Fallingwater

[cookie]

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/wrightpa/kaufmann.html

 

[Charlie Noodles]

Fallingwater using the source engine.

 

[scotrace]

This is so close to me it's embarrassing I've never been there.

 

[rikrdo]

I have relatives (maternal) all along western PA ....and parts of OH.
We went back in 1999 to bury my Grandmother and I had wanted to tour Fallingwater.
My Grandfolks lived in Uniontown, about 30 minutes from there.
Long story short:

Couldnt see it cause it was in the middle of restoration and had it not been, we still were outta luck cause thay only tour on certain days.

Im definitely going the next time were back there.

FLW was fabulous.

 

[Tux Toledo]

I've always been fascinated by this house and, like many others, think it is one of the greatest architectural works of all time. Thanks for sharing the link.

Tux

 

[Lefty]

I've been there a couple of times. It's really close to a popular whitewater rafting spot and is right in the middle of a beautiful hilly area that's really fun to drive. However, it's way too expensive. I remember parking having it's own high cost - and there's nowhere else to park.

 

[Lefty]

Incidentally, I've never been a huge fan of FLW, as he's too arts and crafts, despite his modernism, for me.

I'm a Rietveld fan. When my wife and I were in the Belgium/Luxembourg/Netherlands area last year, we made a trip to Utrecht to visit the Centraal Museum and the Rietveld Schroeder House.
http://www.centraalmuseum.nl/page.ocl?pageid=85&mode=&version=

I've got a copy of his most famous creation,

which pairs well with my icon of Bauhaus design, the Wagenfeld lamp.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

This is so close to me it's embarrassing I've never been there.

It is embarrassing. Get your butt in a car and go there ASAP. It really is a great place. It is about 3.5 hours from me and I have been there 3 times. I saw in all through its "restoration" where they shored up the base.

 

[cookie]

Scotty... Brian is right... it is supposed to be the most beautiful house in America....glad everyone is enjoying the post

 

[BeBopBaby]

I live about an hour from Fallingwater, and my mother-in-law has a home nearby in Somerset. It's lovely up there, we spend our Christmas' there every year. It's also beautiful in the fall. I would also recommend visiting Kentuck Knob, another FLW house that is very close. I actually prefer Kentuck Knob to Fallingwater.

 

[Lefty]

Scotty... Brian is right... it is supposed to be the most beautiful house in America....

Beauty certainly is in the eye of the beholder, but Falling Water is only one of many famous homes that one can visit in the US. FLW homes and buildings are all over the Midwest and, while certainly original and distinctive, his structures are hardly the most grand.

Hearst Castle makes an FLW house look like a tool shed, as does the Biltmore Estate. Even Stan Hywet, the home of the founder of Goodyear, is pretty amazing. My wife and I are members of Stan Hywet, which is only about 2 miles from our home, and go there to picnic or just walk the trails about once a week.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

]Stan Hywet[/URL], the home of the founder of Goodyear, is pretty amazing. My wife and I are members of Stan Hywet, which is only about 2 miles from our home, and go there to picnic or just walk the trails about once a week.

My wife is from Doylestown, Oh and she raves about Hywet saying we have to go. As many times as we go see her family, we have yet to go. I'll have to remind her about it.

 

[patrick1987]

How is that chair to sit in, Lefty? Just looking at it makes my back hurt and I'm only 21, although it certainly is a thing of beauty.
I've been to Fallingwater with some Wright aficionados and it was great fun, so lovely.

 

[Lefty]

With early/mid-century modern furniture, comfort isn't the goal, just as with Victorian furniture. The Victorians didn't want comfortable furniture because they didn't want people sitting around all day. I sit in the chair now and then, but it's almost more sculptural for me. For me, it's not that it bothers my back. Actually, the position it has you sit in, like a Breuer Wassily chair, is pretty nice. It's my long legs in a short chair that doesn't work.

Breuer's Wassily (designed for Vassily Kandinsky) Chair - which I'd have, but I dislike tubular steel. I'm a more of a flat bar kind of guy.

 

[patrick1987]

Thanks for the report. Come to think of it, I think I've only ever sat on a piece of Victorian furniture once, and it wasn't as soft as it looked and was scratchy. What a disappointment. I ripped the cover to my housemate's butterfly chair, so I guess it wasn't made for a big guy, but the Barcelona is very comfortable.

 

[Lefty]

I've got a Barcelona styled sofa, the chair, and ottoman. Here are my wife's chairs (these are Google photos, not mine):

Eileen Gray Bibendum (Michelin Man) chair

Gary Weeks walnut rocker. The most comfortable chair - wood, leather or otherwise - ever.

 

[jgilbert]

Was that not his first attempt at a flat roof house?

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

With early/mid-century modern furniture, comfort isn't the goal, just as with Victorian furniture.

Well, this isn't entirely true. Have you heard "form follows function"?

 

[warbird]

I was there a few weeks ago while shooting at Nemacolin and staying at Falling Rock.

Very neat place.

I would take that place over Hearst Castle and the Biltmore every day of the week. I much prefer to feel the surrounding of nature than grandness and I will not have furniture in my house that isn't worthy of being sat on or used. Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Lefty]

Well, this isn't entirely true. Have you heard "form follows function"?

That would depend upon the required (or designed) function. Nearly anything with a reasonably flat surface is fine for sitting. The designer or the person ordering the chair gets to decide just how long the user should get to sit.