Fallingwater director to retire in 2018
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Lynda S. Waggoner, director of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home Fallingwater, announced Friday that she will step down from her position at the end of February. She has been director of the Fayette County landmark since 1996.
But she has been a member of the Fallingwater family for much longer, beginning as a summer tour guide when she was 17. The house had been open to the public for only a year.
Inspired by her Fallingwater experience, Ms. Waggoner studied architecture at the University of Kentucky and earned dual degrees in art history and anthropology with summa cum laude honors at the University of Pittsburgh.
Ms. Waggoner became Fallingwater’s first curator in 1985, a position that was made full time in 1986. She assumed the additional role of site administrator a year later. In that capacity, she worked with Edgar Kaufmann Jr., who deeded Fallingwater to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in 1963.
Fallingwater was commissioned by Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar Kaufmann Sr. as a summer retreat for his family. It was built in 1936-37. Ms. Waggoner is also vice president of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
The decision to leave was a bittersweet one, Ms. Waggoner said. “I love the place.” But “it just seemed like the right time.” Her husband, Tom, has been retired for several years, and she will turn 70 in March. “There are other things we’ve wanted to do that we talked about doing for years and years. There was always this one project [to complete].”
She continued, “The house is in great shape. All of the capital projects are complete. It’s a good time.”
Ms. Waggoner said she would continue to work to secure inclusion of Fallingwater on the United Nations’ World Heritage List of significant cultural landmarks, a lengthy process. Fallingwater was one of 10 Wright buildings formally nominated by the U.S. Department of the Interior in January 2015.
The conservancy is interviewing search firms to identify candidates for the position.