Fallingwater, Pennvylvania

We decided to finish our Frank Lloyd Wright summer by visiting Fallingwater in Pennsylvania.  It's located 90 miles south of Pittsburgh.  We spent the night in Pittsburgh and had a good Italian dinner.

This is the view from the Visitor Center.  This place is very organized and well run.  It's in the middle of nowhere, but if you get close, it's worth the time.

This was the first views of the house.

The family that commissioned the house were the Kaufmans who owned department stores in Pittsburgh.





In the early 2000s they finished a major restoration of the house.  They had to shore up the cantilevers, etc.

It's a masterpiece, we're glad we went!

Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana

Late in the day we left Chicago and got as far as South Bend.  Suddenly, we were in the Eastern Time Zone!  All decent restaurants were closed and we were left with fast food but we found a Steak n Shake which we both love so we were okay.

So actually finding Notre Dame was difficult.  It's a small town.


However, we happened to be walking around when classes broke and there was no doubt that classes had started.

Way in the background is the "golden dome."

Art Deco in Downtown Chicago

It's a McDonald's now, but if you look up, you see the art deco facade.

Inside the Chicago Board of Trade it's all art deco.




Can you see the martini glasses on the doors of the elevators?



I highly recommend people to find the Chicago Architecture Society and take a tour while you are there.  Start with the boat tour but they have 80 docents and many, many tours.

The Field Museum (a natural science museum)

The planner in Chicago did a great job of saving lots of land along the lake to save for public projects.  Of course, the Field Museum is named after the family who owned Marshall Field's.  They were movers and shakers in all aspects of Chicago.

There is the facade of the museum.

A glass-topped entrace they added.  Like The Louvre.

This is Sue the world's largest, most complete and best preserved T. Rex., named after the person who discovered her in North Dakota.


This is the great hall, as one enters.




This is the new Soldier Field, just across the street from the museum.

Decoration in the Architecture of the Turn of the Century (not our century)

This is the opera house.

The light fixtures are sheet music.  The lights are the notes!

This is terracotta.  Remember after the fire they were crazy over terracotta because it wouldn't burn.

These people were crazy over decoration.  Root was the artist in the firm of Burnham & Root.




This is the Tiffany ceiling inside of Marshall Field's. 

Look up! Look up!  All inside of Marshall Field's.