Falling Water

Yesterday we drove out to Falling Water, a house designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright.  It was built between 1936 and 1939 for the Kaufmanns, a wealthy family who owned a department store in downtown Pittsburgh.  It was built as their year-round weekend home.  The Kaufmanns' son donated the house to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in the mid-1960's, so it's basically a museum now.  One of the most unique things about it is that it is built over a waterfall.  You can learn more about Falling Water at http://www.fallingwater.org/1/home if you'd like.  The house is about 1 1/2 hours from Pittsburgh, so it was a perfect day-trip for us.  In the above picture we are standing on a bridge that crosses the stream over which the house is built, with the house behind us.  The part of the house you see is the living room and living room terrace.  The house is made of glass, stone, concrete, and steel.  It has tons of windows and terraces.  There was a living quarter for each family member (mother, father, and adult son), and each living quarter had its own terrace.  The sight is out in the woods, so it was very beautiful and serene.  I can see the appeal this place had for the Kaufmanns, coming from their daily life in the city.  Of course, back then Pittsburgh was still the smokey steel city.

 

Andrew and Paul on the terrace outside the living room.

You can see that there are stairs that lead from the living room down into the stream.

The house is fully furnished with original furniture and artifacts once owned by the family (and some reproductions), so children under 6 are not permitted to enter.  So, while we took the one-hour guided tour inside, Andrew played with rocks in the stream by himself.  Just kidding!  Paul walked around the grounds with Andrew while I took the guided tour inside.  Andrew did get to play with some rocks, though, as you can see by his full hands above.  

Here's a view of the house from the opposite side.  You can see how it juts out over the waterfall.