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FALLINGWATER RESTORATION / WANK ADAMS SLAVIN ASSOCIATES/ NEW YORK CITY
Inspired as much by the rocky earth as by De Stijl, Bauhaus, and Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright emerged from a decade of near-dormancy in 1935 to design Fallingwater, a home in rural Mill Run, Pennsylvania. It was worth the wait; the icon of American design would produce what is arguably the most important and recognizable private residence in the world.
The very genius of Wright's work, however, has made the house a maintenance nightmare: the 7,000square-foot plan is half terrace, much of which extends over a lively cascade; reinforced concrete was something of a novelty at the time, and massive cantilevers like these were unheard of. Every detail seems to taunt the very natural forces that Wright sought to emulate. He liked rolled roof edges and intersecting planes of materials, but he disliked visible counterflashing and corner window mullions. The result celebrates nature white thumbing its nose at the entropic physics of flowing water, erosion, and gravity.
A horror to maintain, perhaps, but this ingenious assemblage and its aggressive siting also make it a conservator's dream. For someone like Pamela Jerome, senior associate in the preservation department at New York City-based Wank Adams Slavin Associates, it's a delightful opportunity to both wallow in history and redeem it as well. SAGGING CANTILEVERS
In spite of many restoration campaigns over the decades. by 1995 the condition of the house was enough of a concern to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) to merit a thorough study of the sagging cantilevers, corroded steel, and water-damaged painted stucco. Unlike past repair projects, says Jerome, this large project would allow the preservation team to consider the building holistically, rather than on a piecemeal basis. "It's a stabilization project and the most minimal intervention possible," she says, while admitting she has approved some changes to Wright's original detailing. "We try and save as much of the original, authentic fabric of the project as possible."
Concerns about the integrity of the main cantilevered terrace-- which, it was learned,...