Fallingwater was entrusted to the Western Pennsylvania Conser­vancy by Edgar Kaufmann, jr. in 1963. This photograph by W. Galen Barton, depicts a serene setting. Mr. Kaufmann, Dr. Lewis, and Joe White predicted that several hundred specialists and art lovers would visit each year. The first year saw 20,000 tourists from all walks of life. Since then, this number rose to 76,000 in 1982, and 133,000 in 1999. In 1980 only 50,000 toured the White House! Kaufmann also gave 1/2 million dollars to the Conser­vancy to maintain the house. With this and the finances taken in from the visits, the house has supported itself. Presently, millions are being raised to strengthen the sagging stone structure.

  The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, working together to save the places we care about, protects natural lands, promotes healthy and attractive communities, and preserves Fallingwater.

 Since its inception in 1932, the Conservancy has protected more than 200,000 acres of natural lands in the state, saving habitats for a diversity of life and uses. The Conservancy works to secure lands of ecological significance that frequently offer recreational and scenic values. Our goal is to permanently protect lands and waters for both their biological value and their benefit to humans. They have been responsible for the founding of five state parks in western Pennsylva­nia, including Ohiopyle, McConnell's Mill, Moraine, Oil Creek, and Laurel Ridge State Parks. Guided by our staff of scientists, we con­tinue to focus on protecting outstanding natural lands in western Pennsylvania, and use a range of conservation tools to achieve pro­tection, including outright purchase, cooperative agreements with landowners, conservation easements, and lease agreements.

 From its earliest years, the WPC has worked to help make neigh­borhoods more attractive through its urban flower and vegetable programs. Today, in response to overwhelming public demand, we annually facilitate 300 sperate garden projects, with the help of nearly 3,000 volunteers throughout the region. We organize gardens in schools in the city of Pittsburgh, and coordinate the planting of floral and vegetable gardens in neighborhoods and along regional highway corridors. The WPC has begun a "green neighborhood initia­tive" by partnering with other organizations to provide expertise to help improve economic, environmental, and aesthetic qualities in urban environments. To encourage reinvestment in urban communi­ties, we forge creative partnerships, and seek local support through corporate, foundation, and government sponsorship. By helping to make communities more attractive, we can help reduce development pressures on undeveloped countrysides.

 Looking to the future, the WPC plans a series of innovative com­munity programs to help communities equip future generations to ensure a healthy local economy as well as protected significant natural resources. Working in identified protected areas, the Conser­vancy fosters the integration of ecological protection with economic and social needs while building on the core values of the community.

 The WPC maintains and operates Fallingwater, designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1936 as the week end home of the Edgar J. Kaufmann family. This house, -in Mill Run, was entrusted to the WPC in 1963, and since that time, almost 3 million visitors have founded this National Historic Landmark. They are dedicated to preserving Fallingwater as a symbol of living in harmony with nature. Fallingwater is a world class museum, housing Wright's exclusively designed furnishings, and a substantial collection of internationally acclaimed artworks. It is also an educational facility, offering resi­dency study and internships. A living work of art in its own right, the house is currently in need of a major preservation effort, focused primarily on structural strengthening. Fallingwater lies on Bear Run Nature Reserve, a 5,000 acre tract owned by the WPC, which is available to the public.

 The WPC is a membership-based, not-for-profit conservation organization. It provides members with benefits, materials and oppor­tunities to help engage them and others in the goals of the WPC, including its core mission of "saving the places we care about".
WPC MISSION:

 The WPC's mission is to enrich the human relationship with the natural world by saving the places we care about:  

1. By conserving water, land, and life through the permanent protection of the places of exceptional ecological, recreational, and scenic value; 
       2. By protecting rural Pennsylvania from sprawl through efforts that foster community renewal in key cities and towns;

 3. By preserving Fallingwater as a symbol of human activity in harmony with nature; 4. By fostering land stewardship ethics with particular emphasis on youth; and
5. By engaging others in cooperative partnerships to promote sustainable natural resource management.

Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright came into the world in Richmond Center, Wisconsin June 8, 1869. During her pregnancy, his mother encour­aged her unborn son to become an architect by looking at books of English cathedrals. As a young up and coming architect, Wright declared he would become, "the greatest architect who ever lived."  

    Edgar Kaufmann, jr. had been studying art and architecture in Florence and Venice when he read Frank Lloyd Wright's autobiogra­phy. The intelligent and creative 24 year old man soon found himself apprenticing at Wright's Taliesin community. Kaufmann's parents visited him there, fell under Wright's spell, and commissioned the architect to design Fallingwater, the Kaufmann's summer home. See many more photographs and read about the building of one of Wright’s most reknowned works in McGuinness’ Explorer’s Guide to Ohiopyle.