The famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed over 1,000 buildings. The House on the Cascade, a private house over a water fall in Mill Run Forest in Pennsylvania, is still famous. Known as a masterpiece of organic architecture, Maison sur la Cascade exemplifies the harmony between the project and its site, which has served as its framework throughout its career. The 1935 house has a series of porte-à-faux en béton recouvert de stuc terraces fixed to the cascade’s natural rock and a regional stone façade, creating a visual connection with its surroundings. Critiques are dithyrambiques when the project ends three years after starting. Time called the architect “the most beautiful creation of Frank Lloyd Wright” in a January 1938 story.
His client, Edgar J. Kaufmann, owner of a prominent Pittsburgh store, shared his opinion. His desire to be near nature influenced the design of this isolated secondary residence. Beyond its stunning natural beauty, what makes Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater such an architectural icon, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2019? Discover the architect’s most famous private residence’s relevance and magic with this detailed guide AD.
« Dans cette magnifique forêt se trouvait une haute et solide corniche rocheuse s’élevant à côté de la chute d’eau, placer la maison en porte-à-faux depuis cette corniche au-dessus de l’eau qui s’écoulait m’a paru la chose naturelle à faire », Frank Lloyd Wright explained one day about the Cascade House. If the relief forced him to choose the most obvious construction site, the architect must choose the materials and mass distribution.
The horizontal arrangement of the house’s large terraces (surrounded by parapets) recalls two Frank Lloyd Wright residential building experiences. Prairie-style architecture, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midwest upbringing, is the first. A second urbanism design for an ideal life was L-shaped neighborhoods of small houses with perfect interior-exterior harmony. In addition to the Cascade House, he works on Pleasantville, New York, architecture.