Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob are two famous architectural masterpieces and one of the largest draws to the area.

Fallingwater

Famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, combined the beauty of this area with his love of architecture and created the masterpiece, Fallingwater, a house built over a waterfall. 

Fallingwater was designed in 1935 as the Kaufmann family’s vacation home. Owners of Pittsburgh’s largest department store, the Kaufmann family used Fallingwater as their vacation home during their lifetimes, but in 1963, Edgar Kaufmann Jr. donated and entrusted Fallingwater and the surrounding 469 acres of natural land to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. 

Fallingwater is one of Wright’s most widely acclaimed works, and exemplifies his philosophy of organic architecture, the harmonious union of art and nature.

This must see architectural masterpiece is the most notable in the area, welcoming more than six million visitors since opening to the public in 1964.

If you want to experience this National Historic Landmark and “best all-time work of American architecture,” schedule a guided tour. If you are on a budget, but still want to experience this Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Treasure, you can purchase a “grounds only” ticket. Regardless, advance reservations and ticket purchases are essential for all Fallingwater Tours.

Kentuck Knob

Only seven miles away from Fallingwater, Kentuck Knob was built for the Hagan family, owners of a large dairy and friends of the owners of Fallingwater.

Then 86, Wright said that he “could shake it out of his sleeve at will” and designed the house in his signature Usonian style around a still-fully-functioning hexagonal kitchen. The 240 degree L-plan home is made with opulent natural materials such as native sandstone, red cypress, and a $96,000 copper roof.

The Hagans lived at the house for 30 years before selling it in 1986 to Lord Peter Palumbo. Lord and Lady Palumbo entertain guests here on occasion, and they have also set up a public tour program similar to estates in the UK. They have also added art installations and a sculpture garden to the grounds that include a slab of the Berlin Wall.

One of his last designs, Wright actually only set foot on the property once, for a brief visit during construction. 

Wharton Furnace

The Wharton Furnace is an historic iron furnace located at Wharton Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was built in 1837, and is a stone structure measuring 33 feet wide, 31 feet deep, and 31 feet high. It was built as a blast furnace, placed in blast in 1839 and went out of blast by 1850.

THE WHARTON IRON FURNACE IS only one of two restored stone iron furnaces that still exist in Fayette County, PA. Located a little southwest of Normalville in the Laurel Highlands, this is one of many iron furnaces that once produced pig iron in the iron ore-rich region of the Allegheny Mountains. The site operated from about 1839, until 1872.

This historic furnace was once used to produce cannonballs during the Civil War.