A Fallingwater Photojournal

My homeschool blog doesn't get updated very often these days, but I decided our recent visits to a couple of Frank Lloyd Wright sites were worth sharing there as field trip or educational ideas. And naturally, I'll share that here as well because these are such interesting places to visit!

Frank Lloyd Wright was leading member of the group of architects that formed the Prairie School, designs characterized by low buildings with gently sloped roofs, crisp lines, and using unfinished materials. This movement also featured open floor plans and made them popular. His innovative designs that focused on incorporating surrounding landscape and nature into buildings caught the attention of many wealthy clients, including the Kaufmann family of Pittsburgh. The Kaufmanns wanted Wright to design a weekend home for them in the Bear Run area of Pennsylvania. Wright designed a unique home that was cantilevered directly over the small waterfall. Like most Wright designs, the house is made to look like its an integral part of the surrounding landscape, and features lots of windows that give it a wide open feel.

The open living room and dining room area, with smaller spaces defined by furniture groupings and differences in ceiling height rather than with walls.

Wright's designs always make use of large windows that bring the outside in, and allow for air flow that would keep the house naturally air conditioned. Even in this kitchen that would have been used by household staff, the windowed wall makes it feel almost like an outdoor space and those corner windows all open completely to allow maximum air flow. The same window design is used in Mr Kaufmann's study on the second floor, but photos aren't allowed in that part of the house.

This is a patio area off the living room.

In 1963, Edgar Kaufmann Jr deeded the Fallingwater house and 469 acres of land in Bear Run to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy as a memorial to his parents. He also supplied an endowment fund to care for and preserve the house, and personally took the lead in administration and developing educational programming for Fallingwater, even leading some tours. The house was open for tours beginning in 1964. Fallingwater was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1976. In 2019, Fallingwater and several other Frank Lloyd Wright buildings were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Visit the Fallingwater website to learn more.

For more about Frank Lloyd Wright and the Kaufmanns, visit the original post at Homeschool Coffee Break. You can also check out some previous posts about Frank Lloyd Wright: A Kentuck Knob PhotoJournal; Frank Lloyd Wright - Blogging Through The Alphabet; A National Building Museum PhotoJournal

 

  

Thanks for joining me as I looked back on this tour! Hope you enjoyed it, and maybe even learned something. Have you visited any Frank Lloyd Wright buildings? Leave a comment and let me know!

This post is adapted from the original on Homeschool Coffee Break.

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