The house is a work of art: Frank Lloyd Wright

For the northeastern US folks and anyone willing to travel: the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH has not one but two Frank Lloyd Wright houses in its collection[0]. I’ve seen the Zimmerman House a couple of times, and it hews pretty close to the familiar aesthetic of Fallingwater: warm tones, lovely space, furniture to match.

The Kalil House I got to see recently, it’s the newer acquisition. It’s a Usonian Automatic, meaning the owner was meant to buy the plans and the molds for the concrete blocks, and the build it themselves. Long story short: it didn’t go exactly as planned.

The house is fascinating though: much of it is a concrete gray rather than the warmer tones we usually associate wiry Wright’s work. It feels less tied to the place it’s built than either the Zimmerman House or Fallingwater. It feels much less starkly architectural, and more connected to the way regular people live, more attainable, insofar as you can use that word with Wright. They also both have ceilings that work with taller people. Fallingwater is downright claustrophobic in places.

Highly worth the trip if you’re in the area.

And if you’re in the area of Fallingwater, Kentucky Knob is basically right there. If you’ve travelled more than a few hours to see Fallingwater, you’d be nuts to miss it.

[0] https://www.currier.org/frank-lloyd-wright

Fallingwater is more than work of art, it is a religious experience. I visited it three times (each time my visit to Pittsburgh and the area surrounding the house was to specifically see it) and every damn time I stood weeping leaving the tour.

If you ever visit Taliesin in Wisconsin (which has a pretty bland), you should also visit the nearby House on the Rock which is a fascinating and very weird collection of esoteric and kitschy items.

The contrast in attitudes and aesthetics between the two is incredibly stark, and it's very interesting to see the reactions of visitors to each location.

If you'd like, you can still speak to the last living client (as of last year) of FLW; still living in the house the architect designed for him:

https://alumni.cornell.edu/cornellians/reisley-wright-last-c...

https://archive.org/details/frank-lloyd-wright-ken-burns

Fallingwater has just gone through a series of renovations and all areas are now accessible. If you haven't seen it yet, now is a great time.

As student I had privilege of visiting Taliesin West in Arizona. Easily my favorite architect, a true artist.

If you haven't visited falling water, definitely go. It's American architecture at its finest.

I'm sad that we're coming up towards 100 years on from Fallingwater being built, and yet the American preference for new houses of a similar price (after inflation) is the sort of awful stuff that shows up on mcmansionhell.com.