Frank Lloyd Wright - Fallingwater

William Allin Storrer describes Fallingwater as "the best-known private home for someone not of royal blood in the history of the world." Perched over a waterfall on Bear Run in the western Pennsylvania highlands, the rural retreat constructed for Edgar J. Kaufmann, Sr., has also been called the fullest realization of Wright's lifelong ideal of a living place completely at one with nature. Reinforced-concrete cantilever slabs project from the rocks to carry the house over the stream. From the living room, a suspended stairway leads directly down to the stream. On the third level immediately above, terraces open from sleeping quarters, emphasizing the horizontal nature of the structural forms. Wright himself described Fallingwater as "a great blessing --one of the great blessings to be experienced here on earth."

Fallingwater is constructed on three levels primarily of reinforced concrete, native sandstone and glass. Soaring cantilevered balconies are anchored in solid rock. Walls of glass form the south exposure, and a vertical shaft of mitered glass merges with stone and steel to overlook the stream.

Floor plan of main level. Most of the house's floor space is devoted to the stone-paved living area with its various activity spaces. A high proportion of the living space is outdoors in the form of terraces, loggia and plunge pool below the living room..

Drawing of Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright

For more information about Fallingwater
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy