Educational Resources

Our website is loaded with information on Fallingwater and how to plan your visit here. It’s an excellent information source for students doing research on Fallingwater.

We also recommend the following materials. You can call 724329-8501 to borrow them. Please allow at least two weeks. Due to high demand, materials must be returned two weeks after you receive them. There is no charge if you have booked a tour of Fallingwater; if you aren’t planning a trip here, a rental fee of $25 per program will apply. You can purchase these resources through our Museum Store.

VHS/DVD

Fallingwater:
A Conversation with Edgar J. Kaufmann, jr.

VHS • 56 minutes • High School

An in-depth look at Fallingwater's design, its importance as the greatest  American house of this century, and the role it played in the Kaufmann family's life. Based on extended interviews with Fallingwater patron Edgar J. Kaufmann jr., noted Wright scholar.

  

The House on the Waterfall

VHS • 30 minutes • Upper Elementary +

Basic history of the design and construction of Fallingwater. Includes home movie footage of the Kaufmann family at Fallingwater, its construction, and interviews with three of Wright's apprentices and the late Edgar Kaufmann, jr.
Available to borrow only.

  

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

DVD • 60 minutes • Upper Elementary +

Video and images of Fallingwater, extended interviews with scholars, slide show, and interactive  virtual tours of the house and landscape. Includes high resolution viewing of original drawings. 60 minutes.

  

Saving Fallingwater

DVD • 54 minutes • Middle School +

Get a look behind the scenes (and under the cantilevered floors) to meet the people who met the challenge of saving Fallingwater. Emmy award-winning filmmaker and Pittsburgh native Kenneth Love uses video, still photography, drawings, computer modeling, audio recordings and interviews, to take us on a tour of discovery to  understand Fallingwater’s recent restoration.

  

The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright

VHS • 75 minutes • Middle School +

Engaging biographic portrait of the architect who created Fallingwater. The program traces the evolution  of Wright's vision of architecture in harmony with nature.

  

Frank Lloyd Wright:
The Office for Edgar J. Kaufmann

VHS • 30 minutes • Middle School +

Explores the historical and social context for the office that Wright designed for Kaufmann's downtown Pittsburgh department store, now installed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

  

Frank Lloyd Wright and Japanese Art

DVD • 61 minutes • High School

Explores the important relationship between Japanese aesthetics and Wright’s philosophy for  design. Interviews with his apprentices, discussion of his Japanese art  collection.

   

Books

Age level indicates concepts that can be discussed, not reading level.

Fallingwater: The House and Its History (2nd, revised edition)

by Donald Hoffmann
Dover • 116 pages • High School

Excellent history of the design and building of Fallingwater, with photographs taken during construction. Detailed study of the construction; used in Fallingwater interpretive training.

  

Fallingwater:
A Frank Lloyd Wright Country House

by Edgar J. Kaufmann, jr.
Abbeville • 190 pages • Middle school +

The late Edgar Kaufmann jr.’s eloquent text combines with exquisite photographs in a discussion about Fallingwater’s design and meaning. Used in Fallingwater interpretive training.

  

Fallingwater: Frank Lloyd Wright's Romance with Nature

by Lynda S. Waggoner
Universe • 80 pages • Middle school +

Beautiful photographs of Fallingwater and its setting, accompanied by Wright's observations and  quotes from philosophers such as Emerson and Thoreau, who influenced Wright's thinking.

  

Merchant Prince and Master Builder

by Richard Cleary
U. of Washington Press • 199 pages • High School

Edgar J. Kaufmann remained a patron of Frank Lloyd Wright long after Fallingwater was completed. This scholarly book looks at that relationship, and the numerous projects commissioned because of it.

  

Frank Lloyd Wright: Architecture and Nature

by Donald Hoffmann
Dover • 87 pages • Upper elementary +

An overview of the aesthetic and philosophical foundations of Wright's work. Excellent pictorial study comparing design in nature with Wright's designs. Great inspiration for classroom activities.

  

Years with Frank Lloyd Wright:
Apprentice to Genius

by Edgar Tafel
Dover • 228 pages • Middle school +

A personal account of what it was like to be one of Wright’s apprentices. Mr. Tafel was one of three apprentices who worked at Fallingwater.

  

Frank Lloyd Wright: Master Builder

by David Larkin and Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer
Universe • 240 pages • Middle school +

Beautiful color photographs and insightful commentary by the Director of the Frank Lloyd Wright archives on 25 of Wright’s greatest works. An excellent overview of his broad and long career.

  

Frank Lloyd Wright:
The Interactive Portfolio

by Margo Stipe
Running Press • 96 pages • Middle school +

Beautifully packaged with removable facsimiles of primary documents from the Frank Lloyd Wright archives, and an audio CD of his talks and lectures, this is a wonderful overview of his life and work.

  

Frank Lloyd Wright for Kids

by Kathleen Thorne-Thomsen
Chicago Review Press • 137 pages • Elementary +

A biography as well as an activity book, with projects in design, cooking, model-making, more.

  

The Art of Construction

by Mario Salvadori, et. al
Chicago Review Press • 149 pages • Upper elementary +

Projects and clearly explained building principles for beginning architects and engineers.

  

Simply Wright

by Diane Bresnan Fleming
Castleconal Press • 25 pages • Elementary

An introduction to the principles of Wright’s architecture.

  

Frank Lloyd Wright

by Scott Ingram
Raintree Biographies • 32 pages • Lower elementary

A good biography for ages 4 to 8.

  

Architecture is Elementary

by Nathan B. Winters
Gibbs Smith • 304 pages • Elementary +

A curriculum for visual thinking by exploring architectural concepts.  Great classroom ideas.

   

Podcasts

A fun way to engage with Fallingwater--take a listen!

Voices in the Story

 

Franklin Toker

Professor of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh.

 

Lynda Waggoner

Director of Fallingwater. Photo courtesy the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

Witold Rybczynski

Martin and Margy Myerson Professor of Urbanism, University of Pennsylvania.

 John Eifler

John Eifler of Eifler & Associates of Chicago, is a Frank Lloyd Wright restoration architect

Studio 360

In the year 2000, the American Institute of Architects asked its members to look back on the last 100 years and select the best American building of the 20th Century.

 

As part of Studio 360's series on American Icons, they asked Peter Crimmins to visit Fallingwater and figure out what's so special about the house.

  

Eating Fallingwater: Frank Lloyd Wright and Gingerbread Architecture&Design Episode

 

There hasn't been a house built in the past 70 years that even comes close to the iconic status of Fallingwater. Sure it took a good architect and a great client, but it also took the right cultural climate and publicity machine that understood what America was looking for. And gave it to us, all sugary excess on a cantilevered platter. And we've eaten it up ever since.