Our Adventure Continues
Day 8 | Part 1: A Day Trip to Pittsburgh but first, Polymath Park
Our First Stop: Polymath Park
Today, we’re off to Pittsburgh. But first! We need to see an interesting collection of a few homes designed by the Master (as he likes to be referred to as), Frank Lloyd Wright and one of his apprentices. The homes are in a development called Polymath Park. The development was the work of two families named Balter and Blum who were inspired by Wright’s Usonian homes. To get the development started, they hired an apprentice of the late Mr. Wright (d. 1959) named Peter Berndston. Designed in accordance with Wright’s organic methodology, after the first two homes were completed between 1963 and 1965, they remained in the private hands of these two families for over 30 years.
After a change in ownership in 2003, the new owners combined a property they owned called Treetops (a home and restaurant) with the two original Polymath Park homes to create an environment around Frank Lloyd Wright’s original vision for Usonian living.
Today, the Park includes two additional homes designed by Wright. These two homes were deconstructed from their original sites and reconstructed on the Park’s grounds in settings which duplicate their original sites. Tours are available for all four homes and as an added bonus, you can rent the homes for 1 to 3 nights for the total experience of living in a Usonian home. We had to settle for tours of two of the homes due to time limitations but we enjoyed touring two of the homes–one designed by Berndston (Duncan House) and one by FLW (the Mantyla House).
Polymath Park
Duncan House and Treetops Restaurant
Mantyla House
Pittsburgh
After an impressive lunch at the Treetops Restaurant, we headed approximately 40 miles into Pittsburgh. Originally, we had hoped to see the Andy Warhol Museum but since they were closed on this day, we needed to adlib–which is a travel necessity more often these days! More on that on Day 8 (Part 2) next.