Fallingwater or Kaufmann Residence is a house designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in

1935 in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, 43 miles (69 km) southeast of Pittsburgh.[4] The home
was built partly over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Mill Run section of Stewart Township, Fayette
County, Pennsylvania, in the Laurel Highlands of the Allegheny Mountains.

Time cited it after its completion as Wright's "most beautiful job";[5] it is listed
among Smithsonian's Life List of 28 places "to visit before you die."[6] It was designated
a National Historic Landmark in 1966.[2] In 1991, members of the American Institute of
Architects named the house the "best all-time work of American architecture" and in 2007, it was
ranked twenty-ninth on the list of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA.

Contents
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1 History
o 1.1 Design and construction
o 1.2 Cost
o 1.3 Use of the house
2 Style
3 Repair work
4 Depictions in popular culture
5 See also
6 References
o 6.1 Bibliography
o 6.2 Further reading
7 External links

History[edit]
Fallingwater with falls

At age 67, Frank Lloyd Wright was given the opportunity to design and have constructed three
buildings. His three works of the late 1930sFallingwater, the Johnson Wax Building in Racine,
Wisconsin, and the Herbert Jacobs house in Madison, Wisconsinbrought him back into
prominence in the architectural community.[7]

Edgar Kaufmann Sr. was a Pittsburgh businessman and president of Kaufmann's Department
Store. His son, Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., studied architecture briefly under Wright.

Edgar Sr. had been prevailed upon by his son and Wright to subsidize the cost of a 12 foot
square model of Wright's Broadacre City. The model was initially displayed at an Industrial Arts
Exposition in the Forum at the Rockefeller Center starting on April 15, 1935. After the New York
exposition, Kaufmann Sr. arranged to have the model displayed in Pittsburgh at an exposition
titled "New Homes for Old", sponsored by the Federal Housing Administration. The exposition
opened on June 18 on the 11th floor of Kaufmann's store.[8]

The Kaufmanns lived in La Tourelle, a French Norman estate designed by Pittsburgh

architect Benno Janssen (18741964) in theFox Chapel suburb in 1923 for Edgar J. Kaufmann.
Wright visited Bear Run on Tuesday, December 18.[9] The Kaufmanns and Wright were enjoying
refreshments at La Tourelle when Wright said to Edgar Jr., in tones that the elder Kaufmanns
were intended to overhear, Edgar, this house is not worthy of your parents...[citation needed] The
remark spurred the Kaufmanns' interest in something worthier. Fallingwater would become the
end result.[citation needed]

The Kaufmanns owned property outside Pittsburgh with a waterfall and cabins they used as a
rural retreat. When these cabins deteriorated, Mr. Kaufmann contacted Wright.

On December 18, 1934, Wright visited Bear Run and asked for a survey of the area around the
waterfall. One was prepared by Fayette Engineering Company of Uniontown,
Pennsylvania including all the site's boulders, trees and topography, and forwarded to Wright in
March 1935.[8]

As reported by Wright's apprentices at Taliesin, Kaufmann Sr. was in Milwaukee on September

22, nine months after their initial meeting, and called Wright at home early Sunday morning to
surprise him with the news that he would be visiting Wright that day before lunch. He could not
wait to see Wright's plans. Wright had told Kaufmann in earlier communication that he had been
working on the plans, but had not actually drawn anything. After breakfast that morning, amid a
group of very nervous apprentices, Wright calmly drew the plans in the two hours in which it took
Kaufmann to drive to the Taliesin.[10]

Wright intended to build the home above the falls,[11] rather than below them to afford a view of
the cascades as he had expected.[12] It is said that Kaufmann was initially very upset that Wright
had designed the house to sit atop the falls. He had wanted the house located on the southern
bank of Bear Run, directly facing the falls. He had told Wright that was his favorite aspect of the
Bear Run property.[9]

Design and construction[edit]

One problem of building was that the location of the north bank of Bear Run was not large
enough to provide a foundation for a typically built Wright house.[9]

The Kaufmanns planned to entertain large groups of people, so the house would need to be
larger than the plot allowed. Also, Mr. and Mrs. Kaufmann requested separate bedrooms as well
as a bedroom for their adult son and an additional guest room.[9]

A cantilevered structure was used to address this.[9] The structural design for Fallingwater was
undertaken by Wright in association with staff engineers Mendel Glickman and William Wesley
Peters, who had been responsible for the columns featured in Wrights revolutionary design for
the Johnson Wax Headquarters.

Preliminary plans were issued to Kaufmann for approval on October 15, 1935,[13] after which
Wright made a further visit to the site and provided a cost estimate for the job. In December
1935, an old rock quarry was reopened to the west of the site to provide the stones needed for
the houses walls. Wright only made periodic visits during construction, instead assigning his
apprentice Robert Mosher as his permanent on-site representative.[13] The final working drawings
were issued by Wright in March 1936 with work beginning on the bridge and main house in April
1936.

The strong horizontal and vertical lines are a distinctive feature of Fallingwater

The construction was plagued by conflicts between Wright, Kaufmann, and the construction
contractor. Uncomfortable with what he saw as Wright's insufficient experience using reinforced
concrete, Kaufmann had the architect's daring cantilever design reviewed by a firm of consulting
engineers. Upon receiving their report, Wright took offense and immediately requested
Kaufmann to return his drawings and indicated he was withdrawing from the project. Kaufmann
relented to Wright's gambit and the engineers report was subsequently buried within a stone wall
of the house.[13]

After a visit to the site in June 1936, Wright rejected the stonemasonry of the bridge, which had
to be rebuilt.[citation needed]

For the cantilevered floors, Wright and his team used upside down T-shaped beams integrated
into a monolithic concrete slab which both formed the ceiling of the space below and provided
resistance against compression. The contractor, Walter Hall, also an engineer, produced
independent computations and argued for increasing the reinforcing steel in the first floors slab.
Wright refused the suggestion. While some sources state that it was the contractor who quietly
doubled the amount of reinforcement,[14]according to others,[13] it was at Kaufmanns request that
his consulting engineers redrew Wrights reinforcing drawings and doubled the amount of steel
specified by Wright.
In addition, the contractor did not build in a slight upward incline in the formwork for the cantilever
to compensate for the settling and deflection of the cantilever. Once the concrete formwork was
removed, the cantilever developed a noticeable sag. Upon learning of the steel addition without
his approval, Wright recalled Mosher.[15]

With Kaufmanns approval, the consulting engineers arranged for the contractor to install a
supporting wall under the main supporting beam for the west terrace. When Wright discovered it
on a site visit, he had Mosher discreetly remove the top course of stones. When Kaufmann later
confessed to what had been done, Wright showed him what Mosher had done and pointed out
that the cantilever had held up for the past month under test loads without the walls support.[16]

In October 1937, the main house was completed.

Cost[edit]
The original estimated cost for building Fallingwater was US$35,000. The final cost for the home
and guest house was US$155,000,[17][18][19] broken down as follows: house $75,000; finishing and
furnishing $22,000; guest house, garage and servants' quarters $50,000; architect's fee $8,000.
From 1938 through 1941 more than $22,000 would be spent on additional details and for
changes in the hardware and lighting.[20]

The total project price of $155,000, adjusted for inflation, is the equivalent of approximately $2.6
million in 2014. A reflection of the relative cost of the project in its time is that the cost of
restoration alone in 2009 was reported at $11.4 million.[citation needed]

Use of the house[edit]

Fallingwater was the family's weekend home from 1937 to 1963. In 1963, Kaufmann, Jr. donated
the property to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. In 1964, it was opened to the public as a
museum. Nearly five million people have visited the house as of March 2013. Despite its location
in a remote corner of Pennsylvania, the house (according to the informational pamphlet
distributed on the grounds) hosts more than 150,000 visitors each year.[18]

Kaufmann, Jr. years later said, "He [Wright] understood that people were creatures of nature,
hence an architecture which conformed to nature would conform to what was basic in people.
For example, although all of Falling Water [sic] is opened by broad bands of windows, people
inside are sheltered as in a deep cave, secure in the sense of the hill behind them." [21]

Style[edit]
The interior of Fallingwater depicting a sitting area with furnishings designed by Wright.

Fallingwater stands as one of Wright's greatest masterpieces both for its dynamism and for its
integration with the striking natural surroundings. Fallingwater has been described as an
architectural tour de force of Wright's organic philosophy.[22] Wright's passion for Japanese
architecture was strongly reflected in the design of Fallingwater, particularly in the importance of
interpenetrating exterior and interior spaces and the strong emphasis placed on harmony
between man and nature. Contemporary Japanese architect Tadao Ando has stated: "I think
Wright learned the most important aspect of architecture, the treatment of space, from Japanese
architecture. When I visited Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, I found that same sensibility of space.
But there was the additional sounds of nature that appealed to me."[23]

This organically designed private residence was intended to be a nature retreat for its owners.
The house is well known for its connection to the site; it is built on top of an active waterfall which
flows beneath the house.

The fireplace hearth in the living room integrates boulders found on the site and upon which the
house was built ledge rock which protrudes up to a foot through the living room floor was left
in place to demonstrably link the outside with the inside. Wright had initially intended that the
ledge be cut flush with the floor, but this had been one of the Kaufmann family's favorite sunning
spots, so Mr. Kaufmann suggested that it be left as it was.[citation needed] The stone floors are waxed,
while the hearth is left plain, giving the impression of dry rocks protruding from a stream.

Integration with the setting extends even to small details. For example, where glass meets stone
walls there is no metal frame; rather, the glass and its horizontal dividers were run into a caulked
recess in the stonework so that the stone walls appear uninterrupted by glazing. From the
cantilevered living room, a stairway leads directly down to the stream below, and in a connecting
space which connects the main house with the guest and servant level, a natural spring drips
water inside, which is then channeled back out. Bedrooms are small, some with low ceilings to
encourage people outward toward the open social areas, decks, and outdoors.
Driveway leading to the entrance of Fallingwater.

Bear Run and the sound of its water permeate the house, especially during the spring when the
snow is melting, and locally quarried stone walls and cantilevered terraces resembling the nearby
rock formations are meant to be in harmony. The design incorporates broad expanses of
windows and balconies which reach out into their surroundings. The staircase leading down from
the living room to the stream (mentioned above) is accessed via movable horizontal glass panes.
In conformance with Wright's views, the main entry door is away from the falls.

On the hillside above the main house stands a four-bay carport, servants' quarters, and a guest
house. These attached outbuildings were built two years later using the same quality of materials
and attention to detail as the main house. The guest quarters feature a spring-fed swimming pool
which overflows and drains to the river below.

Wright had planned in the beginning to have the house blend in to its natural settings in rural
Pennsylvania.[24] In doing this he limited his color choices to two colors. The colors he chose were
light ochre for the concrete and his signature Cherokee red for the steel.[25]

After Fallingwater was deeded to the public, three carport bays were enclosed at the direction of
Kaufmann, Jr., to be used by museum visitors to view a presentation at the end of their guided
tours on the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (to which the home was entrusted). Kaufmann,
Jr. designed its interior himself, to specifications found in other Fallingwater interiors by Wright.

Repair work[edit]

The cantilevers at Fallingwater.

The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy conducted an intensive program to preserve and
restore Fallingwater. From 1988, a New York City-based architecture and engineering firm was
responsible for the materials conservation of Fallingwater. During this time the firm reviewed
original construction documents and subsequent repair reports, evaluated conditions and
problems, analyzed select materials, designed the re-roofing and re-waterproofing of roofs and
terraces, specified the restoration for original steel casement windows and doors, reconstructed
failed concrete reconstructions, restored the masonry, analyzed interior paint finishes, specified
interior paint removal methods and re-painting, designed repair methods for concrete and stucco,
and developed a new coating system for the concrete.

Given the humid environment directly over running water, mold had proven to be a problem. The
elder Kaufmann called Fallingwater "a seven-bucket building" for its leaks, and nicknamed it
"Rising Mildew".[26] Condensation under roofing membranes was also an issue, due to the lack
of damp proofing or thermal breaks.[27]

Fallingwater's structural system includes a series of very bold reinforced concrete cantilevered
balconies which had problems from the beginning. Pronounced deflection of the concrete
cantilevers was noticed as soon as formwork was removed at the construction stage. This
deflection continued to increase over time, and eventually reached 7 inches (over a 15-foot
span).

Miniature replica of the Fallingwater building atMRRV, Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh

In 1995, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy commissioned a study of Fallingwaters

structural integrity. Structural engineers analyzed the movement of the cantilevers over time and
conducted radar studies of the cantilevers to locate and quantify the reinforcement. These
showed that the contractor had indeed added reinforcement over Wright's plan; nevertheless, the
cantilevers were still insufficiently reinforced. A 2002 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer's
magazine credits engineering graduate student John Paul Huguley with discovering Wright's
miscalculation in 1994; architecture firm Robert Silman Associates of New York was hired to fix
the problem.[28] In fact, both the concrete and its steel reinforcement were close to their failure
limits. As a result, in 1997, temporary girders were installed beneath the cantilevers to carry their
weight.[29]
In 2002, the structure was repaired permanently using post-tensioning. The living room's
flagstone floor's blocks were individually tagged and removed. Blocks were joined to the concrete
cantilever beams and floor joists, high-strength steel cables were fed through the blocks and
exterior concrete walls, and then the cables were tightened using jacks. The floors and walls
were then restored, leaving Fallingwaters interior and exterior appearance unchanged. The
cantilevers now had sufficient support, and the deflection stopped.[30]

Depictions in popular culture[edit]

Fallingwater inspired the fictional Vandamm residence at Mount Rushmore in the 1959 Alfred
Hitchcock film North by Northwest.[31]
Fallingwater inspired the architecture and the "carrot juice" waterfall of Bugs Bunny's
mansion in the 1979 compilation film The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Movie.
Composer Michael Daugherty's 2013 concerto for violin and string orchestra, "Fallingwater,"
was inspired by the house.[32]
The design of Fallingwater was used by Gerry Anderson and Derek Meddings in
designing Thunderbirds' base of Tracy Island, specifically the main house.