Fallingwater, Mill Run: the house on the waterfall, furnished with it

A house set on a waterfall rather than across from it. In Pennsylvania, Frank Lloyd Wright built the icon of organic architecture for the Kaufmanns, and furnished it himself, down to the benches.

A department store, a waterfall

Edgar J. Kaufmann, owner of a Pittsburgh department store, wanted a house with a view of the falls. Wright, close to seventy, set it on top of them. The house was built from 1936 to 1937, the guest house followed in 1939. The cantilevered terraces sagged from the outset; a post-tensioning stabilised them in 2002. Given by Edgar Kaufmann Jr. to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in 1963, Fallingwater was inscribed by UNESCO in 2019.

What you see there

Sandstone quarried on site, laid in irregular courses, and a boulder left in place before the hearth. The steel joinery painted Cherokee red, the ochre concrete. And furniture almost entirely built in: banquettes, low tables, shelves and desks in black walnut veneer, drawn by Wright to become one with the walls. The seats sit low; the house has kept the Kaufmanns' objects.

What it teaches

That a piece drawn with the room need not draw attention to itself. A banquette running beneath a window, a table extending a low wall: the seat height is set to that of the sills. Useful to anyone hesitating between a bulky sofa and built-in seating.

Visiting

The house can be seen on a guided tour, by reservation, for much of the year.

Spotted a low seat with horizontal lines in an interior? Scan it on Beyit: designer, edition, value.