Finally, the truth came out as she admitted a group was touring the inside of the house with the museum curator for a magazine article. Upon our exit yet another staffer asked how we liked it. We had planned on spending cash at the gift shop, which WAS open but after the lies and Nathan’s rudeness and selective enforcement of social distancing we didn’t spend one penny there. Feeling very annoyed, we began walking to the exit. We decided to leave and the first staffer now changed her story and told us it was the museum curator inside with a group. Then she lied again and said it was staff ‘cleaning.’ We laughed as we so no one cleaning. We told her we saw 10 ppl in it with a tour guide. what about the no exceptions rules? We asked another staff member near the guest house and she lied and said there was no one in the house. We walked past the main house towards the guest house and what do we see but an interior tour with 10 ppl NOT social distancing and NOT wearing mask!!. Then she said no interior tours were allowed bc it was ‘impossible to maintain social distancing inside.’ In the meantime, the overzealous, power trip hungry security guard, Nathan, told us we must wear our masks, even though we were the only 3 people outside. We arrived at the exterior of the house and a staffer told us all about it. ![]() Exterior Self guided tours only with zero exceptions. We were told no interior tours were being given because of COVID-19 and social distancing precautions. We purchased tickets to visit Fallingwater on June 16, 2020. Note that children under 6 are not allowed in the house so families with young ones have to plan accordingly. My overall impression of FLW's work (this is the only site I've visited) is that form was more important than function (not the way an engineer like me thinks) and I would enjoy it more at a distance than up close. I didn't see a reasonable way to ditch the audio unit and leave so that whole process was annoying. Wright's disdain for window treatments even in the bedrooms would be unacceptable to me, as I don't want to wake with the sunrise.Īt the end of the tour, our guide turned us over to another gentleman, before collecting the audio units, and we got a rather long sales pitch to become a Friend of Fallingwater. The Wright designed furniture pieces looked very uncomfortable also, low to the ground and straight backed. The whole house felt smaller than the advertised square footage. ![]() However the hallways are both low ceilinged and narrow, which we were told was a deliberate design choice but I found uncomfortable. There are some low ceilings due to construction requirements which is understandable. The walnut woodwork is beautiful but unending. I did not think it would be a comfortable place to live however. ![]() The construction of the house was quite an achievement, which I appreciate as an engineer. A complimentary audio headset was included in the cost but wasn't essential (luckily since my earbuds were defective). Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and interesting. We chose the guided architectural tour which ran an hour or just over, which was even time to see the house. The timed ticketing for the tours worked well and kept the crowd dispersed on the property. ![]() The extensive grounds are very pretty and we explored a little waiting for our tour. We did not particular care for and were surprised about the group solicitation, after the tour, to join the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (owner the house and operator of the tours). After the house tour we had lunch in the café at the visitor center, and enjoyed the gift shop. She told many interesting stories about Mr. Our tour guide was excellent and very knowledgeable about the design and construction of the house, leading us through its many cantilevered levels. The Kaufmann family (owners) spent weekends here between 19. It was amazing hearing the house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the mid-1930’s and completed in 1939. It was a rainy morning when were there, but that even made the house more beautiful with rain water running off the canopied walkway between the main house and guest house, and lots of water flowing in Bear Run under the cantilevered terrace. We are really glad that we got to visit and tour the Fallingwater house in September. It has been one of our long-time dreams to visit Fallingwater, regarded as one of America’s most favorite and top architectural masterpieces.
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