Fallingwater (1935) by Frank Lloyd Wright

Photo provided courtesy of Yuhan Du.

In 1934, Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann were introduced to Frank Lloyd Wright through their son, Edgar Jr., who had just spent six months apprenticing at the Taliesin Fellowship. Impressed by Wright’s philosophy and knowing he shared their deep reverence for nature, the Kaufmanns commissioned him to design a summer home for their family’s weekend retreat in Bear Run, Pennsylvania.

Rather than place the house above or beside the stream that ran through the property—a picturesque waterfall nestled within hemlock woods—Wright proposed something radical. “I want you to live with the waterfall,” he told the Kaufmanns, “not just to look at it, but to make it part of your lives.” With that vision, Fallingwater was born.

Anchored to the natural rock with bold, cantilevered platforms, the house appears to emerge from the land itself. Wright used reinforced concrete trays and local sandstone to create layered terraces that float above the rushing water, echoing the rock formations upon which they rest. The design blurs boundaries between structure and site—glass walls dissolve the interior, allowing the forest and stream to enter every room. The open-plan first floor seamlessly merges the entry, living, and dining areas into a single, flowing space. A hatch in the living room floor opens to a suspended stairway that descends directly to the stream, reinforcing the home’s intimate relationship with its surroundings.

In 1938, Wright added guest quarters nestled into the hillside just above the primary residence, connected by a sheltered walkway. The home served as the Kaufmann family’s cherished retreat for over two decades, a place where art, nature, and daily life coexisted in perfect harmony.

In 1963, the Kaufmanns gifted Fallingwater, along with 1,543 acres of surrounding woodland, to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. It opened to the public the following year and has since welcomed more than five million visitors.

Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Paul Goldberger perhaps captured the home’s magic best:

“Great architecture, like any great art, ultimately takes you somewhere that words cannot take you at all. Fallingwater does that the way Chartres Cathedral does… My whole life is dealing with architecture and words, and at the end of the day, there is something that I can’t entirely say when it comes to what Fallingwater feels like.”

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Fallingwater Highlights:

• Built: 1935

• Client: Edgar J. Kaufmann and his wife Liliane

• Address: 1491 Mill Run Road, Mill Run, PA 15464

• Status: National Historic Landmark. Open to the public with tours available.

• Website: www.fallingwater.org

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