Frank Lloyd Wright
Western New York affords visitors the rare opportunity to see a variety of Frank Lloyd Wright's residential, recreational, and monumental designs - both historic and newly-constructed.
Foremost among these homes is the Darwin D. Martin House Complex, the most extensive residential complex Wright ever designed. The complex consists of the Darwin D. Martin House, the George Barton House, a modest two-story cottage known as the Gardener's Cottage, as well as the recently reconstructed carriage house, conservatory and pergola. The estate is considered to be of extraordinary historical significance because it was designed not as a single residence but as a group of interrelated and connected buildings.
Only once in his 72-year career did Wright have the opportunity to design a multi-structure residential complex and when Darwin and Isabelle Martin gave him the chance 100 years ago, he seized the moment and created a work of extraordinary significance and unparalleled refinement.
Today, the house that Wright referred to as “opus” can be seen once again in all its breathtaking symmetry, the previously demolished pergola, conservatory and carriage house resuming their places alongside the Martin House, Barton House and Gardener’s Cottage. The Martin House Complex is undergoing the most comprehensive restoration ever undertaken for any Frank Lloyd Wright project.
Many tours are offered including Twilight Tours, Restoration/Reconstruction Tours, Behind the Scenes Tours, Insider's Tour and Lunch, Tout Ensemble Tour, Landscape Tour - Plants, People and Design, Scholar's Tour, and Focus Tour. Brand new for 2012 is the All Wright, All Day Tour. This all-inclusive tour package begins at historic Forest Lawn, proceeding by trolley to the Martin House Complex, then a tour of Fontana's Boathouse, lunch and a tour of the Graycliff Estate. The tour finishes at Forest Lawn and a visit to Blue Sky Mausoleum
Wright's Buffalo portfolio also consists of the Walter V. Davidson House on Tillinghast Place and the William R. Heath House on Bird Avenue at Soldier's Circle in the city's Delaware District.
You can also visit historic Forest Lawn in the heart of Buffalo and experience the recently-constructed Blue Sky Mausoleum, commissioned in 1928 by Darwin D. Martin as the final resting place for the Martin Family.
Graycliff - the summer residence of Darwin and Isabelle Martin - can be found in nearby Derby, a short drive south of Buffalo. Situated on a 70-foot cliff overlooking Lake Erie, the two-story, 6,500 square foot house represents a transitional point from Wright's Prairie Style to his later concrete designs that found their ultimate expression at the justly-famous Fallingwater. Elements from both periods are evident in the design of the house. Also undergoing an extensive restoration, Graycliff is open to visitors, but only by reservation.
Finally, the city’s West Side Rowing Club has recently completed construction of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fontana Boathouse. Located on the Black Rock Channel overlooking the Niagara River and Canada, the Boathouse was never constructed in Wright’s lifetime. For more than 100 years it remained one of Wright’s most significant projects that had never come to fruition. It has now come out of the ground and into the light and is open to the public.
Click here for a map of some of Buffalo's other architectural treasures.
