Art and Architecture in the USA: Chicago, Boston, New York and ‘Fallingwater’ 2026

Day 1: Thursday 10 September, Chicago

• Tour commences at 9.00am in the foyer of the Staypineapple The Loop Chicago Hotel
• Architecture Highlights Coach Tour
• Chicago Art Institute
• Millennium Park Walk
• Welcome Dinner

Meeting Point: The tour commences at 9.00am in the foyer of the Staypineapple The Loop Chicago Hotel.

Following a short Welcome Meeting, we embark on a Chicago Architecture Foundation ‘Highlights by Bus’ tour. On this two-and-a-half-hour private tour we shall visit Chicago’s finest landmarks, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s IIT Campus and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House.

This afternoon we visit one of the world’s great art museums, the Chicago Art Institute. The Art Institute collection is both enormous and of the highest quality, and presents major works by Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Matisse and many more. Chagall’s impressive stained glass windows are truly stunning. Our visit includes an orientation tour of the collection and participants will have time to wander at their leisure.

In the late afternoon we take a walk through Millennium Park, home to an extensive collection of public art and architecture, including Frank Gehry’s Pritzker Pavilion, Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate and Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain.

This evening we enjoy a Welcome Dinner at the hotel. (Overnight Chicago) D

Day 2: Friday 11 September, Chicago

• Oak Park, incl. Frank Lloyd Wright’s House & Studio
• Architecture River Cruise
• Downtown public art

This morning we drive to leafy Oak Park, where we see Frank Lloyd Wright’s house and studio, featuring furniture he designed. We also see many other examples of his work in the Oak Park neighbourhood. Our visit is hosted by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

After lunch we will take one of the famous Architecture cruises on the Chicago River, after which we take a leisurely walk back to our hotel, enjoying the public art and architecture along our route by artist including Picasso, Chigall and Miro. (Overnight Chicago) B

Day 3: Saturday 12 September, Chicago – Plano – Chicago

• Farnsworth House, Plano
• Museum of Contemporary Art

Ninety-four kilometres out of Chicago is one of North America’s architectural masterpieces – Mies van der Rohe’s 1951 Farnsworth House. This morning we drive to Plano to tour Farnsworth House and explore this fine example of Modernist domestic architecture.

On our return to Chicago there will be time at leisure for lunch before we visit the massive and modular home of the Museum of Contemporary Art, which offers an impressive array of exhibitions. (Overnight Chicago) B

Day 4: Sunday 13 September, Chicago – Pittsburgh

• Morning flight: Chicago – Pittsburgh
• Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
• Downtown Walk
• Afternoon at leisure

Early this morning we depart Chicago and take a flight to Pittsburgh. On arrival we visit the Andy Warhol Museum, which houses the world’s largest collection of Warhol’s work and archival materials. The collection of drawings, paintings, postcards, videos, sculptures and photographs covers the entire career of the artist, from his student days in his hometown of Pittsburgh through to his pop art paintings and films.

We then take a gentle walk through city’s historic Downtown area to our hotel, and the afternoon is at leisure to explore this fascinating city. (Overnight Pittsburgh) B

Day 5: Monday 14 September, Pittsburgh – Mill Run – Chalk Hill – Pittsburgh

• Kentuck Knob, Chalk Hill
• Fallingwater, Mill Run

Today is dedicated to visiting two remarkable houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

We first visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Kentuck Knob, which bears eloquent testimony to his genius. Dramatic yet serene, the home blends into the mountain against which it stands. It looks out on a breathtaking panorama of the Youghiogheny River Gorge and surrounding mountains. Kentuck Knob is a refinement of Wright’s core principles of organic architecture. Designed in 1953 for the I.N. Hagan family, it was constructed by skilled local craftsmen. With an open plan based on a hexagonal grid it is constructed entirely of tidewater red cypress and native fieldstone. These stone walls not only visually anchor the house’s two wings but also rise to penetrate the horizontal line of its copper roof. Its open floor plan, cantilevered overhangs and great expanses of glass artfully integrate outdoor and indoor spaces. Its expansive yet intimate interior is furnished to the tastes of its current owners, Lord and Lady Palumbo, dedicated patrons of the arts. A sculpture park has been integrated into the woodlands and informal gardens surrounding the house. It features 35 sculptures by masters such as Andy Goldsworthy, Harry Bertoia, Claes Oldenburg, Ray Smith, Michael Warren and Sir Anthony Caro.

Fallingwater was designed in 1936 for the family of Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar J. Kaufmann. The house’s setting is dominated by the waterfall over which the house is built. The Kaufmanns chose the waterfall location but were unprepared for Wright’s suggestion that the house rise over it rather than face it; yet they accepted the architect’s original scheme unchanged. Completed in 1939, Fallingwater was constructed of sandstone quarried on the property and was built by local craftsmen. The stone walls rise between reinforced concrete ‘trays’ carrying the living and bedroom levels, that are dramatically cantilevered over the stream. Fallingwater was the weekend home of the Kaufmann family from 1937 until 1963, when the house, its contents and grounds were presented to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy by Edgar Kaufmann Jr. Fallingwater is the only remaining great Wright house with its setting, original furnishings, and artwork intact. (Overnight Pittsburgh) B

Day 6: Tuesday 15 September, Chicago – Boston

• Morning flight: Pittsburgh – Boston
• Boston Public Library
• Trinity Church and Copley Square (time permitting)

This morning we transfer by coach to Pittsburgh airport for our flight to Boston. One of the most important historical cities in the USA, Boston has been described as ‘the cradle of American Independence’. Its most important buildings are more than just landmarks – they are icons of US history. Boston’s citizens have played a critical role in the development of the USA up to the present day. After settling into our hotel, we walk across the road to the marvellous Boston Public Library for a guided tour. Established in 1848, this was the first large free municipal library in the United States. The present building on Copley Square was completed in 1895, designed by architect Charles Follen McKim as a ‘palace of the people’. In addition to its superb collection of books, the library is renowned for the murals that adorn the walls of the main halls. Time permitting, we will also step inside the tranquil Trinity Church, with stained-glass windows designed by Edward Burne-Jones and executed by the William Morris workshop. (Overnight Boston) B

Day 7: Wednesday 16 September, Boston

• MIT Campus
• Harvard Art Museums
• Harvard Museum of Natural History
• Institute of Contemporary Art

Our day starts with a walking tour of MIT, one of the most architecturally dynamic university campuses in the world. The site has undergone an extraordinary regeneration over the last few decades. Here we will tour the buildings of this complex to see the works of ‘Starchitects’ Frank Gehry, I.M. Pei and Alvar Aalto, who transformed this previously pedestrian campus into a showcase of contemporary architecture.

We then drive to Cambridge where we will visit the Harvard Art Museums, located alongside Harvard Yard. Established as an important learning tool for the university’s students in the disciplines of art history and conservation, the Harvard Art Museums are also dedicated to advancing learning in the wider community with public education programs. We also visit the Harvard Museum of Natural History to admire the fascinating and exquisite Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants.

Our day concludes in the revitalised South Boston Seaport District where we shall visit the Institute of Contemporary Art. Originally established as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936 and located at Harvard, the current building was opened in 2006 and contains both galleries and performance space. (Overnight Boston) B

Day 8: Thursday 17 September, Boston

• Boston Museum of Fine Arts
• Afternoon at Leisure

Today we use the efficient Boston transport system to visit the Boston Museum of Fine Arts which boasts one of the country’s finest collections of American art as well as extensive Asian and European art collections. Highlights of the collection include Rembrant’s The Artist in his Studio, Goya’s Seated Giant, Copley’s Paul Revere, and a host of works by El Greco, Velázquez, Monet, Degas, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Singer Sargent and a superb collection of Egyptian antiquities. (Overnight Boston) B

Day 9: Friday 18 September, Boston – New Haven

• Yale University Architecture Walking Tour
• Yale University Art Gallery
• Yale Center for British Art

Today we travel by coach from Boston to New Haven, the home of Yale University. Here we shall embark on a leisurely walking tour to explore the architecture of this remarkable campus, including the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (1963), the 18^th century Connecticut Hall (1750), the Payne Whitney Gymnasium (1932), Ingalls Rink (1958) and the Malone Engineering Center (2005).

We then visit the Yale University Art Gallery, home to a vast array of artworks, with collections of ancient, Asian, African, American and European art. Amongst the collection’s treasures are The Education of the Virgin by are Velázquez, John Trumbull’ The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776,  Van Gogh’s The Night Cafe.

Following an extensive period of restoration, we shall also include a visit to the Yale Center for British Art, perhaps a surprising location for the most comprehensive collection of British Art outside the United Kingdom! Treasures of the museum include works by Turner, Reynolds and Constable, as well as prints, drawings and sculpture from the Middle Ages to the Contemporary. (Overnight New Haven) B

Day 10: Saturday 19 September, New Haven – New Canaan – New Windsor – New York

• The Glass House, New Canaan
• The Storm King Art Center, New Windsor

Today we travel by coach to New Caanan where we visit one of the great architectural masterpieces of the USA – Philip Johnson’s Glass House. Designed in 1949 the house has exterior walls of glass and almost no interior structures; it is a transparent glass box that seamlessly integrates into the surrounding landscape. Its counterpart is The Brick House that faces it across a grass court. Here the brick walls are unbroken, except for small round windows at the rear, with skylights illuminating the interior.

We continue on to New Windsor in the Hudson Valley to visit the Storm King Art Center, a 500-acre open-air sculpture museum. The works are set in a landscape of meadows, hills, ponds and forests creating an ever changing backdrop for the art. (Overnight New York) B

Day 11: Sunday 20 September, New York

• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Central Park

This morning we travel by public transport to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met), one of the world’s largest art museums. The collections are extraordinary, featuring works from prehistoric times to the post-industrial age. The antiquities collection is spellbinding, as is the huge holding of tribal art. The Met also has one of the greatest displays of American art and presents a comprehensive collection of European art that is arguably the most outstanding outside Europe. The Egyptian collections, including the Temple of Dendur, are a sight to behold. After formal introductions to the collections you will be able to explore the Met at your leisure.

We then walk through Central Park, that wonderful green oasis so important to New Yorkers and visitors alike. Our walk passes waterways and reservoirs, green open area and intimate spaces like the John Lennon memorial Strawberry Fields with its view to the Dakota Apartment Building. We view notable sculptures and structures on our way to the Lincoln Center from where we take the subway back to our hotel. (Overnight New York) B

Day 12: Monday 21 September, New York

• Architecture walking tour
• Pierpont Morgan Library
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

This morning we make our way to Fifth Avenue, our starting point for a walking tour of New York’s Midtown that will finish at the Pierpont Morgan Library (Morgan Library and Museum). A financier and investment banker, John Pierpont Morgan was one of the giants of the city’s Gilded Age. The library was dedicated as a public institution by his son Jack, and is home to a brilliant collection of manuscripts, books, prints and drawings.

We then visit the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. World famous for its striking architecture, it is the work of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright – whom we have encountered in Chicago. Our visit will focus on the extraordinary architecture of this museum and also on the special exhibition that presents the story of the museum through a selection of highlights from the permanent collection.  (Overnight New York) B

Day 13: Tuesday 22 September, New York

• Museum of Modern Art: Out-of-hours VIP tour
• Little Island
• Whitney Museum of American Art
• The High Line
• Farewell Dinner

Early this morning we take the subway to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), renowned throughout the world for the quality, scope and diversity of its collections. We take a very special tour of part of the collection before the museum opens to the general public, allowing us to have a whole floor of this usually bustling museum all to ourselves! MoMA provides an unparalleled overview of the development of modern art. The building has been refurbished in recent years which makes the visit even more pleasant. There is a courtyard featuring a magical array of sculptures by artists such as Picasso and Moore.

We then make our way to Little Island, a park located off Pier 54, creating a green space over the Hudson. From the Observation Deck we can see across to one of the world’s most famous examples of public art – the Statue of Liberty.

Nearby is the Whitney Museum of American Art, the country’s preeminent museum dedicated to collecting, preserving and exhibiting the contemporary art of the United States. After a guided tour and time to visit the collection at your leisure, we walk to the nearby Gansevoort Street entrance to the High Line, a public park built on a historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side. We will walk a short section of the Highline before returning to our hotel. This evening we gather for a farewell dinner at a local restaurant. (Overnight New York) BD

Day 14: Thursday 24 September, Depart New York

• Tour concludes in the morning
• At leisure/Check out

Our tour ends in New York after breakfast. In the morning you will be required to check out of the hotel. Please contact ASA if you require assistance with a transfer to John F Kennedy or La Guardia Airports. B