment directly underneath the house that Wright designed for the location.

Fallingwater has been voted the best American building of the last 125 years.

The stream that creates the waterfall flows directly below the building.
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Fallingwater fits its site magnificently. Two dramatic balconies jut out over the waterfall and visitors love to stare straight down at the water as it slides underneath the home and hurls itself over the escarpment.  A trap door opens in the lower level and a ladder leads down to the small side falls that acts like an intensely cold Pennsylvania shower for anyone brave enough to stand underneath. The Kaufmann family loved this little side falls and insisted that Wright leave it undisturbed. He went one better and made it part of the house, a shower directly below the main living area.

The balconies jut out dramatically over the Pennsylvania woodland.
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There is a huge fireplace in the living room, set on a flat rock that rested above the waterfall and is now part of the living room floor. The bedrooms, upstairs, are tiny, for the purpose of this house is to blend into a natural landscape that people are allowed to be part of, as long as they do not disrupt it.

Fallingwater has been voted by readers of Journal of the American Institute of Architects as the best American building of the last 125 years. Two years later our visit stands out as one of  my more memorable  experiences and the house still awes me. What a place to spend a summer vacation!

The driveway at the back of the building.
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About twenty miles to the south is a second Wright building designed and built about 20 years later for the Hagens, of Hagen-Daas Ice Cream fame. It is quite different in style and feel from Fallingwater, but still dramatic in its quieter way.

The building is set in thick woods just below the crest of a hill and the roof projects out so far beyond the wall that it creates a sort of porch without any supporting beams. Wright cut holes in the projection so that winds could move through without putting too much stress on the roof and causing it to lift off. The winds here are strong, and in more recent times a wind farm for generating electricity has been constructed nearby.

Another view of the balconies of the house within their setting
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The Hagens chose the property for the incredible view  from the top of an adjacent hill. When they asked Wright to design their house, they told him they wanted it placed on the crest so that they could enjoy the panorama across the rollings hills of Pennsylvania. Wright, however, talked them out of it. Build your house, he advised, just below the crest so it's protected from the winds. You can always walk up there any time and have your view, but where I propose to build will give you maximum sunlight. "You will get tired of a view," he said, "but you will never get tired of sunlight."

The levels of the house are evident in this view
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The present owner has scattered a remarkable collection of modern sculpture throughout the woods on a path leading down from the house. Two of the most dramatic pieces involve a large section of the Berlin Wall, and a grouping of human figures all in red that has been dubbed "The Red Army." Do not miss this walk.

A visit to Kentuck Knob is a fun excursion and the contrast with Fallingwater gives you a different view of Wright's architecture. If you want to get a sense of Wright's earlier work, see a separate entry titled "The Architecture of Chicago." His latest designs can be sampled in an account of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, titled "To New York By Train."