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The importance of the fireplace was emphasized by exposing a large part of the natural rock through the wall of the fireplace, literally bringing the waterfall into the house. The entry hall, dining room, and living room on the first floor are all one, big open-plan space. The open plan design of this house is proof of how far ahead of his time Wright truly was. A horizontal gate in the living room opens to a staircase that goes down directly onto a floating, viewing podium on the water. As previously mentioned, Wright and the Kaufmann’s had a close connection to nature and wanted nature to play an integral part in the aesthetic of their home.
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Wright grew up on a farm, always surrounded by nature, which had an enormous impact on his design ethos. Wright had quite a difficult childhood, brought up very poor by a pastoral father and teacher mother. After Wright’s 14th birthday, his father and mother separated and, according to him, he never saw his father again. When he was born, his mother accurately proclaimed that as her firstborn child, he would grow up to build magnificent buildings. She even went as far as decorating his nursery with drawings of cathedrals. Their hearts did soften to the idea, and it was likely that the immense uniqueness of the building aided them in deciding to go ahead with the plans.
In-Depth Guided Tour
In recognition of the unique and unmatched importance of this design, Fallingwater was named the best American building of the last 125 years by the American Institute of Architects. Fallingwater is today, without question, the most famous modern house in the world, reflecting its inspired embodiment of humanity’s fundamental and timeless desire to be at home in nature. Though Fallingwater was designed as a private home for the Kaufmann family, it is now unoccupied to allow architecture aficionados from around the globe to explore its interior and exterior, all carefully designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Can You Stay at Fallingwater?
By situating the residence over the waterfall, the Kaufmanns would always be able to hear the movement of the water and be aware of the waterfall’s presence. While its form is distinct and standout, Fallingwater was designed for a family to live in and among nature. Fallingwater is a 20th-century masterpiece in organic architecture—one that was created nearly four decades before the design world began to consider its impact on the planet. Fallingwater, weekend residence near Mill Run, southwestern Pennsylvania, that was designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright for the Kaufmann family in 1935 and completed in 1937. The house’s daring construction over a waterfall was instrumental in reviving Wright’s architecture career and became one of the most famous 20th-century buildings. Perhaps the most poetic moment in this most natural house is the “hatch” that Wright designed at the east side of the living room, whose glass doors may be opened to give access to a suspended concrete stair leading down to the stream below.
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This slow reveal is exactly what his client, the retail tycoon Edgar J. Kaufmann, would have seen when the home was completed in 1937. Fallingwater proved that Wright was not an outdated architect ready for retirement but an enduring visionary ready for the next phase of his career. Some of his most high-profile commissions came after, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The Kaufmanns continued to reside in Fallingwater but quickly noticed that the main terrace was beginning to sag, later recognized as the result of Wright’s refusal to use additional steel despite his contractor’s suggestions. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. To put stairs from the balcony to the ground robs the balcony of any character or romance as such.
Enhance Your Visit
Years after his parents’ deaths in the 1950s, Edgar Kaufmann, acting on his father’s wishes, entrusted the building and nearby land to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in 1963. Fallingwater opened as a museum the following year, with the Kaufmanns’ thoughtfully selected furniture and curated art collection intact. The conservancy continued to maintain the building into the 21st century, welcoming about 150,000 visitors per year. In 2019 the residence, along with seven other Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Give to Fallingwater
Each level is marked by wide projections which protrude asymmetrically in various directions. In creating this impression, Wright was inspired by Japanese architecture. The exterior of the house maintains an intimate relationship with the surrounding nature. The architect decided to employ natural materials- wood, brick, rock- with which he achieved an impressive integration between the building and the forest which surrounds it. It was built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Mill-Run section of Stewart Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, located in the Laurel Highlands of the Allegheny Mountains. Wright described his architectural style as “organic “–in harmony with nature.
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Justin’s preferred architectural movements include the more modern and postmodern types of architecture, such as Bauhaus, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Brutalist, and Futurist varieties like sustainable architecture. Justin is working for artfilemagazine as an author and content writer since 2022. The Fallingwater House has ultimately become so famous because it achieved this with such stunning precision that it has gone on to become one of the most famous Modernist houses ever designed. Fallingwater is located in Pennsylvania's Laurel Highlands which is known for its nature and many state parks (such as Ohiopyle State Park nearby).
Grounds and exterior access, house interior not included.
The Kaufmanns used sculpture, paintings, textiles, and furniture throughout Fallingwater to reflect their tastes in fine and decorative arts. But Wright made sure to include furniture designs of his own throughout the house. All of these furniture pieces were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1937.
Frank Lloyd Wright is considered to be one of the most famous architects of the 20th century. He was also a designer, educator, and writer, although his career as an educator may have been one that left something to be desired. Regardless of this, he designed over a thousand structures over the course of his career, and many of those structures were residential in nature. The construction soon began, and Frank Lloyd Wright did not remain on-site during this period.
The shadows cast by the pergolas resemble those of the tree trunks; an effect which makes the shadow of the house fade into those of the trees. On the ground of the terrace outside Mr. Kaufmann’s office, two holes were intended to be left so that the trees could pass through them. However, as the trees died during the construction of the house, no such apertures were made. The Conservancy owns and operates the Fallingwater house, which is open to the public to view as a museum. The Bear Run Nature Reserve, which encompasses 5,100 acres of natural land, streams, and trails, surrounds Fallingwater. The interior layout was centered around the fireplace, which was considered to be a gathering place for the family and arguably the most important space in the house.
Above the sofa area of the living room, there is the master bedroom, which has a small bathroom and an expansive terrace, which extends, cantilevered towards the South. In this room there is a bed and a staircase which leads to the viewpoint above the second floor. In the last room there is a window which extends down to the kitchen below.
The interior of the Fallingwater House is similarly innovative in its general design. There is an attempt at a lavish functionality that entails the use of a more open plan with minimal internal support structures, like walls. The open design allows the integration of various rooms into one while also opening that central room to the outside world through the extensive use of glass walls and windows. The natural world can always be seen from every room in the house, and much of the furniture was also built into the walls and floors so that it could all fit with the aesthetic and functional design of the structure as a whole. The guiding principle of the design was to ensure a comfortable interior and exterior, adoration and appreciation for the natural world, and the integration of functionalist necessity and naturalistic aesthetic beauty.
The integration of the natural world into the design of the structure itself was the most integral part of the design and one of the most notable instances that was subsequently copied by several other Modernist architects. Another detail that came into view after the fact was that the initial budget for the structure had been $35,000. This was already somewhat pricey for the time period, but by the time construction on the house was done, the cost had ballooned to $155,000. For a comparative understanding, when adjusted for inflation, this equals to about $3.3 million as of 2022. The 2001 restoration of the building was also immensely expensive and was equal to about $19 million in 2022 money.
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