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Photograph: Fallingwater
PHOTOGRAPHY: JONATHAN HALE (FALLINGWATER)
Fallingwater is not quite falling down, but structural analysis indicates that stress levels in Frank Lloyd Wright's famous cantilevered living room balconies have produced sagging--which could lead to a dire situation. As a result, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which owns Fallingwater, has put a brace under the cantilever and is embarking on a restoration project. ``The long-term prognosis? If untreated, [the house] will end up in the river,'' says Robert Silman, whose New York firm is the project's consulting engineer.
The first step was to put temporary steel shoring under the cantilever (shown below), as well as beneath the projecting rock of the waterfall...