Fallingwater Friday: Frank Lloyd Wright's Barrel Chair

Frank Lloyd Wright's highly recognizable Barrel Chair was originally designed in 1904, for the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo, New York. During Fallingwater's construction, on-site apprentice Edgar Tafel, now a member of the Fallingwater Advisory Committee, remembers driving out to Pittsburgh in 1936 for a site visit with Wright. On the way, Wright decided at the last minute to swing up to Buffalo to stop by the Martin House. After seeing the barrel chair again, Wright thought it could be adapted to Fallingwater for the dining area. However, the Kaufmanns instead chose a rustic Alpine chair, preferring to recall more of the casual graciousness particular to dining at a mountain retreat. Still believing in its design, Wright was able to use an adaptation of the barrel chair at Wingspread, the residence he designed for S.C. Johnson and Son's Herbert Johnson, where Tafel was acting as site superintendent in 1937.

The prototype chair, shown here, is still at Fallingwater. Produced of black walnut by the Gillen Woodworking Company of Milwaukee, its simple and graceful lines play quietly on Wright's semi-circular design motif that is used throughout the house.

Suggested Reading: Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and His Architecture

By Robert C. Twombly -- A complete biography based on a wide range of previously untapped primary sources, covering Wright's private life, architecture, and role in American society, culture, and politics. Available at the Fallingwater Museum Shop.

$39.95

Attention: High school and college students and teachers...
Spend a week this summer in residency at Fallingwater.

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