Guess what Lee and I saw Tuesday? Something I never thought I would see, not in a million years.
Wait for it, wait for it…..
A big chunk of the Berlin Wall!
Can you imagine, in the middle of southwestern Pennsylvania??
So, here’s the story.
Lee and I saw Fallingwaters, the beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright house that is cantilevered over a stream and its falls, perhaps 15 years ago. There is now a second Frank Lloyd Wright house just a few miles south of Fallingwaters that was not yet open to the public back then, the hexagon house called Kentuck Knob. So we went to see it.
This home was designed and built for the Hagan’s in 1953, when Frank Lloyd Wright was 86. It is a small house, but its craftsmanship, detail, and design are remarkable, as can be expected. The Hagan’s are a local family that founded an ice cream company, which supposedly makes the best ice cream in the area. The Hagan’s sold the house in 1986 to a Lord Palumbo of England. Lord Palumbo has created a sculpture garden in a meadow below the home, and it just happens to include this chunk of the Berlin Wall. Imagine that.
As with many historical homes, people are not allowed to take photos inside. But here are a few of the exterior:
The cutouts in the wood allow light in the living room, and the wall gives privacy from the courtyard and car port.
Below is the deck off the living room on the back side of the house. The skylights are shaped like hexagons.
The master bedroom was built in the hillside for natural cooling, and the open windows help with cross ventilation:
Exquisite!
I am going to continue with a second post. The internet reception here is finicky, and I have already lost this post twice. :(
