Doreen and I had been planning a trip to Pittsburgh for quite a while. Doreen had an Urban Parks Conference there, and my sister and brother in law live there. So it was nice that I was able to go up for the weekend and it was especially nice because we didn’t have any power.
Doreen has always been a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright (me, less so) and Falling Water is his masterpiece that is within driving distance of Pittsburgh.
So Frank and Mel agreed to go with us to visit the house.
The place was finished in 1939 at the cost of $8,000. And it is truly spectacular.
It was built as the summer retreat for the Kaufmanns, a rich department store family from Pittsburgh. They owned about 1,800 acres, and jr (sic) their son had started working with Frank. Wright came to the site and acgreed to do the work.
I won’t go into the whole history, you can get that elsewhere. But the details and the setting of the place are well worth seeing. If you ever get a chance to visit, you should not pass it up.
Some water leaks right into the house:
The place has about 8,000 square feet inside and out. It was a cottage, not a mansion:
Window detail:
Nice view of the cantilevered porch:
Here we all are:
After Falling Water, we drove to Ohiopyle, a fast spot in the Youghiogheny River. It is also very beautiful.
I walked across this bridge!
It was scary:
Then we went back to Pittsburgh.
It was a very nice visit.
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