Fallingwater featured in PBS’ ’10 Homes That Changed America’
Fallingwater, the Mill Run landmark that attracts visitors from throughout the world, will be featured in a new PBS television series that debuts at 8 p.m. today.
Fallingwater is in an episode of “10 That Changed America,” highlighting “architecturally adventuresome dwellings, which provided Americans with more than just a ‘roof over their heads’ — these homes elevated living to an art form,” according to the PBS website.
The “10 Homes” program includes a look at Fallingwater, the masterpiece of Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s most famous architect, that was built in the 1930s as a weekend retreat for Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar Kaufmann Sr. and his family.
Operated today as a museum by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Fallingwater, known as the house built over a waterfall, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966, named the best all-time work of American architecture in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects and ranked 29th on the list of American’s Favorite Architecture in 2007.
The Fallingwater segment in “10 That Changed America” includes Lynda Waggoner, vice president and director, showing off and explaining the history of the property.
Waggoner said in a written statement, “The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy was delighted to have Fallingwater included in ’10 Homes that Changed America.’ Admired the world over, Fallingwater has been recognized as one of the most significant examples of 20th-century architecture from the time of its creation.”
She continued, “I think this is because it speaks to people from all walks of life and in different ways — to one it captures an almost primordial desire to be at one — in harmony — with the natural world, to another it is an astonishing architectural and engineering achievement, but to almost everyone there is a profound visceral response to the house. In Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright achieved the consummate example of what he called “organic architecture” in which the lines between a building’s interior and the outdoors are blurred. In the end, that blurring became one of the primary features of modern architecture.”
In addition to Fallingwater, the 10 homes include Taos Pueblo in Taos, N.M.; Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Albermarle County, Va., Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, N.Y.; The Tenement in New York City, N.Y.; The Gamble House in Pasadena, Calif.; Langston Terrace Dwellings in Washington, D.C.; Eames House in Pacific Palisades, Calif.; Marina City in Chicago, Ill.; and Glidehouse in Novato, Calif.
The show is part of a series that includes highlights parks, towns and buildings.