Fallingwater and Historic Preservation at 50: A New Exhibit

Posted by on Mar 29, 2024 in | Comments Off on Fallingwater and Historic Preservation at 50: A New Exhibit In 1982 the Museum of Modern Art commissioned renowned architectural modelmaker Paul Bonfilio to create a 3/8-inch:1-foot scale model of Fallingwater, the summer home of Pittsburgh department store magnate Edgar Kaufman, nestled in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania and designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The model took Bonfilio more than two years to execute — not quite as long as it had taken...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by on Mar 27, 2024 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter “A century hence, they will not be here as I see them,” John James Audubon wrote in his journal on December 12, 1826, during a trip to England to raise money for the publication of The Birds of America. Audubon was feeling disconcerted about encroaching human activity in the American wilderness that would destroy nature’s “many brilliant charms,” among which he laments, “The Eagle scarce ever...
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Pennsylvania’s Architectural Heritage: The Preservation Movement in the Keystone State, 1950-1981

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania’s Architectural Heritage: The Preservation Movement in the Keystone State, 1950-1981 As the last in a four-part series about Pennsylvania s architecture, this conclusion focuses on the develop­ments which have occurred in the field of preservation over the past thirty years. Although this temporal division may seem disproportionate when com­pared with the one hundred fifty years covered in rite preceding article. it has been dictated by both the incentives and challenges to...
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Fayette at the Crossroads

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Fayette at the Crossroads Fayette County has always been at the crossroads, both literally and figuratively, its destiny shaped by its location, the incredible riches of its natural resources and the vi­tality of a people descended from al­most every nation of Europe. It has a son of dual personality, geo­graphically divided between mountains and lowlands, historically divided into two almost equal eras of economic...
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Historic Preservation in Pennsylvania: A Primer

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Historic Preservation in Pennsylvania: A Primer Depending on the individual, historic preser­vation evokes a myriad of interpretations. To the local historical society, it’s restoring the town’s oldest structure to a house-museum showcasing collections of period antiques. To community planners, it often results in a challenge of saving the best while destroying the rest. And to many, historic preservation means little more than a...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message “Pennsylvania Memories Last a Lifetime.” A new tourism marketing campaign offers many opportunities and a new approach to call attention to the Keystone State’s rich and varied histori­cal and cultural assets. Pennsylvania’s amazing array of memorable places gives travelers a deeper appreciation of our national heritage while providing an enjoyable family experience. An...
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Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents Journey in Time Prom the first interior scenes of Pennsbury Manor, in which light seems to caress each object-pewter bowl, chair, blanket chest-viewers of “Historic Pennsylvania: A Journey to America’s Past” will know this is masterful cinematography. As the camera moves a short distance from the mansion’s front door to the lush banks of the Delaware River, a dazzling...
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Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents Parrish Frederick Parrish (1870-1962) – who later adopted the family name Maxfield as a middle and then professional name – was born into Philadelphia’s Quaker community and reared in a culturally privileged environment. From his father Stephen, an acclaimed etcher and landscape painter, he inherited his talent for natural observation and an understanding of the business of...
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Fallingwater

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Fallingwater Its fame has even doomed its description, “an icon of American architecture,” to status as a cliche, but Frank Lloyd Wright’s woodland retreat in south­eastern Fayette County, between Mill Run and Ohiopyle, for Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar Kaufmann and his wife Liliane has earned such hyperbole with its dramatic design and siting. Few may realize it, but Fallingwater...
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Bookshelf

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bookshelf Keystone of Justice: The Pennsylvania Superior Court By Patrick J. Tamilia and John J. Hare Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission for the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2000 (366 pages; cloth, $29.95; paper, $19.95) A result of crisis in appellate proceedings, once solely the domain of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, was the creation, in 1895, of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania....
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