FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

When HOUSE BEAUTIFUL magazine's editorial offices were still on Madison Avenue, I met Frank Lloyd Wright in the elevator with Elizabeth Gordon, Editor-in-Chief. They were working on a story about his furniture designs, but that morning he was on another subject. When we got off on the fifth floor, he concluded his idea. All of the buildings on Manhattan should have been made of glass. Then you could have seen all the way from the Bronx to The Battery. What did he plan for the bathrooms?

We met briefly next in San Francisco when he was the dinner guest of the local architects. He made a short but modest speech in which he said in the world of art, the only American contribution was in architecture. Further, there was only one architect who qualified. It was easy to guess who he was referring to.

I was serving on the Good Design Selection Committee of the New York Museum of Modem Art permanently chaired by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. He told an amusing story about Wright who had designed a house for his parents, which they had named Falling Water.

At the Kaufmann's first dinner party, a rather grand affair, Wright was the guest of honor. It was raining heavily that evening, and water started dripping onto the dining table.

Obviously disturbed, Mrs. Kaufmann turned and asked, "Mr. Wright, what are we going to do about this?"

He replied, "Mrs. Kaufmann, I suggest we move the table."

Falling Water, indeed.