Fallingwater in Mill Run, Pennsylvania, is one of 10 Frank Lloyd Wright buildings that has been nominated for inclusion in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List.
The ten buildings designed by “the Father of Modern Architecture” are the first modern architecture structures ever submitted by the U.S. to the World Heritage List, said Lynda Waggoner, Director of Fallingwater and Vice President of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Waggoner organized the nomination, which has been underway for more than a decade.
The World Heritage List protects and preserves 1,007 culturally significant natural and man-made sites in 161 countries.
“It’s well known, particularly in Europe. Not as much in the United States, because most of the properties on the list in the United States are ones that we all know well,” said Waggoner.
The U.S. has 22 sites on the list, including the Grand Canyon and Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
According to Waggoner, UNESCO requested in the 1990s that a serial submission of Wright’s work be nominated to the list. The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy brought together a panel of experts in 2003 to narrow down Wright’s works to the ten most influential and groundbreaking. Waggoner said Fallingwater was a natural choice.
“There’s never been a building like Fallingwater, either before it or after it," Waggoner said. "It’s so attuned to the peculiarities of its place."
The nomination will not be voted on by the World Heritage Committee until the summer of 2016, said Waggoner, and inclusion is not guaranteed.
“It’s just whether or not they feel the nomination is complete and warrants World Heritage status,” Waggoner said.
