Fallingwater

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Fallingwater is a house museum in the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania, USA, about 116 kilometres southeast of Pittsburgh. The architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed it so that the house is built partly over a waterfall on the Bear Run stream. It was built as a weekend retreat for Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr., who owned a department store in Pittsburgh, and his wife Liliane.

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At a glance

Country: United States
Location: Mill Run, Pennsylvania, USA
Built: 1937

Quick answers

Where is Fallingwater?

Fallingwater is in Mill Run, Pennsylvania, USA, United States.

When was Fallingwater built?

Fallingwater was built in 1937.

Frank Lloyd Wright's house built right over the falls of Bear Run, its concrete terraces cantilevered out from the rock.

Several flat terraces are cantilevered, which means they stick out from the chimney core without any support at the other end. The house is made of local stone, reinforced concrete, steel and plate glass. By the 1960s it was one of the most discussed modern buildings in the world. It is a National Historic Landmark and one of eight buildings that make up the World Heritage Site "The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright".

How it came to be

Edgar Kaufmann Sr. had set up a summer camp for his employees at Bear Run by 1916. When they stopped using it, the Kaufmanns bought the site in July 1933 and hired Wright in 1934. Wright went to see the falls on 18 December 1934. During construction there were problems with cracked concrete and sagging terraces. The family began using the house in 1937, and a guest wing was finished in 1939.

A house that is part of the stream

The main house is on top of the upper falls, which is about 6 to 9 metres high, but the stream does not actually pass through the house. The first floor holds the entrance, living room, kitchen and two terraces, and there are four bedrooms, including a study, upstairs. Wright designed most of the built-in furniture. The grounds also hold a small tomb for the Kaufmanns with doors designed by the artist Alberto Giacometti.

Saving the house

The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has run Fallingwater as a tourist attraction since 1963, and tours began in July 1964. It looks after about 2,000 hectares of land around the house. In the late 1990s and early 2000s the house was repaired to fix serious structural problems, including the sagging terraces and bad drainage.

Fun facts

Frank Lloyd Wright built the house right over a waterfall instead of facing it.
The stream does not pass through the house, though the house sits over the waterfall.
Its terraces are cantilevered, supported only at one end.
A tiny mausoleum on the grounds has doors designed by the sculptor Alberto Giacometti.
It is one of eight Frank Lloyd Wright buildings on the UNESCO World Heritage List.