Studio 360

American Icons

Fallingwater

In the year 2000, the American Institute of Architects asked its members to look back on the last 100 years and select the best American building of the 20th Century.

They didn't pick a skyscraper, but chose an extraordinary house in the woods about 70 miles outside of Pittsburgh. The house is called Fallingwater and it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright said he wanted his client — department store owner Edgar Kaufman— to be as close to nature as possible.

As part of our series on American Icons, we asked Peter Crimmins to visit Fallingwater and figure out what's so special about the house.

Voices in the Story

Franklin Toker

Professor of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. Photo credit Franklin Toker.

Buy Toker's book, Fallingwater Rising

Lynda Waggoner

Director of Fallingwater. Photo courtesy the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

Witold Rybczynski

Martin and Margy Myerson Professor of Urbanism, University of Pennsylvania. Photo credit Shirley Hallam.

John Eifler

John Eifler of Eifler & Associates of Chicago, is a Frank Lloyd Wright restoration architect

Studio 360's American Icons is made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: great ideas brought to life.

Studio 360 is a co-production of Public Radio International and WNYC New York Public Radio, and is funded in part by Ken and Lucy Lehman, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, and DK Eyewitness Travel. Studio 360's American Icons series is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Our series on creativity and science is supported in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Our series on Underground Heroes is supported in part by the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.