By Debbie Stone

I’ve been an aficionado of Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic designs for many years and over time, I’ve toured a number of houses designed by the legendary American architect. But I never had the chance to stay in one, until recently.

The main reason for my visit to the Laurel Highlands of Southwestern Pennsylvania was to see more of Wright’s work. This picturesque region has the distinction of being home to several Wright-designed houses, including Fallingwater, his crowning achievement.

Listen below to Big Blend Radio’s “Global Adventures” Podcast episode with Debbie Stone as she shares her Frank Lloyd Wright experience in the Laurel Highlands:

My first stop was Polymath Park to tour two of Wright’s homes, Duncan House and Mäntylä. The park, which is located approximately 25 minutes from Fallingwater, is a private conservation effort by founders and operators, Tom and Heather Papinchak.

The name Polymath was given by the previous owner of the property, who believed that architects were the perfect example of a polymath — “a person with encyclopedic knowledge, multiple skills and education.”

The Papinchaks had bought a house in the area as a retreat and lived in it from 2000-2008. During this time, they also purchased the park’s 130-plus acres, which included two homes, the Balter House and Blum House. Their purpose was to preserve these 1960s homes, which had originally been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice Peter Berndtson as summer retreats for two Pittsburgh-based families.

Tom, a huge fan of Wright, used his architectural and construction background to rehabilitate the homes, which had fallen into disrepair. When the projects were completed, he rented the houses out to visitors, who enjoyed the opportunity to stay in the unique dwellings.

Duncan House was the next project for the Papinchaks. Originally constructed and designed by Wright in 1957, the house was meticulously taken apart piece by piece and then moved from its Illinois location to Polymath Park, where it was reconstructed in 2007.

Some years later, the couple got involved with Mäntylä, another Wright-designed home. The house, which was originally built in 1956 in Minnesota, was moved to the park and reconstructed in the same painstaking manner. This daunting process involved resurrecting 7,000 interlocking terracotta tiles, as well as sets of intricate cypress-trimmed windows.

All four houses at Polymath are Usonian, a mid-20th-century architectural style promoted by Wright. They are characterized as expansive single-story dwellings without garages or basements. And they are known for their flat roofs, red hues and large overhangs for solar heating and natural cooling. Floors are radiant-heated and there are clerestory-type windows, positioned high up on the wall, to provide natural lighting.

Polymath Park offers guided tours of two, three or four of the homes onsite, depending on your time and interest. Each tour is informative, detailing the histories of the houses, how they arrived at their current location, and the principles behind their organic style architecture. There are brunch, lunch, dinner, and dessert tour options, as well as the Treehouse dinner tour. I opted for the latter, which offers a tour of the two Wright houses, Duncan and Mäntylä, followed by an exquisite dining experience in a private treehouse-style dining pod at TreeTops Restaurant.

You can also stay overnight at one of the four properties. I jumped at this opportunity, too, as I wanted the complete Wright experience to get a real sense of how the architect believed buildings should work with the way people live.

During my tour of Duncan House, I learned that it started life as a pre-fab. Wright had been designing houses for wealthy clients for many years and decided to develop more affordable homes for middle class buyers. He envisioned communities of these stylish yet functional houses that blended into the American landscape. They were to be built on a mass scale and projected to cost $5,000 each.

Construction costs mounted, however, and they ended up going for double the price. Unfortunately, Wright’s dream did not become reality, as only sixty of these homes were built.

When our tour group entered Duncan House, I felt like I was stepping into an architectural time capsule. Wright’s signature aesthetic was fully on display here: horizontal lines, open floor plan, numerous windows, custom built-in furniture, sandstone core and Cherokee red floors, radiant floor heating via hot water pipes and use of lots of wood and stone.

I loved the red-accented kitchen and learned it was designed to be colorful, as well as functional. Our guide noted that Wright saw the kitchen as the workroom of the house and the living room as the gathering spot.

There’s a small dining room adjacent to the kitchen and a narrow hallway leading to the three bedrooms. The hallway was meant to be narrow, as Wright didn’t devote much space to such passageways.

The placement of the many windows brought nature into the home, blurring the area between the house and its wooded surroundings — another of Wright’s design characteristics. The architect thought of every detail to create a seamless meld of form and function, where everything worked together to ensure a balanced environment.

Mäntylä, meaning “of the pines” in Finnish, was the second house on the tour. I was especially excited to see this home, as I knew I would be returning here for my overnight stay. And though I paid close attention to the guide’s narration, I relished the thought that later I would have all the time I needed to examine the house on my own.

The exterior of Mäntylä features a large cantilevered roof overhang with a ship-like prow and numerous sharp angles — also Wright signatures. Inside the 2,300 square-foot, L-shaped home, there is an expansive living space with a bank of floor-to-ceiling windows. And just like in the Duncan House, the windows blur the line between outdoor and indoor living.

The centerpiece of the open-concept living area is a large cinder block fireplace set at a 120-degree angle. And the low-profile banquette seating, artwork and several other pieces of décor were all designed by Wright. These were donated by Julene and Peter McKinney, the home’s prior owners. The couple believed the house wouldn’t have the same feeling if it didn’t have the authentic furniture in it.

One of the interesting features our guide pointed out was the ability to see past the dining room and fireplace to the terrace beyond — another way to bring nature inside. He also mentioned the narrow doorways between the rooms. The ones leading to the two bathrooms were extremely tight and most of our group had to inch sideways through them.

Dinner was a truly memorable experience. The restaurant is located in TreeTops, the Papinchaks’ original house. And the ten intimate pods are set amid a forest, so you’re surrounded by trees.

The multi-course meal consisted of a welcome board with blue cheese stuffed mushrooms, crostini with whipped ricotta, baby sweet tomatoes and watermelon with balsamic pearls and mint, along with artisan wheat rolls and citrus basil honey butter. I could have easily made this my entire dinner, but I knew to pace myself.

A shrimp ceviche taco topped with micro greens wrapped in hydroponic lettuce was the appetizer, followed by a spring salad wrapped in English cucumber, with cherries and feta cheese and a homemade apple cider vinaigrette dressing.

My main course was salmon on a bed of risotto. And for dessert, there was a vanilla bean crème brûlée with berries — the perfect ending to a delicious feast for the senses. Compliments to the talented chef, who just happens to be Heather Papinchak.

After dinner, my husband and I headed back to Mäntylä for our night’s stay. The house was immaculate, even after multiple tour groups had gone through it during the day. I was able to explore the architectural elements at leisure and marvel at the design features up close.

Without T.V. or Wi-Fi, I was able to take in the ambiance of this beautiful home sans distractions. I also spent time perusing the vintage book collection on the shelves and looking at the museum quality artwork. Sitting in this house on the Wright-designed furniture amid Wright-designed décor was a memorable pinch-me moment.

Waking up the next morning to the tranquility of the setting and its views was extra special. A deer moseyed into the yard, completing this bucolic scene.

The Laurel Highlands is also home to Kentuck Knob, another of Wright’s houses and one of the last projects before his death. Located just seven miles from Fallingwater, this masterpiece should definitely be on your list if you’re a fan of the architect’s work. It offers a grand interpretation of Wright’s Usonian ideals, while its scenic location is an added plus.

Kentuck Knob was built in 1956 for Isaac Newton and Bernardine Hagan, owners of Hagan Ice Cream Company in Uniontown, PA. The Hagans approached Wright once they’d seen their friends Edgar and Liliane Kaufmann’s home, Fallingwater. They wanted Wright to design their own dream home on the 80-acre spread they had purchased in the mountains of Chalk Hill.

Wright, who was 86 years old at the time, agreed, despite being busy with a number of other projects. At the time, the Hagans only wanted to spend $60,000 on the house and its furnishings. The total cost of the estate, however, ended up being about $98,000. It was a known fact that Wright’s houses always went over budget.

The Hagans specified that the house should have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a basement for food storage, as winter blizzards in the area often caused the roads to become impassable. They also wanted attic space. Though Wright didn’t design basements or attics for his houses, Bernardine patiently persevered with these requests, and eventually the architect acquiesced.

On the tour, I learned that Wright and his chief draftsman, John Howe, surprisingly never saw the land before sketching ideas for Kentuck Knob. They preferred to rely on topographical surveys and photos. Wright later visited just once to inspect the site. The Hagans, on the other hand, met the architect at his Taliesin home several times to go over the plans.

Kentuck Knob is known for its outstanding architecture, as well as its complexity. The house only has two ninety-degree angles and the rest of the angles are of varied degrees. It’s also built into the “brow” of a hill, making the front of the structure look like a traditional ranch home, while the left side burrows into the ground and the right reaches down to meet the slope of the hill. These factors increased the complexity and difficulty of the construction.

The house’s hexagonal structure is made of tidewater red cypress and native fieldstone and it sports a copper roof, cut-out designs in the clerestory windows, and an attached carport. Before entering, our guide pointed out the red plaque by the door, where Wright’s signature was visible, so everyone could see he was the designer.

Inside, the great room has a central hearth and a large, unique “invisible” window set into the stone wall. Looking at it, the sheet of glass appears invisible without any framing and has matching plants inside and outside that mirror the glass.

The back wall of the great room has several glass doors that open onto a flagstone terrace. I was entranced with the hexagonal cutouts in the cedar that decorate the eaves. The guide said these openings allow the winter sun to get into the great room, but not the summer sun because in the summer, the sun is at a higher angle.

The three-bedroom, two-bathroom dwelling was cozy, but the view from the windows was expansive. I could see the Youghiogheny Gorge and all the magnificent trees surrounding the house from its dramatic mountaintop location.

After your tour, take time to stroll along the property’s nearly mile-long Woodland Walk, where numerous sculptures are displayed within a forested area. There’s even an authentic piece of the Berlin Wall, courtesy of Kentuck Knob’s current owner, Lord Palumbo. And as a nod to the Lord’s British heritage, there are also several iconic red telephone boxes on the grounds.

Lord Palumbo still visits the place every so often, using it as a vacation home. Coincidentally, he was there the same day as I, but our paths didn’t cross. Though I did see his British-made, vintage car parked outside the visitor entrance.

All of the prior houses I toured set me up for Wright’s magnum opus, Fallingwater. Having seen many pictures of this famous house, I wondered if my high expectations would be met. I needn’t have worried. It was even more breathtaking in person than I had imagined.

Wright designed Fallingwater in 1935 as a vacation home for Edgar J. Kaufmann and his family. Kaufmann was a prominent businessman and owner of Pittsburgh’s largest department store. Edgar and his wife Liliane had one son, Edgar Kaufmann Jr., who served as the conduit for his parents’ relationship with Wright. Edgar participated in an architecture program created by Wright and when his parents visited him at Taliesin, they met the architect. Shortly after, they commissioned Wright to design Fallingwater, a name Wright coined for the house.

The house was built mostly by local craftspeople. Size-wise, it’s 9,300 square feet, of which 4,400 square feet is comprised of outdoor terraces. There’s also a 4,990-square-foot guest house. Only two colors were used throughout the building: a light ochre for the concrete and Wright’s signature Cherokee red for the steel.

The original estimate for the project was $35,000. The final cost went way over budget, totaling $148,000, plus an additional $11,300 in architect fees.

When completed, Fallingwater was immediately proclaimed a modern masterpiece, exemplifying Wright’s organic architecture. The house’s unique cantilevered construction, in particular, created quite a buzz in the architectural world.

A cantilever in simple terms is a beam that juts out horizontally from a fixed point. Fallingwater has a stack of cantilevered concrete “trays,” which are anchored to the natural rock, and designed to hover over a cascading waterfall on the Bear Run stream. And the cantilevered terraces, made of local sandstone, blend with the rock formations, making them appear to float above the water. The result is dramatic and impressive.

The Kaufmanns had initially envisioned the house to be situated opposite the waterfall, allowing them to gaze out at it. Wright had his own ideas though and felt that setting the house atop the water would enable them to hear its soothing sounds throughout the structure. In this way, they would feel connected to the water, rather than being detached observers.

The main entrance to Fallingwater is actually at the back of the house, concealed under a trellis covering the carport. Our guide told us that Wright did this by design, as he wanted the Kaufmanns to feel sheltered. She then explained the concept of compression and release, another of the architect’s well-known techniques. Basically, Wright wanted people to feel compressed before being released into an expansive space.

I immediately felt this sense of release as I entered the open 1,800 square-foot living and dining room area with its glass walls overlooking the lush landscape.

Our guide directed our attention to a door in the living room which opens to a suspended stairway leading down to the stream and a plunge pool below. This hatch, when open, creates natural air conditioning from the flow of the water and keeps the room cool during summer.

She also noted the large round Cherokee red kettle hanging off to the side of the fireplace. It was meant to swing out over the fire to serve hot drinks, but the metal was so thick, it took hours to heat up. Instead, this eye-catching object became a conversation piece, which it continues to be today.

Wright designed a number of custom pieces for the living area, including some of the tables, banquettes and zabutons — low, wood-framed footstools. And he chose gold and orange-red colored upholstery for their warm hues.

The kitchen features modern amenities for the time, such as Formica countertops, rubber-tiled flooring, enameled steel cabinets, a Frigidaire refrigerator, KitchenAid dishwasher and double sinks.

There are four bedrooms upstairs in the main house, each with its own bathroom, private terrace and fireplace. In Mr. Kaufmann’s room, there’s a built-in desk in the corner featuring a semi-circular cutout so the corner window can swing open without hitting anything. It’s an ingenious design that allows one to view and hear the water. And it solved the issue of Mr. Kaufmann wanting a larger desk and Wright not wanting to reduce the amount of window space.

Books and artwork abound throughout the house, as well as outside, from a Jean Arp sculpture and a cast iron Sung Dynasty Buddha head to Japanese woodblock prints and a large bronze sculpture titled “Mother and Child” by French sculptor Jacques Lipchitz. The latter piece has a prime position at the plunge pool. There’s also a large oil painting of Mr. Kaufmann as a hiker with his walking stick, commissioned by his wife Liliane, and done by well-known artist Victor Hammer.

The main house links to the guest house, which is set into the hillside above the main building, via a canopied walkway supported by slender Cherokee red posts on one side. This design made me think of a cascading waterfall — that or folded origami.

There’s also a swimming pool with cantilevered stone steps leading down into the water. It’s fed by a natural spring and drains into Bear Run. Purportedly the pool was a favorite spot of the Kaufmanns on hot days.

Fallingwater remained the Kaufmanns’ beloved retreat for 26 years. In 1963, Edgar Jr., who had inherited the house after his parents passed away, donated it and 1,543 acres of surrounding land to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. A year later, the place opened as a museum and since then it has hosted millions of visitors from around the world. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our guide pointed out the best viewpoint to see Fallingwater in all its photogenic glory. This is indisputably the money shot. After taking numerous pics, I stood for a while and marveled at this stunning living work of art one final time. And I paid homage to Wright for showing the world that nature and modern architecture can coexist in awe-inspiring harmony.


PLAN YOUR VISIT
www.polymathpark.com
www.kentuckknob.com
www.fallingwater.com
www.golaurelhighlands.com

Debbie Stone is an established travel writer and columnist, and regular contributor for Big Blend Radio and Big Blend Magazines, who crosses the globe in search of unique destinations and experiences to share with her readers and listeners. She’s an avid explorer who welcomes new opportunities to increase awareness and enthusiasm for places, culture, food, history, nature, outdoor adventure, wellness, and more. Her travels have taken her to nearly 100 countries and all seven continents.

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