THE GEIGER DATABASE


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FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT COMMISSIONS

CONTRIBUTING SPECIALIZATIONS:
Structural Engineer

One of the most encompassing approaches by John Geiger to the study of Frank Lloyd Wright commissions was the creation of 10 data tables that provided places to record project coordinator, preliminary drawing coordinator, working drawings coordinator, specifications writer, structural engineer, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, landscape design, supervising apprentice during construction, and building contractor. Then, drawings for the commission were listed. While such level of detail was usually not available to Geiger, this search represents a refined model for the study of the design and building process that other researchers may want to carry forward. Only Wright commissions having information recorded for these categories of contribution are returned in this search, showing a total of 299 records.

Project Information

Weekend House for Mr. and Mrs. Edgar J. Kaufman, Sr., "Fallingwater" [Bear Run, Pennsylvania] (1935)

Note: The following information concerning this project represents original research and analysis by John Geiger, and is based in his long and detailed study of the Frank Lloyd Wright literature as well as personal contacts with members of the Taliesin Fellowship and architectural historians. In addition, he added his own categories of building type and compositional form, as well as other points of consideration that he deemed important to understanding of the design. As with any primary archival source material, the references and sources of attribution should be consulted where possible to affirm the data provided. Sometimes there is an indication of attribution for which there is no matching footnote recorded. Some understanding of the intended source may be discovered in remaining notes or frequently cited publications which appear in the comment field.

Name of client: Kaufmann, Sr., Edgar J..

Sobriquet or alternative place name: Fallingwater.

Design Status (as of 2011): Executed.

Occupancy form or use: HOUSING/Residential/Single Family.

Principal building materials: MASONRY/Stone, concrete.

Number of drawings for this project detailed in the database: 51.

Drawing Number and Description

3602.??1     Floor plans of all three levels and section maybe Hitchcock
3602.??2     Cross Section of all levels
3602.??3     Site plan of vicinity, Bear Run and Youghiogheny River
3602.??4     Topographic survey of of Bear Run Camp
3602.??5     foundation plan, preliminary
3602.??6     First floor plan
3602.001     Aerial perspective from above the waterfall
3602.002     Aerial perspective from the rear looking towards the entrance
3602.003     Perspective from below the waterfall; preliminary to final
3602.004     Perspective from below waterfall.
3602.011     Two elevations and two cross sections
3602.012     Cross seections, three
3602.025     Bookshelves detail at stairway
3602.030     Kitchen cabinets
3602.035     Glass stair hatch details
3602.042     Cross section and North elevation
3602.044     Floor plan first floor, before the west balcony was added
3602.045     Elevations, three, studies
3602.046     Noted in Toker but never published, third floor?
3602.047     Second floor plan before west balcony was added
3602.048     Floor plan of living room , kitchen only
3602.049     Elevation, early study
3602.050     Perspective, no rendering
3602.052     Light standard
3602.053     Fireplace plan and elevation; right and left hand
3602.060     Cross section all levels
3602.073     Living roomm interior elevations
3602.076     Plan and elevation of fireplace
3602.078     Furniture arrangement for living room
3602.079     Cabinets living room
3602.081     Details of flashing and sound deadening
3602.083     Details of flashing and sound deadening
3602.090     Floor reinforcing for second floor
3602.092     Exterior stair to bedroom level
3602.094     Insulation and flashing details
3602.096     Alterations to dining space
3602.100     LIghting fixture 6 feet tall
3602.106     Cross section showing proposed dining room
3602.108     Bathroom rearrangement
3602.109     Cross section of bedrooms above the kitchen
3602.110     Stair to plunge pool
3602.110     Stairway to plunge pool
3602.121     Suspended stair from living room, plan and section
3602.135     Casework Mrs. Kaufmann's room
3602.136     Floor plan, first floor, north plan
3602.141     Living room elevations
3602.145     Door frame details
3602.153     Fireplace kettle
3602.157     Floor plans of two upper levels and two elevation (Jan '38 AF)
3602.158     Floor plan of main level (Jan '38 Arch Forum)
3602.166     Floor plan of water, living, and bedroom levels. Wright conceptua

Individuals recorded as contributing to project:

Note: Not everyone who contributed to a project may be named; only those whose participation has been confirmed from a source appear above. Occasionally names presented as contributors to a project may seem chronologically anomalous. This usually occurs when an individual prepared drawings for publicity, exhibition, or publication long after the original date of a commission.

Howe, John
Mosher, Robert Keel
Wright, Frank Lloyd
Working drawings coordinator: Mosher, Robert Keel
Working drawings coordinator: Tafel FAIA, Edgar
Structural engineering: Peters, William Wesley
Structural engineering: Glickman, Mendel
Structural engineering: Dombar, Abrom
Construction supervision: Mosher, Robert Keel
Construction supervision: Tafel, Edgar
Construction supervision: Dombar, Abrom

Plan type: Fallingwater.

Note: Records a category devised by Geiger to classify the types of floor plans found in Frank Lloyd Wright projects to categorize types of roof structure. These terms were applied consistently through a choice list on Column [PLANTYPE] in Table MMTFDRAWINGS FILE, and may be searched.

Roof type: Flat.

Note: Records a category devised by Geiger to classify the types of roof structure found in Frank Lloyd Wright projects. These terms were applied consistently through a choice list on Column [ROOFTYPE] in Table MMTFDRAWINGS FILE, and may be searched.

Project Drawing Date Range

Note: Dates for preliminary and working drawings, as well as the start and completion of construction, appear here only when present in the database. Through careful study of original, reproduced, or published Wright drawings, John Geiger developed an elaborate granulation for design process dates and their attributions. Such information is largely available only for Wright projects dating from the mid-1930s until 1959.

Date recorded by John Geiger for chronological sorting: 9/22/1935.

Preliminary drawings date: 1/30/1936.

Construction started: 4/6/1936.

Notes and References

Comments by John Geiger and/or sources of attribution: Friedland, Roger, and Zellman, Harold. The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Talisein Fellowship (New York: Regan, 2006), p. 288, Dombar.

Note: The information shown above is collected from a series of data table columns intended originally to record not only comments or notes, but also to cite sources of attribution for dates assigned to the various stages of drawing preparation in the design process. As with any primary archival source material, the references and sources of attribution shown here should be consulted where possible to affirm the data provided.

This commission is referenced and/or illustrated in the following publications:

Cleary, Richard. Merchant Prince and Master Builder: Edgar J. Kaufmann and Frank Lloyd Wright. Seattle, Washington: Universitry of Washington Press. [ISBN: 0-88039-036-0].
Cleary, Richard (editor). Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward. New York: Skira/ Rizzoli. [ISBN: 978-0-8478-3262-0].
Drexler, Arthur. The Drawings of Frank Lloyd Wright. New York: Horizon Press. [ISBN: 0-8180-0019-8].
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly: 2003, Vol. 14, No. 1. Phoenix, Arizona: Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
Kaufmann, Jr., Edgar. Frank Lloyd Wright: Drawings for a Living Architecture. New York: Horizon Press.
Levine, Neil. The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. Princeton, New Jersery: Princeton University Press. [ISBN: 0-691-03371-4].
Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks. Frank Lloyd Wright: The Masterworks. New York: Rizzoli. [ISBN: 0-8478-1715-6].
Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks. Frank Lloyd Wright Drawings: Masterworks from the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives. New York: Harry H. Abrams Inc.. [ISBN: 0-8108-1773-4].
Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks. Frank Lloyd Wright Monograph 1924-1935 (Volume 5). Tokyo: A. D. A. Edita. [ISBN: 4-87140-516-8].
Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks. Frank Lloyd Wright Monograph Preliminary Studies, 1933-1959 (Volume 11). Tokyo: A. D. A. Edita. [ISBN: 4-87140-522-2].
Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks. Frank Lloyd Wright Monograph, In His Renderings 1887-1959 (Volume 12). Tokyo: A. D. A. Edita. [ISBN: 4-87140-523-0].
Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks. Frank Lloyd Wright: The Complete Works 1917-1942 (Volume 2). Cologne, Germany: Taschen. [ISBN: 978-3-8365-0926-8].
Riley, Terence and Reed, Peter (editors). Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect. New York: The Museum of Modern Art. [ISBN: 0-87070-642-X].
Wright, Frank Lloyd. Frank Lloyd Wright: Architectural Forum (January, 1938). Boston, Mass.: Rogers and Manson Co..
Wright, Frank Lloyd. Frank Lloyd Wright: Collected Writings Volume 3 1931-1939. New York: Rizzoli. [ISBN: 0-8478-1699-O].