The story behind Frank Lloyd Wright's Kentuck Knob
DUNBAR, Pa. (KDKA) -- To understand the Frank Lloyd Wright home, Kentuck Knob, you must know that near it is another Wright house, Fallingwater.
"Fallingwater is, of course, arguably, one of the most famous houses in the entire world, and we exist latterly and figuratively because of them," said Tim Fischer, manager of Kentuck Knob.
The Hagan family from Uniontown, who were once the owners of the Hagan Ice Cream Company, were friends of the Kaufmann family, who owned Fallingwater. And after years of visiting them at their home above the waterfall, the Hagans decided they needed their own Frank Lloyd Wright house.
What would follow in the mid-1950s would become the house on top of the knob.
"They caught Wright at the tail end of his career," said Fischer. "He agreed to design a house for them and said his one condition was he had to create all of this without ever stepping foot on the property, sight unseen. He told the Hagans to send topographical maps and photos, and he would come up with the design for them, and that's what he did."
Wright once said, "No house should ever be on any hill or on anything. It should be of the hill, belonging to it." And that's part of the organic philosophy in the architecture that he used in designing this house.
"Wright wanted to create distinctly American architecture, and these Usonian houses were part of that program," Fischer said. "They would be small, modest houses, affordable for the average American family, so they should be able to spread all across the United States. It was the beginning of what we know today as the ranch-style house."
The Hagans ended up paying around $96,000, which in today's currency is roughly $1.2 million, to build the house, landscape it, and fill it with furniture.
They lived here full-time until the mid-1980s. Eventually, they sold the home to architect enthusiasts Lord and Lady Palumbo of Great Britain, and it was the Palumbo family that opened this home to the public in 1996.
Thanks to them, each year, thousands of people journey from all over the world to see this Wright hidden gem.
The next time you are at Fallingwater, leave some time to drive down the road and visit Kentuck Knob.
For tickets, a tour, and other information on Kentuck Knob, click here.
