"WHEN FASCISM COMES TO AMERICA IT WILL BE WRAPPED IN THE FLAG
AND CARRYING A CROSS." -SINCLAIR LEWIS

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater

I've always wanted to visit this place:

Fallingwater, also known as the Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. Residence, is a house designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1934 in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The house was built partly over a waterfall in Bear Run at Rural Route 1 in the Mill Run section of Stewart Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in the Laurel Highlands of the Allegheny Mountains.

Hailed by Time magazine shortly after its completion as Wright's "most beautiful job,"[3] it is also listed among Smithsonian magazine's Life List of 28 places "to visit before ...it's too late."[4] Fallingwater was featured in Bob Vila's A&E Network production, Guide to Historic Homes of America.[5] It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.[1] In 1991, members of the American Institute of Architects named the house the "best all-time work of American architecture" and in 2007, it was ranked twenty-ninth on the list of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA.
Below is a computer-generated fly around of the structure:


And here's a computer-generated walk through created on Half Life:


Until I next find myself in the Pittsburgh area these CG videos will just have to do.

(via)

5 comments:

one L bill said...

Were you already too old to be on the family vacation where your mom famously refused to pay $7/ticket to tour this house because she didn't think the kids would appreciate it? I give her an ENORMOUS time about that one... especially considering that the place is supposed to be very (structurally) unsound and unlikely to last another lifetime.

JBW said...

Totally too old, amigo. I would have paid the fee and then annoyed my kids to the extent that they would have remembered the experience forever, better or worse.

Leslie Parsley said...

Have always respected FLW's work. I liked his use of natural materials. When I lived in AZ I regularly visited his school at Talieson West outside Scottsdale.
One gets a real appreciation of the man and his "mission." A very talented and unique individual, I'm not sure he was always a pleasant man, which can go with being such an artist.

Fallingwater is one of my favorites but there are so, so many others - all worth visiting. One is the main hotel building at the Arizona Biltmore. I knew it was his creation the first time I ever walked through the place. It doesn't cost anything to visit, but a drink can knock the socks off of you and not because of the amount of alcohol. Still, one of the most impressive lobbies I've ever been in.

Unknown said...

Just a quick rebuttal, the reason we didn't go into see this beautiful house was because we couldn't afford the admission for all of us, in addition to the fact that some of us weren't old enough to be aware of the significance of the structure and it would have been a waste of time and money. Besides, Shannon wanted to go river rafting and there wasn't time or money to do both. And, it was $8/......

Leslie Parsley said...

I guess it's a matter of priorities. These places have to charge money to be able to maintain them. Try Williamsburg.