Fallingwater Friday : Spring showers

As spring showers melt away the memory of winter's cold and snow, a way to enjoy this time of year is with rain chains, a decorative and practical alternative to downspouts.

In Japan, rain chains have been have been used for centuries. The Japanese concept of the rain chain is called Kusari Doi; a beautiful way of guiding water from your gutter or roof to a container or barrel. As part of the adaptive reuse of the Barn at Fallingwater, copper rain chains were installed at each primary entrance to the building allowing visitors to enjoy the soothing sound and sight of water gently flowing down from the roof.

“Weather is omnipresent and buildings must be left out in the rain,” said Frank Lloyd Wright in1957, and while he did not use eaves or downspouts at Fallingwater, they were not unknown to his work. He designed a rain chain for Auldbrass Plantation, the Leigh Stevens property in Yemassee, South Carolina that suggests the Spanish moss common on trees in the area.

For rain chain purchases and additional information about the new book, Auldbrass: Frank Lloyd Wright's Southern Plantation by David G. Delong, contact the museum shop.

Image by Clinton Piper, Museum Programs Assistant.

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