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George Washington Masonic Memorial

27 Nov 2013 By

Every time I change trains at the King Street Metro station, I wonder what is inside of that beautiful memorial and that I need to visit it. It took a while, but Dave and I finally picked a day and scheduled a tour.

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial is a Masonic building and memorial dedicated to the memory of George Washington, the first President of the United States and a Mason.  This magnificent structure also serves as a research center, library, community center, performing arts center and concert hall, a banquet hall and meeting site for local and visiting Masonic lodges.

The tower is fashioned after the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt. The 333-foot (101 m) tall memorial sits atop Shooter’s Hill, a lofty peak in mid-Atlantic terms, at 101 Callahan Drive in Alexandria, Virginia.

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The Duquesne Incline

16 Jul 2013 By

IMG_3914The day after visiting Kentuck Knob and Fallingwater, we decided to take a ride on the Duquesne Incline and walk around downtown Pittsburgh. We started with the incline, which was easy to find and the free of charge parking lot next to it was almost empty. We had to climb several flights of stairs from the parking lot to the incline entrance, which starts right after the red bridge with the sign “Duquesne Incline” in the picture below.

The Duquesne Incline was the first Pittsburgh incline designed and built by the engineer Samuel Diescher, who had become the country’s foremost builder of inclines. Opened to the public on May 20, 1877, The Duquesne Incline delights residents and visitors with its original, elegant, wooden cable cars.

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Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

10 Jul 2013 By

After Kentuck Knob we visited Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece – Fallingwater, which was voted the most important building of the 20th century in a poll conducted by the American Institute of Architects. Fallingwater is the name of a very special house that stretches out over a 30’ waterfall.

Fallingwater was designed by the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 for Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar Kaufmann Sr. (Today, it is part of the Macy’s chain). The House was used as a mountain retreat by the Kaufman family.

Nowadays, Fallingwater is entrusted to a Conservancy with its buildings, collections and site intact. The donation was received under a deed of trust that requires the Conservancy to preserve and maintain the buildings. It has been opened to the public since 1964.

Throughout his illustrious career Frank Lloyd Wright has created unique architectural designs all over the world. As an example, the enormously prominent structure that he designed is The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, a modern art museum located in New York City.

We had to take pictures under the Fallingwater sign on our way to the Visitor Center.

Fallingwater

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Kentuck Knob Usonian House

07 Jul 2013 By

I have wanted to visit Fallingwater for quite some time. Kentuck Knob was a delightful addition to our itinerary. While booking our Fallingwater trip online, we noticed the tours to Kentuck Knob house, so we decided to see both houses in one day. We stopped at Kentuck Knob first, since it was on our way from the DC area.

Kentuck Knob is located about seven miles south of Fallingwater, a more famous Frank Lloyd Wright design. It is a smaller family home which is privately owned but opened to the public for tours. Around 1 p.m. we arrived to the Kentuck Knob visitor center and checked in for our tour.  While walking to the Visitor Center we passed the beautiful bird apartments – high-density avian housing.

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