Walking tour/Nature Walk, ~1.25 mi
~100 ft elevation gain
Hiked 9/12/25
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater
Toured the famous Frank Lloyd Wright house, Fallingwater. Finished in 1939 and now a World Heritage Site, it is built on top of a waterfall section of Bear Run stream, it is meant to be a part of the landscape. The free flowing and cantilevered structures are a sight to behold.
Vertical shot of the exterior of Fallingwater from The View.
Angled side view of Fallingwater. This is the main view guests would have had as they arrived.
An angled side view of the house, showing the stream flowing beneath the cantilevered structures.
Living room area of the main room.
Fireplace area of the main room. The large stew pot on the left side may swing over the fireplace- used for mulled wine. Also notice the bedrock jutting out from the floor, as a decent amount of this area is natural landscape.
View of the main area of the guest house. Personally, the guest house seemed like it would have been far more comfortable to actually live in.
View of the cantilevered roof, as seen from in front of the guest house. All of this is concrete from a single pour and had 3 or 4 more of the ‘steps’ leading down the walkway.
You got some great photos!
This house was really amazing to go through, and I really enjoyed how relatively minimal the house felt, working around the water and the existing rocks, and also the low walls on the outdoor areas to maintain as much of the natural landscape and scenery.
I’ve been on tours of larger and more lavish homes, and while fascinating, they always felt like too much and I would never know what to do with all that space. I felt right at home at Fallingwater. It seemed surprisingly practical and sensical, and like an actual liveable space moreso than a museum or exhibit of someone’s wealth and luxury.
I’m far from being any type of architecture nerd, and I hadn’t planned to see this house when I went to Pittsburgh, but it was strongly recommended to me, and I was blown away and still think of the experience regularly.
My photo from the classic overlook spot.
Very cool! That extra water flow really makes it pop!
Thank you! It’s really hard to take a bad photo there. 😄
I forgot to mention, I felt somewhat uncomfortable at first going out onto the deck area with those railings that would in no way meet building codes today!
You can see in your one photo, for those that haven’t been here, the railings are about the height of those low chairs and sofa. If I’m remembering right, the story was the owner’s kid was grown up and wasn’t going to give him grandkids, so to keep the deck area from detracting from the scenery with actual safety railings, they called those low walls good enough. I feel they were like mid-thigh tall, and I was imagining them being nerve wracking if one indulged in too many martinis out there!
Really did maximize the view though!
That’s correct, here’s a better photo to show those low deck walls, it’s from the upper deck instead, but same deal. And if you go over, it’s as much as four or so floors down to a bedrock stream. A lot of things in that house definitely would not pass code haha, those stone steps really gave one of the other visitors issue.
Yes, that shows it off well!
I doubt I’ve ever paid more mind to my center of gravity as standing there.
Now, sitting there, on an autumn day, perhaps using a charcoal grill and having a cocktail, that sounds perfect.
Absolutely, this house has the right blend of expansive but still contained. I typically am far more interested in the natural settings and landscapes than manmade structures and agree about it being more to my liking than more lavish structures that take over a locale. This house has been on my list of places to visit for a while and it did not disappoint.