A month ago, my partner and I took a trip to Fallingwater. Located on a large, relatively undisturbed tract on a creek called Bear Run, east of Pittsburgh, Fallingwater is one of Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous houses, and certainly one with an extremely innovative design.
The house was commissioned by Edgar J. and Liliane Kaufmann, Sr., who owned the Kaufmann department store in Pittsburgh. Their son, Edgar Jr., had studied for a while with Frank Lloyd Wright, and served as an initial contact between the architect and the client.
The Kaufmanns had a primitive cabin on the property, but they wanted a get-away residence that was more comfortable, and with a view of the most prominent waterfall. Wright ignored their suggestion for the siting of the house, placing it just above the waterfall instead. The photo of Fallingwater below was taken at about the location of where the Kaufmanns originally wanted their house. Not surprisingly, this spot also gives the best (and most iconic) view of the house.
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Wright designed and built Fallingwater in the 1930s, during a low point in his career. After completion of the project, Wright's reputation was restored, and he never wanted for commissions afterward.
I had always thought that Fallingwater was a house built as a bridge, but in fact it is a cantilever, or more accurately, a sequence of cantilevers, secured to only one side of the run. Each floor of the house is a cantilever, and the two most prominent ones are apparent in the photo above. Two more exterior views are provided below.
Rather than blasting out the rock on the bank of the run to provide a flat area to build, Wright incorporated the rock into the house itself. There are places in the house where the rock protrudes into the living space (though I didn't think to take photos of such), and the rock is used to support the house, as you can see in the photo below. The way Wright melded the house with the environment gave rise to the term "Organic Architecture."
There were a few flaws with the design. Contrary to Wright's design, Edgar Sr. made sure that steel rebar was added to the poured concrete that made up the cantilevers. If he had not done that, the house would almost certainly have collapsed by now. Even with the rebar, the house required extensive repair early last decade to counteract the sagging of the cantilevers. On top of all that, the house leaks water in numerous places, and always has.
The lowest cantilever is the level of the main living space. The living and dining area flow together. This sofa is by the main entrance to the house:
This seating area is between the terrace and the fireplace.
Here's a view of the terrace of the main living space from the kitchen.
One extremely unusual feature to the main living space was a stairway down to the water. There are white petunias growing in the planter above the stairway (out of focus, unfortunately). The entrance to the stairway down is on the right.
Note the kettle to the left of the fireplace. The kettle can be rotated over the fireplace, if one wanted to warm up a hot toddy for 20 guests.
From the point of view below, the dining table looks rather small, but it could be extended to accommodate as many as 20 guests. The table extensions masquerade as panelling on the buffet. By the way, the chairs were not the ones chosen by Wright; Liliane Kaufmann decided she preferred those three-legged chairs.
On the level above the main living space were three bedrooms: Liliane's, Edgar Sr.'s, and a guest bedroom, each with its own terrace. This is the view of the house from the terrace for Liliane's bedroom (with a view to Edgar Jr.'s terrace above), and Liliane's fireplace:
Below are two views of Edgar Sr.'s bedroom, one showing his desk (and our tour guide), the other showing his fireplace. By the way, note the interesting cut-out in the desk, which allows one to open the window.
The third (and highest) level of the house constituted Edgar Jr.'s rooms and terrace. Here's a view of the bedroom from the terrace.
Finally, uphill from the main house there is a guesthouse. The path between the main house and the guesthouse is sheltered by a huge, one-piece, curved, stepped, cantilevered (of course) canopy of poured concrete. You can see it out the window in this photo taken from the living room of the guesthouse.
This shows the entryway of the guesthouse, which I think is very beautiful.
I have even more photos, but I don't want to become a complete bore. In any case, I highly recommend a visit to Fallingwater if you ever find yourself in the area of Pittsburgh. It really is a fantastic house.
And now ... on to the comments!
From pico:
Have you heard about the Yahoo CEO who was fired by phone? PerfectStormer doubts her version of the story. From aaraujo's post Yahoo Fires CEO
From Puddytat:
In Giles Goat Boy's post on the Walker budget cuts eliminating milk for school kids, Publius2008 had a comment that just said it all snappy, snarky, and, sadly, all too true
From bronte17:
soothsayer99 gifts us with some inspirational thoughts from Howard Zinn in the diary What Howard Zinn Actually Thought of Barack Obama by GreenSooner.
From smileycreek:
addisnana provided A short summary of disaster responses for J Town:
Libertarians: “You’re on your own”
Republicans: “God is with you but we’re not”
Democrats: “We’re all in this together”
From Marjmar:
I would like to submit the following for consideration, by epictetus. The "economy of words" just so totally nails it, imo. From Jed Lewison's front page post Tonight: Rick Perry makes Republican debate debut.
(Also submitted by another kossack who did not provide his handle.)
From Land of Enchantment:
It's been a busy day. I like Got a Grip's aside on moderation. From kos' recommended post On my new moderation duties.
And, believe it or not, there are SOME things we can all agree on! (Courtesy of Bill W in blue aardvark's post Some people who have been banned.)
From sardonyx:
In the front-page post by oh on the overnight Daily Kos design refresh, Bob Johnson reveals that freerepublic is also undergoing a huge makeover, though Rich in PA has heard slightly different details from those Bob did.
From your humble diar--, um, poster (?):
Bob Johnson strikes again! In Jed Lewison's front page post Republican Debate Night #5: Rick Perry and the Seven Bores.
Khun David notes an unusual name among Stephen Colbert's "Hero$," in Jed Lewison's Late afternoon/early eveining open thread.
Top Mojo (courtesy of mik, to whom we are all forever humbly grateful).
1) How dare the peasants rise up by Vita Brevis — 146
2) Snark aside, that's the problem with this post. by FishOutofWater — 118
3) Oh by kos — 117
4) President O is pacing himself by ctexrep — 115
5) Will everyone agree with me now? by fearisthemindkiller — 99
6) sneak preview of the coming moderation-bot by bubbanomics — 98
7) edscan called. by Bob Johnson — 95
8) Don't feel that bad - I have a BS from a major NE by LamontCranston — 95
9) It's a third party. by Bill Prendergast — 95
10) i hope people treat the new community moderator by Laurence Lewis — 88
11) i'm so sorry for your loss, swampyankee. by mama jo — 87
12) As a Christian myself, I take the Dominionist by commonmass — 87
13) he worked so hard by Laurence Lewis — 85
14) Cheers to Nonnie by msmacgyver — 80
15) Unauthorized? by kos — 79
16) how do I begin? by kck — 75
17) But... by Trix — 75
18) Yes by kos — 74
19) You said it, Chris: by Major Tom — 73
20) thanks-this went from my heart to the keyboard by swampyankee — 72
21) Newt's body mass has not increased by quaoar — 69
22) does he need any help? Quite a few Kossacks by entlord — 68
23) Are you getting an eye patch? by Bob Johnson — 67
24) The "spacing" of the "protests"... by Marjmar — 67
25) Two observations by Rich in PA — 65
26) And by people who don't remember the last time by pico — 65
27) Hard to believe, but ... by Susan Gardner — 65
28) No myth that his poll numbers are bad by FishOutofWater — 65
29) yay! pooties! by Debbie in ME — 62
30) I found this the other day: by TiaRachel — 61
31) A lot of proud pantywadders will be along to whine by xxdr zombiexx — 61