Located seven miles southeast of Fallingwater in the breathtaking Laurel Highlands, Kentuck Knob, also known as the Hagan House, is a one story dwelling situated on Chestnust Ridge, the western-most ridge of Pennsylvania's Allegheny Mountains. This Frank Lloyd Wright designed home is recessed into the southern side of Kentuck Knob's 2,050 foot peak. This mountain summit offers a sweeping view of the Youghiogheny River gorge, as well as surrounding hills and farmland.
At age 86, and while working on the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Beth Shalom Synagogue in Elkins Park, PA and 12 residential homes, Wright said he could "shake Kentuck Knob out of his sleeve at will" and except for 2 hours during the construction phase, never set foot on the site.
While most homes have 4 angles, Kentuck Knob has 58! Interestingly, the house does not sit on the top of the mountain knob, but rather is nestled into the side of the knob, allowing the building to appear organic and harmonious with the landscape. It is known as a Usonian home, typically small single story dwellings without a garage (the word carport was coined by Wright) or much storage, using native materials, flat roofs and cantilevered for passive solar heating and natural cooling, natural lighting, and radiant floor heating. A strong visual connection between the interior and exterior spaces is an important characteristic of all Usonian homes.
This house was built in 1953 for the Hagans, owners of a major dairy company in Western Pennsylvania. The Hagans were friends of the Kaufman's, owners of Fallingwater. The Hagans lived in the house for 30 years before selling it in 1986 to Lord Palumbo of England for a vacation home. Since 1996 the Palumbo family has balanced their occupancy with a public tour program. (The Palumbos have pictures of family and friends displayed, including one of Lord Palumbo and Princess Diana.) They also added a sculpture meadow to the site near the base of the mountain with 35 sculptures by George Rickey, Alan Goldsworthy, and Ray Smith.
The name Kentuck Knob is credited to the late eighteenth-century settler David Askins, who intended to move from Western Pennsylvania to Kentucky, but then reconsidered and remained at this very property, naming his tract of land Little Kentuck. The summit of his property was known as Kentuck Knob.
