YOU HEAR Fallingwater long before you see it. This should come as little surprise, given the house's name and its position over the cascade of a rushing stream, but it surprised me nonetheless. I had traveled to the Pennsylvania home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright with my architect brother Ben. As Wright followers, we'd dreamed of making this pilgrimage since we were kids.
When the two of us approached the house, the sound of the brook bubbled up the curving, tree-shrouded driveway that preceded our first glimpse of the building just as Wright intended. This slow reveal is exactly what his client, the retail tycoon Edgar J. Kaufmann, would have seen when the home was completed in 1937.
When the building eventually came into view, at the end of the long path, it was almost unrecognizable-even for a Wright obsessive like me. Ben and I found ourselves more than a bit disoriented by the masterpiece we thought we knew so well from photographs. In images of the house-starting with a cover of Time magazine in 1938, where a drawing of it was shown in the background of a portrait of Wright-the building appears to teeter and tower over the falls, its terraces pinwheeling out from a four-story column. But seen through the trees, Fallingwater at first looked long and low. Its stacked-sandstone walls and the wings of its impressively cantilevered concrete terraces all extended outward. It felt hunkered down in the hillside-reaching horizontally, rather than stretching skyward.
Wright was too smart to give away the perfect view that early, as are the curators who maintain the home today (and have since 1964, when it became the first house from the Modernist movement to open as a museum). This surprising sleight of hand, Ben and I learned on our tour, was just the first of many tricks Wright deployed in his design.
Esta historia es de la edición November 2022 de Travel+Leisure US.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición November 2022 de Travel+Leisure US.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
OUR PORTUGUESE ADVENTURE
Small plates in Lisbon, fancy soaps in Porto, sandcastles on the beaches of the Algarve... Jessamine Chan and her family fall for a country with something for everyone.
Note Perfect
For centuries, the Italian town of Cremona has been home to the great instrument makers, and its streets continue to ring with music. For Julie Orringer, a family trip becomes a master class in the power of travel.
CREST of the WAVE
On France's rugged Basque Coast, old-school glamour meets shaggy surf culture-and creates an irresistible mix.
Turkish Delight
A major waterfront revitalization project in Istanbul is giving visitors-and locals-a reason to stroll and stay awhile.
Out of the Box
How an Austrian ski and spa town landed on the European art circuit.
Breaking Away
Finding solitude on a peaceful island in the Pacific Northwest.
Wrocław Reborn
After being decimated in World War II, this Polish city has risen from the ashes. On a quest for family roots, Laura Moser discovers a vital cultural crossroads.
It Takes a Village
In the canyons of northern Greece, the people of the Zagorohoria are cementing their home as a playground for outdoor enthusiasts. Eleni N. Gage shares their story.
Explore One of Europe's Coolest Capitals: Tallinn
AFTER EMERGING FROM the intense heat of the sauna, I ran across a wooden deck and plunged into the brisk Baltic Sea. The cold pierced my skin from the soles of my feet upward, like ice water blanching a steamed vegetable. When I surfaced, my travel companions, who'd just done the same, were laughing so hard they could barely stay afloat.
Restore Your Body and Mind in Kyoto
WHEN VICKY TSAI visited Kyoto for the first time in 2008, she booked what she thought would be a simple facial.