TheGameNarrative

Games at Fallingwater

Fallingwater is a house designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 for the Kaufmann family, owners of a Pittsburgh department store, built over a waterfall.

Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr., a Pittsburgh department store owner, and his wife Liliane commissioned architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design Fallingwater.

Edgar Kaufmann Sr. had established a summer retreat at Bear Run for his employees by 1916. When employees stopped using the retreat, the Kaufmanns bought the site in July 1933 and hired Wright to design the house in 1934. The Kaufmanns began using the house in 1937 and hired Wright to design a guest wing, which was finished in 1939. Edgar Kaufmann Jr., the Kaufmanns’ son, continued to use the house after his parents’ deaths. [Wikipedia]

To read more about the Kaufmann family, Click Here

I recently visited Fallingwater, and afterwards I wondered what type of games the Kaufmann family may have played during their stays at Fallingwater. 

To find out if the Kaufmann family enjoyed any sort of games while at Fallingwater, I contacted Max Adzema, Public Programs Manager at Fallingwater, with this question. His answers were as follows:

“If you visited our gallery, you may have seen our current exhibition of archival video footage, much of which is from the summer camp that was on this property before Fallingwater. In it, we have some footage of Betty Kaufmann (Edgar Kaufmann Sr’s mother) playing checkers as well as a lot of footage of them playing baseball and swimming. They would have continued with outdoor games, hiking, fishing, and swimming after Fallingwater was built.
The Kaufmann Films: A Legacy in Motion – Fallingwater

As far as board games or indoor games, we do not have anything in our current collection. In addition to a lot of reading, relaxing, and listening to music, I am sure they did have at least one game to entertain themselves. But, if so, it was removed before tours began in the 1960s and we do not have any records of any board games in the inventory of objects they owned.”

-Max Adzema.

Given this information from Max, we know outdoor games such as baseball were played, and during the time the property was a summer camp, checkers was played. It appears we don’t know what indoor games the Kaufmann family played while enjoying their time at Fallingwater, unless future evidence surfaces.

I highly recommend that anyone interested in architecture visit Fallingwater, if the chance ever permits. For further reading, visit the Fallingwater website Here.

Thanks Max Adzema!