Designed in 1935 by Frank Lloyd Wright, construction on Falling Water did not start until 1936, and ended in 1939, with the completion of the guest house. The Kaufmann family had a great love for the water fall on Bear Run. Frank Lloyd Wright mimicked the rock face cliffs in his design of the home. Wright placed the house over the waterfall on Bear Run on a series of concrete tray or cantilevers. The concrete used in the construction of the home was made of the same Pottsville sandstone, as the rock ledges. The home has almost as much floor space of outdoor terraces as interior space. Falling Water stands almost thirty feet over the falls. The use of low ceilings and lots of horizontal lin

The Kaufmann family used Falling Water as a year round vacation spot from the time it was built in 1939 until the 1950’s. In the 1950’s Edgar Kaufmann, jr. inherited the home from his parents. Coincidently Edgar Kaufmann, jr. was the person who introduced his parents to Frank Lloyd Wright. Edgar Kaufmann, jr. was a young architect studying under Wright in the early 1930’s, like most promising young architects. He continued to use the home as a vacation retreat.

“There in a beautiful forest was a solid, high rock ledge rising beside a waterfall, and the natural thing seemed to be to cantilever the house from the rock bank over the falling water… Then came (of course) Mr. Kaufmann’s love for the beautiful site. He loved the site where the house was built and liked to listen to the waterfall. So that was a prime motive in the design . I think that you can hear the waterfall when you look at the design. At least it is there, and he lives intimately with the thing he loves.” -Frank Lloyd Wright in an interview with Hugh Downs, 1954.(WPC: Falling Water)

In 1935 Frank Lloyd Wright designed not just a vacation home for the Kaufmann family he designed a benchmark for future architects. There are few houses in the entire world that bring man and the environment in which we live together in such harmony. Falling Water is by far one of the most extraordinary homes ever designed and built.

Some topics in this essay:
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