Fast Thaw - Fallingwater

[m.perrino]

I saw some scary 'fast thaw' video of Fallingwater and the creek was running faster than I can ever remember. Hope all is o.k.

[Reidy]

The house suffered flood damage in the 1950s. The stairs down to the stream were damaged, so they were attached to the rock at the bottom. Before that they were suspended from the balcony with no support.

[Roderick Grant]

It is true that the house suffered flood damage in the 1950s, and that the stairs were designed to hang free, but as the photo on page 40 of the 1938 issue of Architectural Forum (taken shortly after construction) shows, they were constructed originally with the connection to the rocky bottom of the stream.

[Unbrook]

Now you have me curious. Pictures? Why would it have been changed?
Did it end in the platform we see now?

[Reidy]

Edgar Jr. gives some information on pp 62 - 63 of his book on the house.

Spring freshets regularly carried assorted detritus down the run. Every now and then the steel hangers of the steps descending from the living room would be bent by the forceful impact of segments of tree trunks or heavy lumber. Now the steel straps no longer could be straightened. When I asked Mr. Wright what to do he detailed new, stronger end posts, anchored in bedrock, to shield the stairs. Although this meant that the stairs were not freely suspended, as conceived, the alteration was inconspicuous and effective.

He refers to the 1956 flood damage as happening "the following summer," suggesting 1955 as the date for attachment to the rock. If we have a 1938 photo of the supports, Kaufmann's date is inaccurate.