Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright

Fallingwater is a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright nestled in the woods in Pennsylvania. I have wanted to visit this house for a while to check out this amazing piece of history and architecture. My curiosity was piqued when I started collecting Lego Architecture sets and Falling Water was one of the sets you could purchase. Finally, this past birthday, Brad special ordered the Lego set (it has been discontinued) so we booked a trip down to PA. My rule is that I won't build the set until I see the real thing, so I was excited to finally make it down.

After hearing for years about the house, I was worried that I was going to be let down by all the hype. But I was wrong. The house, now a museum, is stunning in real life. Sure, it has weathered some storms but the bloody thing was built in 1935, give it a break.

We did the Sunset tour which was about 2 hours long and allowed us full access to the main house, all levels and the guest house. It even included some snacks at the end which were quite delicious, a selection of hummus, cheeses, baked brie. Very good. The full tour also lets you take photos. So I snapped away, I still don't think the photos do it justice.

I have visited two other FLW properties, the Imperial Hotel in Japan (which now resides in an outdoor museum) and Taliesin West in Phoenix. This house by far is the most stunning in my mind. The house is built hovering over a stream and then a waterfall. 

Many things have been written about this house, so I'll just give some of my highlights:

• The fact that there are stairs that you can enter the stream from the living room is just dreamy. I thought that was just the coolest thing.
• The grand room is so much bigger than I expected, actually the entire house is so much bigger on the inside than I thought it would be.
• Stone and wood. Love love love. It is so cool how FLW brought the outside in. All the furniture was also designed by FLW. I dig it.
• It is amazing how some of the house looks so modern, then you realize it is the 1930's. I'm talking mainly about the bathroom mirrors. They are something you would buy now.
• The many terrace spaces are just so awesome. Especially when you are surrounded by the forest and the bubbling waterfall.
• It is a house for exploring. 
• The kitchen is so small, I'm not sure how the had huge parties with such a small kitchen. Maybe no one ate and they just drank.
• From the guest house the overhang was cantilevered out, so amazing. Unobstructed view from inside. 

As a sidenote, we had Roxanne as our tour guide and she was fabulous. It is great when you have someone who has a passion for what they are talking about guiding you around.

Check out Fallingwater on Wikipedia. Visit the Fallingwater official site at fallingwater.org.