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Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural masterpiece and one of the region's prime tourist attractions, is in the first stages of a major strengthening of its living room deck cantilever.
The internationally famous house on the waterfall is not in any immediate danger, and repairs will not interrupt tours.
Cantilevers allow part of a building to project beyond its support. At Fallingwater, steel beams in the cantilevers carry the weight of the concrete and stone decks.
The restoration will bolster the house's reinforced concrete main floor, which projects dramatically over Bear Run near Mill Run, Fayette County. New steel supports are to brace the original beams.
The supports will be installed through the deck's crawl space. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which owns the property, is now installing shoring, some of which will keep Bear Run's flow away from the house so workers can reach the area conveniently.
No cost estimates for the repairs are known yet, but the shoring is budgeted at $40,000.
Thomas M. Schmidt, conservancy vice president, said that, except for temporary scaffolding, no change to the house would be...