Part II of a two-part story
about the Darwin D. Martin House
in Buffalo, NY

This front view of the Martin House gives the viewer a good idea of the power of Wright’s architecture.

By Carlos Torres
Editor’s Note: In the October 2005 issue of Northeast, we continue with Part II of Carlos Torres’ in-depth look at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buffalo, NY legacy, with a tour through the physical and philosophical center of the Darwin D. Martin House complex.
The Martin house, which, other than the gardeners cottage that was built slightly later and is currently unavailable for viewing, is the only other original structure still on the property. It is the centerpiece of the complex and at more than 15,000 square feet it is impressive in both its size and ambitiousness. Like the Barton house, the woodwork and moldings from the inside are continued on the large overhanging eaves and the roof of the veranda. Unlike the Barton house, which was built using load bearing walls, the Martin house is held up with a series of pier clusters, giving the inner floor plan much more freedom.
Upon visiting the Martin house, a guest standing at the recessed, slightly hidden main entrance would be able to look to their left through the windows of the receiving room, to their right through the windows of the living room and beyond that to the veranda and through that to the foliage surrounding it. The lines between nature and structure were blurred even more as the visitor then entered only to be greeted by a view straight back from the main entrance down the 100 foot open air pergola, which led to the garden filled conservatory beyond.
“The whole house was a very visual experience,” explains Professor Quinan, “If you lived in the house you probably weren’t going to go to the conservatory and pick a flower. And if you were a guest you certainly wouldn’t go down and pick a flower, so it was all very visual.”
The pier clusters give the first floor an extremely open sense of space. The living room, dining room and library along the slightly shorter north-south axis of the cruciform design flow freely into one another; the only demarcations between the spaces are the lowered frieze rails and the pier clusters, which lie in the corners. The ceilings are low and the house is somewhat dark even though there are rows of ribbon windows on just about every wall. There are no hanging lights, but along some walls, hidden in the woodwork, there is track lighting, which is thought to be the first indirect lighting.
Due to the eaves, direct sunlight was hard to come by. The receiving room along the front of the house actually uses glass panels set into the concrete of the sill which have the double purpose of heating the basement below and bouncing light back upwards onto the ceiling of the home.
The four-pillared pier clusters not only served as a means of structural integrity, they also hid furnaces inside that heated the house. They were constructed of the same golden brick as the exterior and the space between the piers was enclosed with small decorative windows at the tops that were open and shut as a means to control the release of heat.
At the physical and literal heart of the home was the giant fireplace. Built exactly where both axis meet, the fireplace was meant by Wright to anchor the house as well as the home life of the Martins.
The low ceilings were painted in golden brown hues that gradually lightened the closer they got to the outer walls, making the area above the fireplace the darkest spot. Being in the center of the house — a darker house which relied heavily on sunlight for its brightness — the fire inside was meant not only to warm, but also to create a cozily lit area for the family to gather. While all of Wright’s efforts to bring the outside in while simultaneously drawing the inside out were abstract and subtle; the fireplace is also the only place in the house with a literal depiction of nature. At the time the house was built, a beautiful glass mosaic existed on all four sides of the fire place depicting wisteria vines with green leaves veined in gold; including interspersed purple blossoms. This work of art, done by a craftsman by the name Orlando Giannini, was a literal depiction of the same vines that lined the pergola and the conservatory. It was also a favorite plant of Wright’s.
The fireplace was also double-sided, opening up not only to the living room, but to the entrance hall as well. Initially Martin did not like this idea, but Wright sold him on the idea by explaining that this was the latest thing in fireplaces.
“This was what Wright did,” explains Professor Quinan, “he was always selling his work as the ‘latest thing’ to the public.”
The complex was built with a driveway, which was an extremely modern concept and shortly after the family moved they purchased a car and the carriage house was converted into a garage with a chauffeur’s apartment.
Quinan goes on to say that, “the house was very much a product of its age. This was the time of the locomotive, the car etc. and the house is all about movement and flow.”
The only rooms on the first floor with any sort of enclosed space were the kitchen, which was large and open in design but was separated from the rest of the house by a conventional doorway, and Martin’s personal office, which was situated next to the receiving room and was also separated by a conventional doorway. Martin’s office also had its own private entrance so as to preserve the sanctity of family life; it was small because work was not the emphasis of the house, and its ribbon windows were small and placed higher than normal so Martin could avoid distractions while working.
A landing that overlooks the entrance hall, emphasizing the transition between public and private space, breaks up the staircase to the second floor. Like the Barton house, the second floor is much more conventional and compartmentalized, but did include the use of ribbon windows all the way to the corners, and still managed to convey a sense of flow in the space.
The entire complex emphasized the blurring of the lines between nature and structure. Both houses were designed with sight lines that went from inside to outside and back inside again. There were two main gardens outside and an enclosed garden in the conservatory. The pergola leading to the conservatory contained no glass and was basically a waist high foundation with a roof but no walls. This also was lined with plant life. Wright had also planned a ‘floricycle’ — although it was never fully realized — of very dense foliage that would form a semicircle around the veranda of the house, thus making a ‘room’ surrounding it.
Courtin explains the significance of Wright’s design by saying, “It is the balance of the composition, the way he interweaves the structures, the symmetry of the buildings in an asymmetrical lot. It’s just the rhythm of the whole complex.”
When designing a home Wright not only intended to design a structure and landscape, he also wanted to design the furnishings as well. All of the woodwork for the home is done in quarter-sawn oak as well as the corresponding furniture. Wright designed an I-shaped dining room table with high backed chairs to try and create a, “room within a room” as Courtin calls it.
Also, Wright created a circular chair — dubbed a barrel chair — to de-emphasize the hard angles of the home. As a concession to Mrs. Martin, who already owned a large collection of dark mahogany Victorian style furniture, Wright used dark mahogany on the woodwork for three of the second floor rooms so that she could use her furniture there.
Wright also created beautiful window designs which he called ‘glass screens’ for both houses. The windows were made up of individual pieces of colored glass held together by thin strips of metal he called ‘caming,’ which were then soldered together. The patterns on these windows were abstractions of shapes and images found in nature and were meant to be an intermediary between the house and the nature that could be viewed through these abstractions. The most famous of these patterns depicts a row of tree like patterns, which has been dubbed the ‘tree of life’ design.
After the stock market crash of 1929, Martin lost much of his fortune. The family tried to sell the home, but could find no buyers in the tumultuous times. Martin died in 1935 and the family moved out in 1938. The house changed hands a number of times through the years, spending time as both an apartment complex and the mansion for the president of the University at Buffalo. The pergola, conservatory and carriage house were demolished in 1960.
It wasn’t until 1994 that the Barton house was acquired by the MHRC. The Martin house remained the property of the University at Buffalo’s until 2002, when the title was transferred to the MHRC.
Currently the complex is in the third stage of its restoration. Courtin calls it the phase of, “substantial structural completion,” meaning that, by the end of 2006, the MRHC wishes to have all of the original Wright structures standing again. The foundations for the missing structures have already been laid and the reconstruction has begun. The original complex was completed in 1907 and by 2007 it is hoped that all of the little touches, such as the correct depiction of the interiors, will be finished.
The MHRC is also looking for any furniture from the home that may be in the hands of private citizens. In the early 1950s, when the Martins still owned the home, they sold off most of the furniture to collectors and auction houses in New York City.
“We would be happy to talk to anyone who believes that they have anything Wrightian in design that may be from the Martin house,” Courtin says.
It’s rare that the furniture has to be bought back, as it is usually donated and anyone who donates a piece of furniture to the MHRC is entitled to a tax deduction in the amount of full, fair market value of the piece today.
“We have one individual that donated a piece to the house and he doesn’t have to pay taxes for a number of years,” explained Courtin.
The MHRC is a non-profit organization that raises money for the project through private donations, public funding and the money made on tours and the gift shop. It has raised more than $28 million and believes it will take about $35 million to complete the restoration. The organization also has plans for a visitor center to be built on the grounds.
In a city never significantly touched by postmodernism, Buffalo New York has a number of architectural treasures, but none are richer, or more valuable, than the Darwin Martin Complex.
The Darwin D. Martin House is located at 125 Jewett Parkway in Buffalo.
For more information, or to schedule a visit, call (716) 856-3858.
www.darwinmartinhouse.org

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