What Others Have Said About Fallingwater

Frank Lloyd Wright:

A building should grace its environment rather than disgrace it. Hugh Downs interview, 1952

There in a beautiful forest was a solid, high rock-ledge rising beside a waterfall, and the natural thing seemed to be to cantilever the house from that rock-bank over the falling water….Then came of course Mr. Kaufmann's love for the beautiful site. He loved the site where the house was built and liked to listen to the waterfall. So that was the prime motive in the design. I think you can hear the waterfall when you look at the design. At least it is there, and he lives intimately with the thing he loves. Hugh Downs interview, 1952

I want you to live with the waterfall, not just to look at it, but for it to become an integral part of your lives. Wright to the Kaufmanns, ca 1935

Fallingwater is a great blessing - one of the great blessings to be experienced here on earth, I think nothing yet ever equaled the coordination, sympathetic expression of the great principle of repose where forest and stream and rock and all the elements of structure are combined so quietly that really you listen not to any noise whatsoever although the music of the stream is there. But you listen to Fallingwater the way you listen to the quiet of the country..." talk to the Taliesin Fellowship, May 1, 1955

The Kaufmanns:

Living in a house built by you has been my one education - and for that and for the privilege of knowing you, I will always be grateful. Liliane S. Kaufmann to Frank Lloyd Wright

Edgar Kaufmann, jr., at the dedication ceremony marking his gift of Fallingwater to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, 1963:

Fallingwater's beauty remains fresh like that of the nature into which it fits.

House and site together form the very image of man's desire to be at one with nature, equal and wedded to nature.

Fallingwater was created by Frank Lloyd Wright as a declaration that in nature man finds his spiritual as well as his physical energies, that a harmonious response to nature yields the poetry and joy that nourish human living.

....it is a work by man for man, not by a man for a man.

The union of powerful art and powerful nature into something beyond the sum of their separate powers deserves to be kept living. As the waterfall of Bear Run needed the house to enter the realm of art, so the joint work of art, Fallingwater in its setting, needed the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy to enter a new life of public service…. I believe the Conservancy will give nature, the source, full due, and art, the human response to nature, full respect.

Fallingwater in its setting embodies a powerful ideal - that people today can learn to live in harmony with nature. Edgar Kaufmann, jr., exhibit text

Paul Goldberger, The New York Times:

Fallingwater does not disappoint; indeed, it reminds us with great urgency how there is no substitute for standing in front of a building, staring at it, touching it, sitting in it and feeling its blemishes and its strengths. Although this is one of the most widely known buildings in the history of architecture, such is its power that when you approach it, it is as if you were coming upon it for the first time. 11/30/86

It is a sight of great energy tamed to a perfect harmony, and so spectacular is the lift that one's only impulse is to sing. 11/30/86

Thomas Hine, Philadelphia Inquirer:

Fallingwater is one of the last great works of romanticism. Thomas Hine, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/27/91

Poetry in form, line, colors, textures and materials, all for a greater glory: a reality to live in. Edgar Tafel, quoted by Thomas Hine, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/27/91

Others:

Fallingwater represents the very best of Pennsylvania: a combination of nature, art, and daring innovation. Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, 2000

When you look back and see how Wright used these materials and gave sensitivity to every feature, you realize you're working on holy ground. John Seekircher, steel conservator, 2000

Thanks to state-of-the-art technology, we can preserve the most striking architectural element of Fallingwater, its cantilevered terraces stretching gracefully over the rushing stream. Robert Silman, structural engineer, 2000

It's a living masterpiece. As long as I can, I'll help keep Fallingwater going. We all have to do whatever we can to protect this house. Thom Gentle, wood conservator, 2001.

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