The Wright Houses

Fallingwater, the masterpiece of domestic architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright, is probably the most universally recognized dwelling in all of the world.

Commissioned by the Edgar J. Kaufmann family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the house stands today in breathtaking woodsy splendor in a little-known corner of western Pennsylvania.

Finished in l939, it was the Kaufmann residence for about twenty years until the junior Kaufmann relinquished it to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in 1963.

Over a million visitors, carrying at least 500,000 cameras, have visited the house. I am one of those visitors.

I have been there fourteen times. It's a great place to take out-of -townies.

What most people don't know is that it is not the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in the mountains of Pennsylvania.

A few miles south of Fallingwater is "Kentuck Knob," the former residence of Mr. and Mrs. I. N. (Isaac Newton) Hagan of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Finished in 1956, it incorporates many of the concepts Wright developed in his construction of Fallingwater, such as the cantilever, the organic connection to the earth, and the great room, which served as living space and dining area.

In 1985 it was sold to Peter Palumbo (now Lord Peter Palumbo) a London-based businessman and art dealer who collects architecturally significant buildings. (I'm so disappointed. No one has ever approached me to buy the quadruplex where I'm living.) In 1996, the Palumbos, who use the house only part-time, opened the house to the public. They do, however, spend several weeks spread out across the year at the house.

The house is smaller than Fallingwater. It does not have a waterfall integrated into the structure and it is not perched out on a cantilever.

It does, however, echo the fluidity of the living space and the sweep of the horizontal line of the roof and landscaping. It is breathtaking, but not overwhelming like Fallingwater tends to be even after several visits.

There is a difference.

Fallingwater is a museum.

Kentuck Knob is a dwelling place as well as a showplace.

Even if the docent would not have said a dozen times, "This is where his lordship and the children do such and such a thing," or, "You just missed him; he and his family left this morning. His children love Wal-Mart."

Certainly, little anecdotes like these tend to build a domesticity into one's judgment. That notwithstanding, one feels that this space is different and the difference is human usage.

She told us that one of the smaller children left a "Smurf" on one of the bookshelves.

The curator left it there. The Smurf acted as a reminder that the house is more than a museum; it is where a family eats and sleeps and plays. Not often, but often enough to make it a home.

Church renovators and builders should keep that in mind as they build meeting places where our family-in-faith will spend time. Buildings can be people friendly or hostile. That is the job of the architect: to assure a human, welcoming space.

But without the Smurfs. . . or is it Smurves.

You can reach Fred Moleck via email at fmoleck@earthlink.net