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At the special friend's urging, I took a brief trip up to rural Pennsylvania this weekend, acquainting myself with a corner of my home state that I'd never before experienced. Falling leaves and Fallingwater made for a postcard-perfect setting, and I developed a fascination with Frank Lloyd Wright that I was not expecting.
For those willing to brave the 3.5 hour drive from the District -- and especially for those who love great architecture -- I'd recommend the trip highly.
On Sunday we visited Kentuck Knob, one of only two Wright residences in the state. It's a graceful sandstone building true to the architect's defining theme of integrating the natural and developed worlds. Think rich wooden interiors, with windows looking out onto terraces with panoramic views of the surrounding forest. Clean lines everywhere. An elegant minimalism... yet extremely homey and comfortable.
Don't get me wrong -- there's no way I'd want to live in the middle of nowhere, natural beauty or otherwise. But if I had to be holed up anywhere, surrounded by feet of snow in mid-February, I could easily imagine myself enjoying a good book by a Frank Lloyd Wright fireplace.
Fallingwater was even more astounding -- truly a testament to human accomplishment. The cheesy pictures of the concrete cantilevers, like the one above, call to mind a mismatched modernist wedding cake, and do a complete injustice to the beauty of this structure. Room upon room reveals a sort of timeless and effortless modernism -- built in the 1930s, it feels thoroughly and thrillingly contemporary.
The building echoes and frames the best of the natural world. And since I'll admit to a bit of an aversion to nature, the extent to which it amazed me becomes all the more impressive.
For those willing to brave the 3.5 hour drive from the District -- and especially for those who love great architecture -- I'd recommend the trip highly.
On Sunday we visited Kentuck Knob, one of only two Wright residences in the state. It's a graceful sandstone building true to the architect's defining theme of integrating the natural and developed worlds. Think rich wooden interiors, with windows looking out onto terraces with panoramic views of the surrounding forest. Clean lines everywhere. An elegant minimalism... yet extremely homey and comfortable.
Don't get me wrong -- there's no way I'd want to live in the middle of nowhere, natural beauty or otherwise. But if I had to be holed up anywhere, surrounded by feet of snow in mid-February, I could easily imagine myself enjoying a good book by a Frank Lloyd Wright fireplace.
Fallingwater was even more astounding -- truly a testament to human accomplishment. The cheesy pictures of the concrete cantilevers, like the one above, call to mind a mismatched modernist wedding cake, and do a complete injustice to the beauty of this structure. Room upon room reveals a sort of timeless and effortless modernism -- built in the 1930s, it feels thoroughly and thrillingly contemporary.
The building echoes and frames the best of the natural world. And since I'll admit to a bit of an aversion to nature, the extent to which it amazed me becomes all the more impressive.