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A Guide of Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling WaterA Guide of Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water
Guide of Frank Hailed by TIME magazine shortly after its completion as Wright's "most beautiful job," the home inspired Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead, and is listed among Smithsonian magazine's Life List of 28 places "to visit before ...it's too late." Fallingwater was featured in Bob Vila's A&E Network production, Guide to Historic Homes of America. History Edgar Kaufmann Sr. was a successful Pittsburgh businessman and founder of Kaufmann's Department Store. His son, Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., studied architecture under Wright briefly. Edgar Sr. had been prevailed upon by his son and Wright to itemize the cost of his utopian model city. When completed, it was displayed at Kaufmann’s Department Store and Wright was a guest in the Kaufmann home, “La Tourelle”, a French Norman masterpiece that celebrated Pittsburgh architect Benno Janssen (1874-1964) had created in the stylish Fox Chapel suburb in 1923 for Edgar J. Kaufmann. The Kaufmanns and Wright were enjoying refreshments at La Tourelle when Wright, who never missed an opportunity to charm a potential client, said to Edgar Jr. in tones that the elder Kaufmanns were intended to overhear, “Edgar, this house is not worthy of your parents…” The remark spurred the Kaufmann’s interest in something worthier. Fallingwater would become the end result. The Kaufmanns owned some property outside Pittsburgh with a waterfall and some cabins. When the cabins at their camp had deteriorated to the point that something had to be rebuilt, Mr. Kaufmann contacted Wright. Guide of Frank In November 1934 Wright visited Bear Run. He asked for a survey of the area around the waterfall, which he received in March 1935. This survey was prepared by Fayette Engineering Company of Uniontown, Pennsylvania and included all of the boulders, trees and topography. It took 9 months for his ideas for the site to crystallize into a design which was quickly sketched up by Wright in time for a visit by Kaufmann to Taliesin in September 1935. It was then that Kaufmann first became aware that Wright’s design was for the house to be built above the falls,rather than below the falls as he had expected.
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