Expert discusses Frank Lloyd Wright's masterwork Fallingwater Special

A foremost authority on Wright's Fallingwater, Lynda Waggoner delivered a lecture on the house she describes as a "nature poem." The home is also considered the "best all-time work of American architecture." Crystal Bridges Museum hosted the event.

While the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark. is under construction, Crystal Bridges at the Massey has opened in the interim. As part of Crystal Bridges' "Speaking of..." series, Fallingwater, architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s residential masterwork poised above a waterfall in Mill Run, Pa., was the subject of a lecture on Nov. 15. "Speaking of...American Architecture with Lynda Waggoner" was held at the Old High Middle School in Bentonville, Ark. Titled "Fallingwater: The Story of an American Icon," Waggoner spoke of Frank Lloyd Wright's masterwork, which was described as "one of America's most beloved buildings." Waggoner is the director of Fallingwater and the vice president of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. She is also the author of Fallingwater: Frank Lloyd Wright's Romance with Nature. In her book Waggoner describes Fallingwater as, a “nature poem” that galvanized Wright’s career. The commission came to Wright when he was 68, his career in decline as European architects promoted International Style “machines for living.” His daring embrace of nature at a site many architects would dismiss as un-buildable resulted in a home that was recognized as the “best all-time work of American architecture” by the American Institute of Architects in 1991. When I asked Dr. Richard Murie, 86, why he attended the lecture, he told me that he had been an admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright and his work for many years. While teaching chemistry at Lawrence Technological University from 1975 - 1993, Murie said that architecture was a "forte" of the university. Murie recalled that Wright's "Affleck House" was donated to Lawrence Tech in 1978. Moreover, around 1980, Murie and his wife Rosemary traveled to Mills Run, Pa. to visit Fallingwater. Murie told me that he was "impressed with the stream itself and the way the house mixed so well into the environment." Murie said:

It is a unique house and it would have to have a unique person to live in it and enjoy all the features. Being cement walls and stone is not something that all people would put up with or enjoy.

At the lecture, Waggoner noted that close to $4 million had been spent so far to refurbish, reconstruct, and repair Fallingwater, Murie said. What surprised him the most was the "settling and repair work that had to be done. There were 56 leaks in the house due to cement settling." Murie said the lecturer noted that small batches of cement were used in the initial construction of the house and small batches do not have good continuity. Moreover, miners and local farmers were hired to mix the cement and help with the construction that took place between 1936 and 1938. In a document handed-out at the event, it was noted that "In Fallingwater Wright expressed his love of the American landscape and his deep understanding of its archetypical forms. His ideal called for the house to be 'a noble consort to man and trees...to have repose and such texture as will quiet the whole and make it graciously one with nature.'"

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Fallingwater

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According to Murie, the auditorium was full and he estimated that 300 people attended Waggoner's lecture. He recalls her saying that around 150,000 people visit Fallingwater annually. Waggoner is regarded as one of the foremost authorities on Fallingwater. Her interest began when she was tour guide there during high school. She returned to Fallingwater after college and in 1985 became a curatorial consultant. According to the Crystal Bridges' press release, "Waggoner became the museum’s first full-time curator in 1986 and was named site administrator the following year; she was named director of Fallingwater in 1996."