Fallingwater Rising: Frank Lloyd Wright, E. J. Kaufmann, and America's Most Extraordinary House

by Franklin Toker

Book Overview

Fallingwater Rising is a biography not of a person but of the most famous house of the twentieth century. Scholars and the public have long extolled the house that Frank Lloyd Wright perched over a Pennsylvania waterfall in 1937, but the full story has never been told.

When he got the commission to design the house, Wright was nearing seventy, his youth and his early fame long gone. It was the Depression, and Wright had no work in sight...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375710159
• ISBN13: 9780375710155
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Quirky but Very Good

This is probably the oddest book I've read in a while. It delivers what it promises in the title-it is a story about E.J. Kaufmann, Frank Lloyd Wright and the house they built together. What makes it odd is the amount of time (and print) given to the social/psychological background surrounding the lives of the players, particularly E.J. Kaufmann. The author believes that anti-semitism played an important role in Kaufmann's building Fallingwater and possibly in his son's later attachment to the house. There is also a section (once again, somewhat lengthy) where the author talks about the continental divide and the almost "mystical" fact that Fallingwater is located long this divide.I'm not sure either of these story-lines are essential to the book, but they demonstrate the total absorption that Franklin Toker has with the subject and as a result, I found them endearing. The parts of the book that I do think are essential-i.e., the actual building of the house and what makes it so special-Toker deals with masterfully. His enthusiasm and love for not only Fallingwater, but the people involved in its building is infectious. I can't wait to make a pilgrimage to southwestern Pennsylvania to see Bear Run and Fallingwater for myself. And I even want to visit Pittsburgh and Kaufmann's department store!

Structure, Architect, Client: A Fine History

Fallingwater is quite out of the way. It was a country house, a weekend retreat, and as such was placed way in the Pennsylvania woods. Yet every year, 140,000 people visit it, and Franklin Toker demonstrates in _Fallingwater Rising: Frank Lloyd Wright, E. J. Kaufmann, and America's Most Extraordinary House_ (Knopf) it is the most-visited home in the United States except for those visited for history or for an association with a personality. People come to see Fallingwater because it is an architectural masterpiece. And yet, as Toker says, "Visiting Fallingwater has only a little to do with architecture and engineering: the quality we perceive here is essentially spiritual." Because of the deep allusions to nature (the most common remark is that the house seems to have been part of the surroundings or to have grown out of them naturally), every visitor from every culture, even one who has no love for modern architecture, finds something appealing in the building. Toker, a professor of the history of art and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh, obviously loves his topic, but more importantly, he knows not only twentieth-century architectural history but specifically the history of one of the main commercial builders of Pittsburgh. There is plenty to read about Wright here, but the world knows him well already (though the book does puncture myths, some complimentary and some not). E. J. Kaufmann, however, if known at all is known as the man who built Fallingwater. He was an astute businessman, a Pittsburgh department-store tycoon and philanthropist. Wright needed the house because at the time his reputation had stalled and he had no clients, and Kaufmann needed the house to redress the anti-Jewish snobbery of Pittsburgh. It worked for both sides wonderfully. That does not mean they had an easy relationship. Wright demanded loyalty of his clients, worshipful obedience, and got it much of the time. But Kaufmann was not worshipful, and could not be bullied. After the unalloyed success of Fallingwater, he continued to build personal and commercial structures, sometimes dangling the commission in front of Wright, sometimes getting plans but never building with him again. They were the city Jew and the Midwestern isolationist, and as Toker reflects, it is amazing they accomplished anything at all.Toker tells all about the most memorable aspect of the design, the overshoot balcony, which was a late addition to the plan. Toker makes plain that Wright had a brilliant and intuitive sense of form and structure, but he was not an engineer, and Fallingwater was imperiled by the start. Only recent reinforcement cables have kept it from falling down. Toker includes a fascinating chapter about the "hype" and the "buzz" that surrounded the house from its beginnings. Wright's friend, Henry Luce, got the building into his own magazines and into newspapers all over the world. Ayn Rand took details of the Fallingwater story and included th

In no way just another another book about Wright!

This book was a gold mine of originality and creativity. Franklin Toker scrupulously examines the intriguing chronicles of this architectural icon and those most responsible for its rise to international prominence with unprecedented accuracy and lively narration. As I have told several people who cringed at the notion of another book regarding Frank Lloyd Wright and his architectural "genius"...this is in no way just another book about Wright! The book meticulously clarifies the relationships that came to be, as well as the importance of each character and their role in the creation of the house. The author fittingly applauds the architect and patrons for there successful progeny, but brilliantly points out the houses returned value to them.I, for one, questioned the rationale of another book about Fallingwater; perhaps the most published house in American history. The book captured my attention from the onset, and I felt obligated to rethink my position. This is an ideal first-read for readers who may be virgin to the topic and a fail-safe favorite for the Fallingwater-educated.

Interesting Read

Professor Toker has written an informative and interesting book not only explaining the history of Falling Water, but the dynamics between the merchant/architect Kauffman, and Frank Lloyd Wright the architect/merchant. The book is well researched as is evident by all the tidbits of information not found in other previous works on this remarkable building. I highly recommend this book either as a gift or for your own pleasure.

Meticulous scholarship, a real page-turner

That Franklin Toker has tended to all the scholarly details is evident in the footnotes and photo captions, and it comes through on every page of the narrative itself. Fallingwater Rising is the story of an iconic house, designed by America's greatest architect for Edgar J. Kaufmann, Sr., a Jewish merchant whose own fascinating story is told here for the first time. Toker manages to deliver even more than that. Within these pages is a memorable portrait of the clannish and provincial power elite that ran twentieth-century Pittsburgh. Anyone interested in architectural history, the modernist movement, business history, academic ambition (that of Edgar Jr.), or urban history will want to own this riveting and lavishly illustrated book.