Erica Levi Zelinger 2017-03-24 16:53:34
Fallingwater, Mill Run NO HOUSE SHOULD EVER BE ON A HILL OR ON ANYTHING. IT SHOULD BE OF THE HILL. BELONGING TO IT. HILL AND HOUSE SHOULD LIVE TOGETHER EACH THE HAPPIER FOR THE OTHER. —FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT Architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright believed, is life. It was that sentiment — the theory that organic buildings can be embedded in the natural world but still respect the environment in which they are married to — that allowed Wright to coin the term “organic architecture,” the spiritual union of form and function, the harmony of a building and its backdrop, and an understanding and appreciation for local topography. It was also this philosophy that made Wright such a visionary. To mark the 150th anniversary of the avant-garde architect’s birth and his more than 500 construction contributions to the design world, Pennsylvania’s trifecta of Frank Lloyd Wright homes celebrate the man the American Institute of Architects recognized as “the greatest American architect of all time.” Special events at Fallingwater in Mill Run, Kentuck Knob in Chalk Hill, and the Duncan House in Acme will commemorate the prolific architect and show visitors how a wooded wilderness, a rushing stream, and a nature reserve merge seamlessly with these Laurel Highlands homes to bring the outside in. Polymath Park, Acme Fallingwater, Mill Run FALLINGWATER Edgar Kaufmann envisioned a modern weekend house with a view of the waterfall on Bear Run, a mountain stream in the Laurel Highlands, southeast of Pittsburgh. The owner of the namesake Pittsburgh department store and his wife Liliane, tastemakers of modern art and design, commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a home that would pay tribute to their beloved mountain locale. Wright dramatically cantilevered the house over the falls because, as he explained, “I want you to live with the waterfall, not just to look at it, but for it to become an integral part of your lives.” Place the house directly over a liquid piano, Wright said, “where forest and stream and rock and all the elements of structure are combined so quietly that really you listen not to any noise whatsoever… but you listen to Fallingwater the way you listen to the quiet of the country.” No matter the number of images one has seen of Wright’s tour de force, it is a marvel to walk to the house from the visitors center and first to hear Bear Run nourishing the surroundings, but then to see it: Fallingwater, as it hovers above a 30-foot waterfall. From the outside, the house appears to merge with the hillside, framed with native rhododendron, but it is the tour that leaves a profound impact — a glimpse into Wright’s genius. Wright determined the height of the main floor by using Kaufmann’s favorite boulder — originally a favored spot for lying in the sun and listening to the falls. The stone became Wright’s focal point for the home’s living room and hearth. Floating horizontal levels inserted among rock ledges give way to private terraces, uniting the vistas outside with the quarried stone walls within. Cornerless windows, some opening outward, magically erase any visual barriers to the outdoors. Completed in 1939, Fallingwater was budgeted at $40,000 but ultimately cost $155,000 to construct, including Wright’s handcrafted built-in furniture. His architect’s fee: $8,000. According to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which owns Fallingwater, the masterpiece is the only major Wright work to come into the public domain with its setting, original furnishings, and artwork intact. More than 5.5 million people have toured Fallingwater since it opened to the public in 1963, permitting the work of art disguised as a house to be shared by all. (1) KENTUCK KNOB Inspired by their friends’ home, Fallingwater, Isaac Newton (I.N.) Hagan and his wife Bernardine, owners of Hagan Ice Cream Company in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, commissioned Wright to build the “child of Fallingwater.” They, like the Kaufmanns, wanted a home at the edge of a hilltop with a panoramic view of the Youghiogheny River Gorge. But, as he’d done seven miles away in Bear Run, Wright tucked this hexagonal structure built of tidewater red cypress and native fieldstone into the land so it appears to sprout more organically from the natural landscape. Named for the 2,050-foot hill on which it sits, Kentuck Knob is a grand Usonian, a type of architecture created for the then-emerging middle class and producing a spacious feeling despite a smaller square footage. Like Fallingwater, Kentuck Knob also connects its inhabitants to the environment through large windows with flowerbeds, skylights framed by trees, and a back wall of windows showcasing its position in the landscape. British baron Lord Palumbo purchased the home from the Hagans in 1986. Lord Palumbo brought to the woodlands and grounds around the property an impressive sculpture collection, including works by Andy Goldsworthy, Sir Anthony Caro, and George Rickey. (2) DUNCAN HOUSE It took nearly a year to put it back together — one board at a time. The Duncan House, a Wright-designed home that spent its first 50 years in Lisle, Illinois, was dismantled, packed up, and brought to its resting place at Polymath Park Resort in Acme, owned by local contractor Tom Papinchak and his wife Heather. The wooded architectural park in the Laurel Highlands was already home to two Wright-inspired houses built in the 1960s by his apprentice Peter Berndtson. What was to become a Laurel Highlands summer retreat with numerous Usonian homes — a type of middle-class housing named after the United States of North America — never came to fruition for Berndtson. But in 2007, when the Duncan House was transported to the forested setting and rebuilt on site near Berndtson’s Blum and Balter houses, Polymath Park became a fullfledged tribute to Wright’s minimalist principles. Tours take you through all three homes, but if a guided visit doesn’t feel like enough time to appreciate the way Wright’s designs bring the outside in, then “go Wright ahead” and stay the night. The Duncan House is one of only seven Wright homes to offer overnight stays. (You can rest your weary head at the Blum and Balter houses, too.) Wake to see the sunrise from the windows across the back of the house — a reminder of the renowned architect’s concept of organic architecture: “the strength and lightness of the spiders’ spinning, buildings qualified by light, bred by native character to environment, married to the ground.” (3) Beth Sholom Synagogue, Elkins Park HOUSE OF PEACE Enter the sacred space of the Beth Sholom Synagogue in Elkins Park to explore the only synagogue designed by Frank Lloyd Wright — a place he described as a “luminous Mount Sinai.” This pyramidal, Mayan Revival-style structure seamlessly combines the design aesthetics of ancient temples with modern geometric shapes and eye-catching, metallic tones of bronze and steel. During the day, sunlight filters through the translucent fiberglass walls, filling the space with softly diffused natural light, and at night, the synagogue illuminates from within — a glowing beacon in the darkness. (4) GO VISIT 1 To commemorate 150 years since Frank Lloyd Wright’s birth, Fallingwater will celebrate with an exhibition and lecture series during the 2017 season. Details and tickets are available at fallingwater.org or by calling 724-329-8501. 2 In honor of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th Birthday Year, Kentuck Knob is planning Farm-to-Table Dinners from June through September. For more information and ticket purchases for tours and Farm-to-Table Dinners, visit kentuckknob.com or call 724-329-1901. 3 To tour or spend the night at a Frank Lloyd Wright home, visit franklloydwrightovernight.net or call 877-833-7829. 4 Explore the National Historic Landmark synagogue with a tour on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, or take a virtual tour at bethsholompreservation.org.
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