Paul Mayén (May 31, 1916 – November 3, 2000) was a Spanish architect and industrial designer known for his work at

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

Fallingwater Fallingwater is a Historic house museum, house museum in Stewart Township, Pennsylvania, Stewart Township in the Laurel Highlands of Greater Pittsburgh, southwestern Pennsylvania, United States. Designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, i ...

Early years

Mayén was born on May 31, 1916, in

La Línea de la Concepción La Línea de la Concepción (), often referred to simply as La Línea, is a municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. The city lies on the sandy isthmus which is part of the eastern flank of ...

, a town in

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

Andalucia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He graduated from

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

in New York City with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...

and from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

with a master's degree during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Career

Mayén was an industrial designer, and following his graduation from Columbia, taught classes in advertising design at his alma mater, Cooper Union, and

The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

, both in Manhattan. His lamps, tables, and other furniture are featured in the permanent collection of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York City, and was the founder of Habitat, Intrex and Architectural Supplements, Inc.

Fallingwater

Mayén's partner, Edgar Kaufmann Jr., inherited the 1936

designed

house, over

Bear Run Bear Run is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the Youghiogheny River in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. Bear Run is in the ...

, in

Stewart Township, Pennsylvania Stewart Township is a township (Pennsylvania), township in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Greater Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 623 at the 2020 census. Stonerville and Kaufmann are ...

, after his father's death in 1955, continuing to use and share it as a mountain retreat until 1963. Kaufmann entrusted the Wright structures and several hundred acres of the surrounding pristine

Laurel Highlands The Laurel Highlands is a region in southwestern Pennsylvania made up of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Fayette County, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, Somerset County, and Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County. It has a populat ...

lands in the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range ( ) — also spelled Alleghany or Allegany, less formally the Alleghenies — is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada. Historically it represented a significant barr ...

to the

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) is a private nonprofit conservation organization founded in 1932 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. WPC has contributed land to 12 state parks and conserved more than 290,000 acres of natural l ...

as an architectural house museum and conservation open space preserve, in memory of his parents. From 1979 to 1981, Mayén oversaw the building of the Fallingwater pavilion, which houses the café, gift store, and visitor's center at Fallingwater.

Personal life

In the 1950s Mayén met fellow art student

Edgar Kaufmann Jr Edgar is a commonly used masculine English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Edgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the Late Middle Ages; it was, however, ...

. with whom he would have a relationship and work partnership that would last until Kaufmann's death in 1989. In 1975, Mayén built a country house for himself and Kaufmann in

Garrison, New York Garrison is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet in Putnam County, New York, Putnam County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is part of the town of Philipstown, New York, Philipstown, on the east side of the Hudson River, across from the U ...

, on the east side of the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

. Known as Water Run, this property was sold in 2021 for $1.6M. Kaufmann died in 1989, and his ashes were scattered around the property at Fallingwater by Mayén. Mayén died on November 3, 2000. His ashes were also scattered at Fallingwater in accordance with his wishes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayén, Paul 1916 births 2000 deaths Columbia University alumni Cooper Union alumni LGBTQ architects Spanish LGBTQ artists People from La Línea de la Concepción 20th-century Spanish architects

Early years

Career

Fallingwater

Personal life

See also

References