Our hotel offered a free continental breakfast – which in my experience amounts to pastries, toast, cereal, yoghurt, fruit, tea and coffee. In America, that appears to extend to at least bacon, eggs and sausage and in this hotel, home fries and waffles. So after a hearty breakfast, we jumped back in the car and headed back into the Appalachians on some backroads (finally as we headed towards Fallingwater- There was a light dusting of snow through the autumn landscape and we saw our first wild life (apart from the subway squirrel (rat) in New York) – a deer wandering through the forest at the entrance. We entered the visitor’s centre with great anticipation. It too was well designed – built in the 80s it belied its time – a floating pavilion constructed of pine echoing the infamous mantra of Glen Murcutt – touch this earth lightly.
Our guide described the history and the place Fallingwater held for its owners. The property started life as a summer camp and in the early 20th century the Kauffmans, owners of a renowned Pittsburgh department store, decided to make the property a holiday home. Their son, who had studied under Frank Lloyd Wright in New York, suggested they contract the infamous architect to design it. As we rounded a bend through the forest, the iconic structure came into view. It was magnificent and has been looked after really well in the years since. I urge anyone who is a fan of this house to visit. It is only through walking through the spaces that you can truly appreciate the spatial genius and the flow through the house, the capture of views from almost every room, and the details – the attention to detail is phenomenal from the calculated pattern of the rough cut sandstone to build the hearth and the walls to the shelves and windows. The most photographed view is only part of the story – sure there is a waterfall that runs under the house (which inspired me as a 10-year-old to design a house with water flowing through it) but there is much more to this house and the landscape around it than that one view.
Over the years, most of my concentration had been on the house itself but the insights we got into the interiors was mind-blowing. Wright had designed a home with open plan living spaces and glass windows framing the views in the 1930s. The storage – built in wardrobes and shelving units – provided visual continuity and functionality as well as making sure not to spoil the views. For me though it was the small details – the rounded edges of the shelves, the sandstone detailing and the designed objects that impressed. I’m with Mrs Kauffman on his dining chairs – they looked uncomfortable but I am not sure her Tuscan dining chairs were an improvement. I was, though, really impressed with the bedside lamp he designed. Two halves of a wooden square extrusion with detailing and a translucent full square extrusion behind. Turned with the full translucent side it provided a powerful reading light. Turned the other way the translucent light escaping from around the wooden shade provided a functional and sophisticated night light.
We took the in-depth tour – there are only two a day. This tour is longer and is one of the few that allows photography inside the house. It was well worth it. We started in the kitchen which was small and furnished of its time but with a view that would make anyone happy to cook. We ventured down into the basement which was unremarkable but which gave you a good sense of the house construction into the bedrock and how the cantilever system worked. We then ventured into the sitting room which included some contemporary furniture designed by local students specifically for the house. [Cruel – Dropkick Murphys – you knew there was going to be quite a bit of Dropkick Murphys on this trip. This track, which sounds like it could be played in a Munich beer hall where people are swaying with steins is an easy listen.]
The next stop was the most magnificent of the tour – the main living and dining room with an expansive view out to the forest. As far as possible, Wright dispensed with vertical pillars in the windows, especially in the corners to ensure uninterrupted views. Modern builders, who could do this much more easily, should take notes. From here it was out on to the two balconies off the living room, a look downstairs to a small pool and upstairs to the bedrooms, including Mr Kauffman’s private room and study where Wright learned a valuable lesson in compromising to suit the client. Wright had constructed a desk that slipped into the corner, behind an opening full length window that allowed the breeze in. Mr Kauffman advised that the desk needed to be bigger. After a stand-off that lasted a few months, Kauffman advised Wright that the desk may not be big enough for him to open his chequebook. Wright swiftly came up with a solution that involved cutting a quarter circle wedge from the desk to allow the window to open. Our guide seemed to think it was an elegant solution. I don’t agree. I think there are many other solutions Wright could have come up with and this was probably about thumbing his nose at Mr Kauffman.
From here we went up to the added on quarters for the Kauffman’s son that sit above the main house connected by a covered walkway. Here too there were adjustments made by those who lived in the house but Wright’s design adapted well. The Kauffman’s son swapped the bedroom and the sitting room to give himself a larger sitting room and so the bedroom took advantage of a splendid view over the house. From there we entered the carports (now turned into a space for the end of the tour where the preservation society asked for donations. They weren’t pushy about it – they just left it at that. From here we wandered the grounds, took a photo at the obligatory, well sign posted, spot and visited the gift shop (t-shirts and post cards procured). All up we spent more than three hours at Fallingwater so we jumped in the car and headed back to the airport to make our connection to Miami for the next, warmer, phase of our adventure.
When flying domestically on Delta in the US, there are a few things to remember – 1) in most cases checked bags cost more – $25 a bag, 2) the boarding time is 45 minutes before the flight, and 3) every flight goes through Atlanta. Not paying close attention to number two, we ordered food and then had to abandon our paid for order before it showed. Number one was relatively painless and number three was just annoying. Eventually, after a delayed connection in Atlanta, we arrived in hot, humid Miami around midnight. We grabbed a cab from the airport to our (very basic) airport hotel. I had thoughts of finding the laundry but in the end just fell dead asleep. [She Talks to Rainbows – The Ramones – one of their few ballads a- a bit of an oddity – from 1995’s aptly titled Adios Amigos].
US states – 4, t-shirts – 3, fridge magnets – 1
