Falling Water

By Dustin Stoll


During my time as an undergraduate at SIUC I have had the opportunity to go on many different field trips. One of the most memorable of those trips was the one that I went on with Professor Davey’s Architectural History II class. The trip was a three day adventure which I will never forget. Even though most of the three days consisted of riding on a bus with 50 other students, the three destinations we visited were more than worth it.

For this blog, I will only write about the first of the three places that we visited, which was Falling Water; located in Mill Run, PA. If you are not familiar with Falling Water, let me give you a brief history. Falling Water was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, for the Kauffman family in 1936. The home was to be the wealthy family’s rural retreat, and would later become One of Wrights most recognizable works.

Some of the most recognizable features of the house are its large cantilevers, and also the fact that it is built directly on top of a waterfall. I have viewed many photos of this house, but they really do not do it justice. It is absolutely breathe taking how well it fits into its surroundings. I liked the interior of the house even better than the exterior, but they did not allow us to photograph the interior. One memorable feature of the interior was its low ceiling height. People of greater height (over 6ft), do not feel overly comfortable in some of the rooms.