Frank Lloyd Wright, one of America’s most creative and innovative architects, experimented with new ways to design homes and integrate them into nature. Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob are prime examples of this organic architecture. See them both when you travel to the scenic Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania for a day with Bill Keene, a writer and lecturer on architecture, urban history, and city planning.

Fallingwater, perhaps the architect’s best-known structure, was designed in 1936 as a mountain retreat for the Kaufmann family of Pittsburgh. Cantilevered over a waterfall, the home is one of the most dramatic and frequently photographed works of architecture. It is also the only major Wright house with its setting, original furnishings, and artworks intact. And it is one of 26 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United States.

Constructed entirely of Tidewater red cypress and native fieldstone, the house on Kentuck Knob appears almost a part of the mountain on which it is built. Designed in 1953 for the I.N. Hagan family, Kentuck Knob now houses furnishings and art of the current owners, Lord Peter and Lady Hayat Palumbo.

Note: Not all areas of Fallingwater are accessible for visitors with disabilities.

Know Before You Go

• The tour departs by motorcoach from downtown Washington, DC with a designated secondary pick-up outside the city. Content delivered by the study leader on the way to the destination, after the secondary pick-up, is an integral part of the study tour experience. Meeting the group once the tour is en route is discouraged.
• Tour participants meet at and leave by bus from the Holiday Inn Capitol, 550 C St., SW, with a pickup stop at I-270 Exit 26 Urbana carpool lot at about 7:55 a.m.

• Lunch at the Fallingwater Café is included.

General Information

• Registration for this tour will end by 2 p.m. ET on Friday, September 12, 2025.
• Smithsonian Associates is a mask-friendly environment. Please feel free to bring and wear a mask at any time during a tour, both for your safety or the safety of others.
• As we aim to move away from single use water bottles, guests are strongly encouraged to get in the habit of bringing their own reusable water bottle on tour.
• For additional tour information:
• Study Tour Policies
• Refund/Cancellation Policy