Fallingwater

Today we took the long drive (almost two hours) to see Fallingwater, the house built by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Kaufman Family who owned the store in Pittsburgh that is now Macy's.  From the exhibit at the Visitor's Center, Kaufman's store was the same sort of the store that the Crescent Department Store was in Spokane when we were growing up. The house was built over a thirty foot waterfall and is now a National Historic Landmark.

We were quite surprised to see all of the rhodedendrons in bloom in the grounds around the house --

 One of the volunteers told us that their wild rhodies bloom in July rather then in the spring like the ones we are used to in Washington State.

You have to make reservations ahead of time to tour the house -- at $20 per person.  No pictures are allowed to be taken inside the house (although you can purchase a $65 tour which allows you to take photographs for your personal use...).

Wright's idea for the house was to make it part of nature in a style he called 'organic architecture'.  It is actually built over the waterfall of Bear Creek and the sound of the water permeates the building. Built between 1936 and 1939, the house has cantilevered decks made of concrete.  Even now, seventy-some years later, it has a very modern look.

Time magazine has called Fallingwater Wright's "most beautiful job" and it is listed on the Smithsonian's "List of Things to Visit Before You Die."  You are taken through the house in groups of about 16.  At 1:30, we were already Group #39 today.  The house was a vacation home for the Kaufman's and their bachelor son Edgar, who gave it to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in 1963.