Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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 them transformed into fiction for her novel _The Fountainhead_. A final chapter is devoted to Kaufmann's son, Edgar Junior, who was briefly a student of Wright's (not a happy time for either). He was "an important American aesthete of the twentieth century," but he also cultivated the idea that he was the real spark that got his dad to erect Fallingwater. He may have been deluded or lying, but he did take loving care of the place, donating it to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy which makes it accessible to the public. He was himself one of the many sources consulted for this big and well-illustrated volume. Toker is an obvious fan of the house, and of Wright, and of Pittsburgh, and his enthusiasm shows in richness of detail and anecdote in a volume that shows architecture to be surprisingly exciting.

I must say that as an architect who has been practicing for over 25 years, I have not read any book quite like this before that reaches so deeply into the creation of a master work such as Fallingwater. I have always "appreciated" FLW work but only recently have more fully understood what he has accomplished and created in built architectural works that to me borders on magical and genius at the same time. The glossy pictures alone only begins to reflect him as the gifted craftsman he represented. Living in Chicago I get to enjoy much of his work all the time. I'm still enjoying the book and must say your work here is amazing and a fitting tribute to an increbible individual and architect. Thanks for the experience. Jack Svaicer

These days, it's a rarity to read an architectural book that is informative and entertaining at the same time. For those that have read materials from Kenneth Frampton, they are probably more cerebral. At times, I also find architectural book either to be shallow (bombarding us with glossy pictures and thus no substance) or too dry for an architectural enthusiast to go all the way. This effort by Franklin Tokler is a reaper, to much my pleasant surprise. He spent almost three years writing this book and the amount of research that he had done is truly outstanding and tangible proofs were all in the book. The book contained facts and relevant photos (both B&W and colour). Franklin digged deeper into the Fallingwater. He investigated the motivation of why Fallingwater gotten built at the first place. He discussed the personalities involved in depth and in length and naturally, we also gotten to read about the other personalities of the time and of their connection to Fallingwater as well. Gosh, there were so many to name but just as a teaser: Diego Riviera, Frida Kahlo, Rockerfeller, Mellon, Richard Neutra, Walter Gropius, Mies van de Rohe, Le Corbusier, disciples of Frank Lloyd Wright, and the list goes on and on. Franklin endeavoured to educate the world that the patron, Kauffman is just as important as Frank Lloyd Wright in the project. That's what I find the most entertaining to read about the uneasy alliance between the patron and the architect. He also disputed the claim by the young sibling of Kauffman that the credit went to him for bring his father and the architect together. Then, there were talk of their collection of arts, their Jews background and how did the American society accept them at that time, and so forth. Then, there were talk about the flawed structural system (particularly the cantilever) and how Fallingwater underwent a quiet suicide, the speculation of the origin of the name of the building itself. The book also went into explaining the rationale of why the house is so endearing to people from all over the world till now and perhaps, there would be another Fallingwater in the making somehow? A book that is written with passion and vigour, paying homage to it with utmost dignity from an author who obviously has been visiting it for hundreds of time (as mentioned). I find Franklin's high spirit contagious and I sincerely recommend this book to all architecture buff. A truly unforgettable experience.

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.

At first glance, a book about Fallingwater might appear to be narrowly focused and of little interest to non-architects. In fact, Franklin Toker has written a thoroughly engaging book that weaves together biography, architecture, and cultural history. The story of America's most famous house becomes inextricably tied to the lives of E.J. Kaufmann, his wife, son, and, of course, Frank Lloyd Wright. In this biographical mix Toker explores relevant and fascinating components of American social and cultural history from the 1930s to the present. If you've visited Fallingwater, or are a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright, this is a must read. Even if you haven't travelled to Bear Run and know little about Wright, this volume is worth reading. Fallingwater Rising is simply a great book.

A model of art history, this deliciously gossipy, profoundly researched, pellucidly clear and eminently insightful overview of American social, cultural and modern art history from the vantage of one object must rank with Henry Adams' "Mont Saint Michel & Chartres" as a timeless classic. Virtually every page holds a miniature essay on, e.g., history of American retailing, architectural modernism, fashionable ant-semitism before WWII, the department store in diffusion of high culture, visual representation of American optimism in the Depression, designing a home for a dysfunctional family, Wright's inexhaustible eccentricities and a very fine brief biography (including his odd relations with Jews), urban history of Pittsburgh (Toker--an early Renaissance specialist--wrote an underappreciated urban/artistic popular study of the city where he has lived for many years), "nature" in American culture, Objectivist philosophy (remember that rite of passage of our youth?) and much more. I can think of few other works that immerse a reader so fully and enjoyably in a time, place and the interface of vast historical and cultural forces.

Every college course on America since the Civil War should assign this book. I recommend it to everyone who loves to read and especially who loves to see a well-prepared mind at play with a fascinating panorama and telling details.

I am not a relative, professional colleague or in any other way obligated to say the above, just a former history teacher who owes Professor Toker thanks for a great read.

Robert Goldman, Manhattan, NY

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!

This book is an extraordinary education in the many facets of early twentieth-century American life and international architecture that bear on a house in the forest that has become a lasting treasure for devotees of Frank Lloyd Wright, a testament to his genius, and a gift to the traditions from which it borrowed and synthesized. Its author-Franklin Toker-has evidently read, observed, and digested everything that could have possibly influenced the building of this world-famous house. Whether carefully detailing the twists and turns of modernist architecture, reviewing the "social vaulting" strategy of E.J. Kaufmann and his family among the regional elite in the Pittsburgh area or musing over the influence and legacy of Wright's anti-Semitism, whether explaining the structural features of the building itself, pointing to the progenitors of its design in Wright's earlier work and that of his some of his contemporaries or demonstrating how Wright beat the Internationalists at their own game, Toker is ever the entertaining instructor assiduously and judiciously separating out fact and fiction, complex verities and simplistic myths in order to tell a story that generously enlarges everyone in this venture. By the end of the book, the reader has been profoundly changed by Toker's odyssey, enriching both her or his outlook on this architectural masterpiece and appreciation for the genius who designed it. No less rewarding, the reader has been taken on a voyage through the life and times of a powerful and beguiling client who proved himself equal to the tasks of commissioning such a unique blend of modernist and vernacular elements and challenging its architect to meet the demands of producing a work that has drawn such popular and scholarly acclaim.