Construction began in the summer of 1936 with the bridge over the stream, placed exactly where an old wooden bridge had been. However, the local stonemasons were unaccustomed to laying stone in the rough, shifting manner Wright specified, and the new bridge was torn down and later re-built. Work on the main house commenced with the vertical stone walls and four piers, which rise from the stream and support the first level cantilever. Next, the first floor slab was poured, the stone walls laid up to the second level, and by December, most of the stonework had been laid up and all three levels plus the roof slab had been poured.