Fallingwater - Commonwealth Treasure
Stewart Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission declares Fallingwater a Commonwealth Treasure for all to protect and preserve as a unique architectural and cultural part of our history
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
With this marker the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission named Fallingwater a Commonwealth Treasure, singling it out for protection and preservation. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the mid-1930s for the Kaufmann family of Pittsburgh, the house famously cantilevers over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Laurel Highlands. It is widely regarded as one of the masterworks of American architecture.
Why it matters
Fallingwater represents a high point of American architectural imagination—a building fused to its landscape—and its recognition here affirms a public duty to preserve such cultural landmarks.
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Related people
- · Frank Lloyd Wright
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Fallingwater
Stewart Township, PA · est. 1994
In 1936, architect Frank Lloyd Wright perched this house directly over a Bear Run waterfall as a weekend retreat for Pittsburgh merchant Edgar J. Kaufmann. Its bold cantilevered terraces seem to float above the falling water, embodying Wright's belief that a building should grow from and belong to its natural setting. In 1963 the Kaufmann family gave Fallingwater to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, opening it to the public.
Edwin S. Porter
Connellsville, PA · est. 1992
Born in Connellsville, Edwin S. Porter became one of the pioneering figures of American cinema at the dawn of the twentieth century. Working in the earliest days of the medium, he helped develop the grammar of film itself—editing, the screenplay, and narrative technique. His 1903 landmark "The Great Train Robbery" thrilled audiences and pointed the way toward modern storytelling on screen.
Meason House
North Union Township, PA · est. 1946
Rising on a hilltop in 1802, this elegant Georgian manor announced that the western Pennsylvania frontier had grown wealthy. Its builder, Isaac Meason, was a Revolutionary War veteran turned pioneering ironmaster who helped make Fayette County an early center of American iron. In 1817 at nearby Plumsock he erected one of the country's first rolling mills, an innovation that would soon transform how the nation made its iron and steel.
James Finley (1756-1828)
Uniontown, PA · est. 2008
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