Fallingwater undergoing $7 million repair project to fix leaks inside historic house
When Frank Lloyd Wright first designed Fallingwater, he of course took water into account. But now, after almost 90 years of living around the nature of Mill Run, the famous house finds itself in a battle with water.
The historic attraction is currently in the midst of a $7 million repair project to fix leaks inside the house.
While still iconic, seeing scaffolding covering the former home of Edgar J. Kaufmann is not the normal view people see when they come to the National Historic Landmark and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
While Justin Gunther, the director of Fallingwater and the vice president of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, admits that the look is a little out of the norm, he says that the temporary view is not without its merits.
"It still kind of has a beauty in its own sense," said Gunther. "And I think what it allows visitors to do is see what it takes to preserve a landmark like this."
Gunther says that they are about halfway through a $7 million, three-year preservation project that is doing everything from waterproofing the house's roof and windows to replacing all of the home's flashings to having all of the stone masonry repointed and inspecting the building's steel skeleton.
This project is being funded through grants and donations made to the conservancy for the upkeep of this one-of-a-kind house. And Gunther says that on some level, most homeowners will relate to the work they are doing.
"So think of your own house," said Gunther. "You replace your roof every 25 years. You paint the clapboards every 15 years. It's just a little more complicated at Fallingwater because it's a house over a waterfall, there's a stream running underneath it. So just kind of take your own house, take the complications of doing repairs and multiply them by like a thousand and that's what we deal with here at Fallingwater when we do major preservation work."
For now, the house is closed but the grounds are open. The scaffolding will be coming down in early April, but the preservation work will continue as will tours of this famous house and property.
Fallingwater says it's offering preservation-in-action winter walks through March 14, a preservation-in-action guided tour from March 15 to April 1, and a preservation-in action in-depth tour on Saturdays and Sundays from March 15 to March 30.
