Fallingwater, Historic house museum in Stewart Township, Pennsylvania, United States.
Fallingwater is a modern residence with three levels and horizontal lines, extending with asymmetrically arranged terraces over the Bear Run waterfall. It was constructed using steel reinforced concrete, local stone, wood, and brick.
Frank Lloyd Wright designed the house between 1934 and 1935 for the Kaufmann family as a weekend retreat, completed in 1939. The building marked a turning point in modern residential architecture.
The house's name comes from its site above the upper falls of Bear Run, and Wright placed the main living floor so the stair to the stream descends beside the water. Edgar Kaufmann Jr. gave the house to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in 1963, and the family mausoleum on the grounds has doors designed by Alberto Giacometti.
Fallingwater stands near Pennsylvania Route 381 between Ohiopyle and Mill Run, about 72 miles southeast of Pittsburgh; the visitor pavilion and the Barn at Fallingwater lie roughly 0.25 miles from the main house. Paths run through the grounds, including one to the waterfall, and the stream sometimes freezes in winter and dries up in summer. The multi-level house is not wheelchair accessible.
The building cantilevers directly over a natural waterfall, allowing residents to hear the constant sound of falling water. The interior spaces are designed so that the boundary between inside and outside blurs.
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