While in western Pennsylvania, we toured the Frank Lloyd Wright designed and built home called Falling Water.  It is unique in that it was built OVER a cascading stream and it incorporated large natural boulders into the house.

The land was already owned by the Kaufmann family from nearby Pittsburgh.  They had been using it for several years as a vacation spot and knew of the area where the stream cascaded over rocks.  They usually camped and stayed very near that spot.

They commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build a more permanent and elegant vacation home.  Wright walked the area with the Kaufmann’s and envisioned a home that would incorporate a lot of natural materials from the area as well as provide lots of views of the stream and forest.

The Kaufmann’s expected to spend $20-30K on this vacation home, a large sum of money in 1935.  When they saw Wright’s design and plans, they knew this home would be very special.  When Wright said it would cost more they said ok.  It ended up costing over $150K!

The home consisted of a main house with 3 levels plus a staircase down from the primary level right to the stream at the top of the cascades along with a guest house.  It also included servants quarters for 4 servants and a carport that would hold 9 cars.  A caretaker and a gardener lived nearby fulltime.

Wright not only designed the house, he designed and built most of the furniture.

As you look at the photos below, each one has a description