The address of the Darwin D. Martin House is 125 Jewett Parkway, Buffalo, NY.  The Martin House Complex, which encompasses the main Martin House, the Barton House (118 Summit Ave.) and the pergola, conservatory and carriage house, is at the corner of Jewett Parkway and Summit Avenue, in the historic, Olmsted-designed Parkside neighborhood.

All tours begin at the Eleanor & Wilson Greatbatch Pavilion, 143 Jewett Parkway, Buffalo, NY.  Enter the site from Jewett Parkway, following the brick pathway between the large, beige house (143 Jewett Parkway) and the Martin House driveway.

The original five buildings of the Martin House Complex totaled 29,080 square feet. This breaks down as follows:  

Darwin D. Martin House: 14,978 sq. ft.
Pergola: 1,540 sq. ft.
Conservatory: 2,655 sq. ft.
Carriage House / Stable: 5,507 sq. ft.
George Barton House: 4,400 sq. ft.

Additional buildings added to the Martin campus after 1907:

Gardener’s cottage: 1,668 sq. ft.
Greatbatch Pavilion: 7,775 sq. ft.

The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 created the National Register of Historic Places. The Darwin D. Martin House Complex has been on this list since 1975. The Martin House was named a National Historic Landmark (NHL) in 1986.

The Martin House Complex is a prime example of a Prairie house, a revolutionary design developed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the first decade of the 20th century. The Prairie house style is characterized by rectilinear, horizontally-oriented structures linked by crossing axes and "woven" into their site. The Martin House complex was designed in this fashion, allowing clear, linear vistas throughout the various buildings and surrounding landscape.
Other characteristics of the Prairie House style include:

• low, hip roofs with broadly cantilevered eaves
• prominent foundations that anchor the house to the site
• horizontal emphasis in masonry, sills, copings, and garden walls
• horizontal bands of windows (usually with art glass)
• intentionally concealed entrances and sheltered spaces
• "organic" application of materials
• cruciform floor plans

For a period of some 22 years—from 1927 to 1949—a critical mass of Wright-designed structures stood in and around Buffalo. This concentration of Wrightian buildings was the second largest in the nation, after that of the Chicago area. These buildings included:

The Martin House Complex:

• George Barton House (1903-04), extant
• Darwin D. Martin House (1904-05), extant
• Martin House pergola...demolished, 1962; reconstructed, 2004-07
• Martin House conservatory...demolished, 1962; reconstructed, 2004-07
• Martin House carriage house...demolished, 1962; reconstructed, 2004-07
• Martin House gardener's cottage (1909), extant

Larkin Administration Building (1904-06), demolished 1949-50

William R. Heath House & Garage (1904-05), extant

Walter V. Davidson House (1908), extant

The Graycliff Estate:

• Isabelle R. Martin House (1926-29), extant
• The Foster House (1926-29), extant
• Graycliff Heat Hut (1926-29), extant

Please see the Restoration overview here.

The total estimated cost of this ambitious restoration project is $50 million, which includes design and construction of our visitor center, the Eleanor and Wilson Greatbatch Pavilion.  Nearly $40 million of this total has been raised to date, leaving approximately $10 million needed to complete the restoration.  Fundraising for the project is ongoing.

Funding for the Martin House restoration project has come from a nearly even split between public and private sources: federal, state and local governments, various foundations, corporations, and numerous private donors at all levels. Studies show that, at conservative, projected levels of visitation to the restored Martin House Complex, the investment in the project will pay for itself in tour-related and ancillary revenues within three to five years.

You can help with our restoration effort by taking one of our many guided tours of the Complex, shopping in our Wisteria Museum Shop, becoming a Martin House Associate or making a donation.