Martin House - Definition and Overview

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin D. Martin House Complex

America's most esteemed architect, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), designed the Darwin D. Martin House Complex, between 1903 and 1905. It is considered by scholars to be one of the most important house of Wright’s Prairie House era.

The Martin House Complex was the home of Buffalo entrepreneur Darwin D. Martin (1865–1935). The Martin House ranks among Wright's greatest works east of the Prairie,” along with the Guggenheim Museum (NYC) and Fallingwater (Bear Run, Pennsylvania). The Complex was the only residential project that Wright designed as an integrated composition of connecting buildings, consisting of the main Martin House, a pergola and conservatory, and carriage house. A gardener was housed in the gardener’s cottage, also designed by Wright, built in 1908. A smaller residence, called the Barton House (1903), shared the site and was built for Delta and George Barton, [[|Darwin Martin|Darwin Martin's]] sister and brother-in-law.

Design of these buildings exemplifies Wright's Prairie House ideal and is comparable with other works from this period in his career, such as Robie House (Chicago) and Dana-Thomas House (Springville, Illinois). Wright was especially fond of the Martin House design, referring to it as his “opus” some 50 years after he designed it and calling the Complex“a well-nigh perfect composition.”

Particularly distinctive are the art glass windows that Wright designed for the entire Complex, some of which contain over 750 individual pieces of jewel-like iridescent glass, that act as “light screens” to visually connect exterior views with the spaces within. Wright designed more patterns for art glass for the Martin House than for any other of his Prairie Houses.

The Martin House Restoration Corporation (“MHRC”) was incorporated in 1992. The MHRC is a not-for-profit organization with a clearly focused mandate to restore this architectural masterpiece and designated National Historic Landmark located in Buffalo, New York and to open it to the world as a public house museum.

The MHRC operates docent-guided public tours and presents educational programs for volunteers and the general public.

External links

• Darwin Martin House (Buffalo, NY) (http://www.darwinmartinhouse.org)
• Frank Lloyd Write in Buffalo, NY (http://ah.bfn.org/a/archs/wright/buff/)