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[Fallingwater living room, from kitchen]
Living room, looking toward the south windows, from kitchen
The expansive living room has been described as "cave-like," yet secure rather than claustrophobic. Light pours in from virtually continuous, large windows wrapping around three sides of the room. On the right in the photo we see the fireplace, and in front of it, rough stone which protrudes slightly above the level of the rest of the floor, becoming the hearth. This is actually the top of an original boulder on the site, left in place, and Frank Lloyd Wright described this boulder as "Kaufmann's favorite spot for lying in the sun and listening to the falls." So according to Wright this feature is the starting point for the home, determining the height of the main floor. Beyond the fireplace and hearth is a sitting area; for another view of these two areas, see the color photo of the living room.
      Center-left in the photo are double glass doors leading out onto the terrace with trellis above and stairs leading down to the stream below. The stairway leads up, not to the terrace, however, but right into the living room. Between the pillar on the left and the glass doors to the terrace is a hatchway consisting of sliding glass panels which open to the stairway. At the far right corner (just past the plant on the right in the photo), glass doors lead out to the southwest terrace (partly over the falls, and nearest the camera in this view of the house from below the waterfall). Built-in furniture is visible throughout the living room, bench seating on the far end under the south windows, a desk in front of the pillar on the left, and a corner of the dining table, lower-left in the photo. The "main" door and entry way is a good ways out of the photo off to the left, in the corner. Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. discusses the diagonal pattern here in the quotation below, and more fully in his book about Fallingwater.
Photo by the National Park Service
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A contrasting diagonal pattern evoked hospitality as it led from the entry across the open living room to the balcony above the falls; then reaching from the hearthstone to the hatchway over the stream, it recalled ancient cosmic elements - earth, and fire, air and water.

- Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., Fallingwater: A Frank Lloyd Wright Country House, p. 178.



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