Fallingwater


Francisco Ferrer

Recommended Posts

The Fountainhead, p. 610:

The Wynand house stood on the hill above them. The earth spread out in terraced flights and rose gradually to make the elevation of the hill. The house was a shape of horizontal rectangles rising toward a slashing vertical projection; a group of diminishing setbacks, each a separate room, its size and form making the successive steps in a series of interlocking floor lines. It was as if from the wide living room on the first level a hand had moved slowly, shaping the next steps by a sustained touch, then had stopped, had continued in separate movements, each shorter, brusquer, and had ended, torn off, remaining somewhere in the sky. So that it seemed as if the slow rhythm of the rising fields had been picked up, stressed, accelerated and broken into the staccato chords of the finale.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Fountainhead, p. 610:

The Wynand house stood on the hill above them. The earth spread out in terraced flights and rose gradually to make the elevation of the hill. The house was a shape of horizontal rectangles rising toward a slashing vertical projection; a group of diminishing setbacks, each a separate room, its size and form making the successive steps in a series of interlocking floor lines. It was as if from the wide living room on the first level a hand had moved slowly, shaping the next steps by a sustained touch, then had stopped, had continued in separate movements, each shorter, brusquer, and had ended, torn off, remaining somewhere in the sky. So that it seemed as if the slow rhythm of the rising fields had been picked up, stressed, accelerated and broken into the staccato chords of the finale.

I think Fallingwater also influenced Rand in Anthem--it was depicted on the cover of Time magazine

--Brant

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Fountainhead, p. 610:

The Wynand house stood on the hill above them. The earth spread out in terraced flights and rose gradually to make the elevation of the hill. The house was a shape of horizontal rectangles rising toward a slashing vertical projection; a group of diminishing setbacks, each a separate room, its size and form making the successive steps in a series of interlocking floor lines. It was as if from the wide living room on the first level a hand had moved slowly, shaping the next steps by a sustained touch, then had stopped, had continued in separate movements, each shorter, brusquer, and had ended, torn off, remaining somewhere in the sky. So that it seemed as if the slow rhythm of the rising fields had been picked up, stressed, accelerated and broken into the staccato chords of the finale.

Thank you.

The designer of the architectural plans for the 1949 film (an excellent work, in my opinion) also picked up on Fallingwater's "slashing vertical projection" and cantilevered terrace:

fountainhead-roark-16-residence-plan.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We toured Fallingwater in 2004. Upkeep and maintenance are financed through a fiduciary foundation. The place fell into disrepair for some years when no one lived in it. Then it was rescued. The rooms are spacious. The views are wonderful. Beautiful as it is, it is plagued with engineering problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe there was a major reconstruction, especially of the cantilevers. I don't think "plagued with engineering problems" is a correct preset-day description. If it is then they screwed up when they renovated it. Anyway, the interesting question is how much current and past problems are/were the fault of the architect. They originally used twice the structural steel specified by Wright in critical areas. I never read anything to the effect that had a bad effect on the structure. The contractor made the basic mistake of not compensating for the inevitable droop of the cantilevers because of weight. I wonder if that was corrected by the recent work.

During WWII the building was dirtied by coal burning freight trains running nearby, behind. I don't remember if I saw the old tracks when I climbed up the slope after the tour. There was a dirt road. I probably didn't go far enough to see any rr roadbed or tracks. I remember those steam-engined freight trains from their running at speed by the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Columbus when I was a boy over 60 years ago as my paternal grandparents took me there on Saturdays--granddad was a retired elder-preacher of the Church--and how much I loved that. When I went back two years ago the tracks were still there, but hardly used.

--Brant

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, Francisco. Beautiful, but I think it must be a younger person's house because of the steps. Though I could handle them now, when I am older would I abandon all but one level? I don't mean to be a downer but that is the second thing I thought of.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Franklin Toker says in Fallingwater Rising that Rand kept a copy of the 1938 Time cover story(login required) mentioned in #6 for the rest of her life. He also recounts that the Museum of Modern Art had an exhibition on the house in 1938 which, since she lived in New York and was an admirer, she may well have seen.

The Stoddard Temple seems to derive from Wright's autobiographical account of Unity Temple, a UU church in Oak Park IL, amply documented on the web, and Enright House from the St. Mark's Tower. The latter was never built, but a drawing of it appears in the autobiography.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Franklin Toker says in Fallingwater Rising that Rand kept a copy of the 1938 Time cover story(login required) mentioned in #6 for the rest of her life. He also recounts that the Museum of Modern Art had an exhibition on the house in 1938 which, since she lived in New York and was an admirer, she may well have seen.

The Stoddard Temple seems to derive from Wright's autobiographical account of Unity Temple, a UU church in Oak Park IL, amply documented on the web, and Enright House from the St. Mark's Tower. The latter was never built, but a drawing of it appears in the autobiography.

But 30 years later out of St. Mark's came this Wright design:

http://www.wrightontheweb.net/flw8-15.htm

--Brant

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now