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Follow the trail of a famous American architect, home by amazing home
ARCHITECT Frank Lloyd Wright is not easy to admire. Sure, he was a genius who designed houses of breathtaking beauty but he was said to be an arrogant egotist, contemptuous of clients and indifferent to admirers. And it takes a lot of travel time to see his greatest creations, but we discover it's time well spent.
We fell in love with Wright's work on a previous trip to Chicago, where his one-time home, now a museum, as well as a church and dozens of his early houses are all adjacent in the suburb of Oak Park. But this time we want to see his masterpieces, which means a trip off the usual trail. Much of Wright's most remarkable work is in the bush, where he built spectacular homes that sit in, not on, the landscape, like his most famous house, Falling Water, set in the glorious Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania.
This is wilderness country, with forested high plateaus, deep valleys and fast-flowing streams, ensuring ample bushwalking and canoeing for visitors of all sorts. We see an Amish family walking by a river in the middle of nowhere, even though the trip to Pittsburgh is only 90 minutes for us or 300 years for them.
Wright obviously understood the region. Falling Water is on the edge of a waterfall but folds into the forest, all but invisible from 100m away.
Built when his initial fame had faded, the house is a classic statement of his style. There are large living areas focused on fireplaces because Wright believed the hearth to be the heart of a home. While the bedrooms are small, they are all open to the stream that falls just metres below.
With enormous decks on every floor, all areas are not so much open to the deep valley than part of it, ensuring the sound of, well, falling water is ever present. Every aspect of the house demonstrates Wright's genius and his delight in design, with intricate and expensive workmanship obvious in everything from wooden finishes to window...