The mountains of Western Pennsylvania are twice enriched by the genius of America's greatest architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. Located just a few miles southwest of Wright's masterpiece, Fallingwater, and high atop a bluff overlooking the Youghiogheny River gorge stands Kentuck Knob, an eloquent testimony to the unity of man and nature. Kentuck Knob was designed by Wright in 1954 for I. N. Hagan, owner of the Hagan Ice Cream Company and his artist wife, Bernardine. The Uniontown couple commissioned Wright to design the house for their 89-acre tract of farmland in the Kentuck district of Stewart Township, Fayette County.
Designed on a hexagonal grid, Kentuck Knob is a small, one story Usonian house. Usonian, meaning affordable for the average American, was a signature design of Frank Lloyd Wright. Both dramatic and serene, the house, situated just below the crest of the hill, appears almost part of the mountain itself and stands 2,050 feet above sea level. As an open floor plan, cantilevered overhangs and great expanses of glass effortlessly integrate the inside with the outside.
Kentuck Knob's construction materials of native sandstone and tidewater red cypress blend naturally with the surroundings. The fully functional kitchen is the architectural core of the home. Its walls of stone not only anchor the two wings of the house but they also rise to penetrate the horizontal line of the copper roof. An open floor plan, cantilevered overhangs, and great expanses of glass effortlessly integrate the inside with the outside. Stretching to the east, just beyond the back terrace, is a breathtaking panorama of the Youghiogheny River Gorge and the beautiful Laurel Highlands mountains that surround it.
