On Saturday Paul and Hilary took us to see Fallingwater. I vaguely remember stopping there as a kid on one of our many road trips to the east coast, but had no solid memory of the place.
According to Smithsonian Magazine this is one of the 28 places you should see before you die, in the "Triumphs of Vision" category.
I did not expect the place to live up to all the hype, but it is a very interesting structure. Built right into the stone on the bank of Bear Run, just above the waterfall, the stone colored concrete terraces jut out over the rushing water as if they'd been carved there by the constant flow.
The more impressive views of the house are from inside of it, where you can see that all of the construction and furnishings are not only in harmony with each other, but perfectly coordinated with the fall foliage seen from nearly every wall in every room of the house. That October is the highest tourist traffic the place sees now makes sense to me.
The large horizontal ledges formed by the terraces are repeated indoors everywhere you look: in the levels of the floors of the home, the piled shale stone work with larger pieces jutting out from the walls, and wood shelves that grow right out of the stone. The flagstone floors remind you of the creek bed over which you are perched.
The main floor is an open plan similar to the modern houses we seem to prefer with connected dining, living, and office areas. Only the kitchen is hidden away behind a well-concealed door in the dark corner behind the massive stone fireplace.
The bedrooms are small by today's standards (the house was constructed in the late 30s), but there's a ton of storage in the smooth built-in walls of wardrobes, the integrated wooden shelves, and many times the stone walls themselves provide a niche for an objet d'art.
Frank Lloyd Wright made nearly every aspect of the house "client proof" by integrating all of the furnishings into the structure, rendering them unmovable. The tables, shelves, wardrobes, headboards, lighting, seating, are all rooted in the floors and walls in a continuous flow so that his vision couldn't be easily reinterpreted.
While I don't think my life has been changed by the experience, it is a really neat place, and I'd be happy to take any of our visitors to Fallingwater.
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I went there when I was younger, but not too young to forget. I was very impressed with the way the house was put together and how everything had a reason. It was very cool. I'd like to go back with a good camera this time!
ReplyDeleteKelley, we'd love to have you (and Conrad) over anytime!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention that the tours themselves are very poorly organized. We weren't given the time our ticket indicated, there are apparently buses that take you the whole 100 yards to the entrance of the house (that thankfully we missed so we got to walk through the woods instead), and when we caught up to our tour group the guide was very snarky, and commented to anyone who would listen that she had 4 "extra" in her group (even though she'd been contacted and told we were coming).