Leaks abound at Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous home, the Wall Street Journal reported, and repairs are costing 40 times what it cost to construct it.
The gravity-defying Fallingwater is looking forlorn in recent months with a thick barrier of scaffolding. The efforts of its steward, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, to fix dozens of leaks at the Mill Run, Pennsylvania property is adding up to $7 million — a far cry from the $148,000 required to build it in the 1930s.
The home-turned-museum is a seminal example of Wright’s organic architecture, but its ambitious design and position over a waterfall have left it in a somewhat precarious state as it approaches the 100-year mark.
Now, preservationists are hard at work shoring up the property for generations to come.
The last time the conservancy took on a restoration of this scale was in the early 2000s, Justin Gunther, Fallingwater’s director, told The Post. This current project is a part of the next 20-year preservation plan for Fallingwater, which received a UNESCO World Heritage site designation in 2019.
It’s one of just two Pennsylvania sites on the list — the other being Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
The conservancy is now at the midway point of its three-year project, Gunther said, which includes pumping liquid grout into the home’s leaky walls, replacing roofing assemblies on the home’s flat roofs, addressing deteriorated reinforced concrete, and conserving the window and doorframe steel — the latter of which requires special care given the humidity from the waterfall.
“Water is always the main natural force that you’re trying to combat with a house,” Gunther said.
The project is due to finish up by the end of winter 2026. All of this time and work, of course, comes at a steep cost.
“Like with any construction project, they always cost more than you anticipate,” Gunther said.
Original estimates for the project in 2019 have more than doubled, thanks in large part to pandemic-era supply shortages and subsequent inflation.
A state grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is covering a large chunk of the big-dollar restoration, and the remaining funds are being raised through private foundations and individuals, Gunther said.
Another $1 million will be required to complete the fundraising.
The site received 143,000 visitors in 2024, according to the Journal.
“Frank Lloyd Wright said that Fallingwater was designed to the music of the stream,” Gunther said. “He meant it to be this kind of sculptural expression of the stream itself, of rushing water. It’s this sculptural expression of nature’s forms and principles. Because of that direct inspiration from nature, no matter who you are, when you come to see Fallingwater, you find some connection to it.”
The recent attention Fallingwater has received, however, is due to the scaffolding that has encased the 9,300-square-foot home since December. Gunther said the scaffolding should come down by the beginning of April for the regular tour season. That means that early bird visitors have a special opportunity.
“Preservation-in-Action” tours planned for the start of Fallingwater’s tour season next month will take visitors on a deep dive into the complexities of the preservation projects, Gunther said.
