Marcel Breuer, Frank House, Pittsburgh, PA, 1939. Photos: Ezra Stoller
In 1939, Robert and Cecelia Frank commissioned their luxurious house in Pittsburgh, PA. Their friends the Kaufmanns, owners of a local department store, had recently built Fallingwater, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Franks chose Gropius and Breuer, who were viewed as representatives of European modernism, so that they would not appear to be imitating their friends.