architects may come and architects may go and never change your point of view...

yesterday i went to see fallingwater with my dear friend lisa, who came to visit from philly for the weekend. i don't know much about architecture or frank lloyd wright. i'm not going to be a poseur and write some sort of critical review of the home. i will say this, though: the house truly is beautiful and meticulous and very worth-seeing. most striking for me (and maybe this is because i'm tall?) was how small the interior spaces were; the staircases were narrow and dark, the ceilings were low, the rooms were close and intimate.

but what i thought about the most as katy, our soft-spoken docent, guided us from room to room, was about how frozen-in-time the space is. it was like stumbling into someone's old photograph, like falling into a chapter from a history book.

and more importantly...

the parties that house must have seen!!! i'm sure edgar kaufmann, jr., knew his way around a social gathering. what i would give to have been a guest at one of those parties! women in gorgeous, clingy dresses; men in high-necked sweaters and blazers; martinis in every other hand, cigarettes in long holders in the hands without drinks. the thought makes me giddy! i could picture myself standing on the terrace, wearing something that was red (or maybe green? but definitely fantastic!) with my hair all long and curly and my shoulders bare, flirting with some tall, dark-haired artist who talked to me about chet baker and who insisted on lighting my cigarettes. swoon... is this what becomes of the little girl who fantasizes about being a princess or a fairy? does she grow up to dream of playing dress-up and going to magnificent parties?

so, frank lloyd wright, thank you! although i must confess to not having really paid attention to anything i was told by my tour guide, you did give me an excuse to escape into my imagination for a while and revel in the beauty of make-believe.