Famed Fallingwater sets dates for folks to stay

This morning, Fallingwater, the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright house in Western Pennsylvania, announced an expanded plan to let some visitors get a fuller experience of the place.

Previously, only students, teachers and staff could do more than go through on a tour, according to director Lynda Waggoner.

So far, dates are set for three sessions, during which visitors can pay to stay two nights at a house on the grounds - the Bear Run Nature Preserve - and spend hours lingering inside Fallingwater itself, even having dinner there, she said.

The sessions are set to start May 11, June 10 and Sept. 7, she revealed this morning.

Eight to 10 visitors will participate at a time, at a per-person cost of $1,095 double occupancy, $1,595 single occupancy.

The spots may already be spoken for, however.

Yesterday, a news story told of a single session being envisioned as a test, with no dates selected, because officials were unsure about public interest.

"It just got out yesterday, and we're kind of overwhelmed by the amount of attention it's getting," she said.

Phone calls kept coming in, and the Web site, www.fallingwater.org, bogged down because of all the traffic.

This morning, a waiting list was growing for the program called InSightOnsite, Waggoner said.

Additional dates are a possibility, though.

"I don't know how many we can do a year," she said. "We have to test it to see what the impact is one us."

Many have marveled at how Wright configured the home of a Pittsburgh department store king into a forest landscape - partly over a waterfall.

Waggoner speaks as if compelled to help others comprehend the magic of the Fayette County place, about 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

"There is a feeling of being right with things," she said. "The house is so in harmony with nature, and there is something in our nature that wants that."

It has moods that change not just with the seasons but as sunlight shifts throughout the day, so one needs to linger for hours to sense its richness, she said.

During the sessions, besides sojourns and meals inside, participants will take part in such activities as landscape tours, a bonfire and cookout, a picnic, and a lecture at the historic barn. Visitors will stay in a four-bedroom house with private baths.

"It's just something we've always thought to share," said Waggoner, who fell in love with the place as an area high school student.

"It's everyone's dream house in the woods," she said. "I get excited still whenever I see it. I love showing it off. . . . It is the great American house. Truly. It's been voted the most significant work of American architecture."

To contact Fallingwater, phone 724-329-8501 or e-mail fallingwater@paconserve.org.