KEY TERMINOLOGY AND INFORMATION

The official name of the nonprofit organization that is restoring the Martin House Complex is the Martin House Restoration Corporation.

The complex that encompasses both the Darwin D. Martin House and the George F. Barton House, as well as the grounds where the pergola, conservatory and carriage house will be reconstructed, is called the Martin House Complex.

125 Jewett Parkway is the address of the Darwin D. Martin House.

118 Summit Avenue is the address of the George Barton House.

The original complete Martin House Complex was 29,080 square feet.

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 located within the Parkside East Historic District, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

The Parkside Community was laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1876 and was part of the first coordinated system of public parks in America.

The Martin House Complex is a prime example of a Prairie House.

Wasmuth Portfolio: Aüsgefuhrte Bauten und Entwürfe von Frank Lloyd Wright, a collection of Frank Lloyd Wright's most seminal drawings, was published in Berlin in 1910. The Martin House was included in this portfolio.

MHRC Newsletter, Pergola {'per-ga-la}

The Ginkgo, which is believed to be indigenous to Asia, was a favorite tree of Wright's.

Taliesin {ta-lE-'es-in} is the name of Wright's house in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Taliesin West is the name of Wright's house in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Wright designed a floricycle to encircle the Martin House veranda. This semi-circular garden was comprised of a wide variety of plant species, chosen for their blossoming season to ensure a year-round bloom.

There are 394 art glass windows in the Martin House Complex. Though neither Wright nor Martin gave definitive names to any specific window, the most famous window has been referred to as the "Tree of Life" window for several decades. There are 15 primary art glass patterns in the Martin House complex, 11 in the Martin House alone.

The individual pieces of colored glass in these windows are surrounded by metal strips called came, or caming, which are then soldered together and fitted into metal frames, which in the Martin House are brass.

The two houses of the complex (Martin House and Barton House) are based on cruciform floor plans, an architectural motif widely seen in Gothic churches where the building is in the shape of a cross.

Frank Lloyd Wright was very keen on rectilinear structures that formed a straight line. The Martin House Complex was designed in this fashion allowing clear linear fields of vision throughout the various buildings.

The Frank Lloyd Wright -- Darwin D. Martin Collection is located at the University Archives, University at Buffalo, State University of New York.

The MHRC office is located in downtown Buffalo, in the Theater District at the Market Arcade, 617 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14203.

KEY PEOPLE

Frank Lloyd Wright b. June 8, 1867 d. April 9, 1959

MARTIN FAMILY
Darwin Denice {da-'nIs} Martin b. October 25, 1865 d. December 17, 1935
Isabelle Minnie (Reidpath) Martin, his wife (married June 26, 1889) b. April 9, 1869 d. February 22, 1945
Dorothy Reidpath (Martin) Foster, their daughter b. June 27, 1896 d. February 1980

James Forsyth Foster, Jr., her husband (married June 14, 1923)

Margaret Reidpath Foster, their daughter b. January 31, 1930

Darwin Martin Foster, their son b. November 11, 1930

Darwin Reidpath Martin, their son b. October 3, 1900 d. May 27, 1979

Margaret (Wende) Martin, his first wife (married May 3, 1926)

Laura (Branell) Martin, his second wife

Alexander Martin, their son

Patti (Martin) Armesto, their daughter

Millicent (Decker) Martin, his third wife (married 1975)

Delta Louise (Martin) Barton, Darwin's sister b. November 4, 1859
George Field Barton, her husband (married November 20, 1884) b. August 8, 1847 d. February 13, 1929
Laura Field (Barton) de Forest, their daughter, b. October 18, 1892

KEY DATES

Darwin D. Martin and Frank Lloyd Wright agreed on Jewett Parkway for the site of the Martin's new home, and Martin acquired the property in December 1902.

Building of the complex began with the Barton House in 1903.

The Martin House was built primarily between 1903 and 1905.

The last craftsman did not leave the Martin House until 1907.

The "Year of Significance" for the restoration of the Martin House Complex is 1907.

Sebastian Tauriello purchased the Martin House in 1955 (it had been abandoned since 1937).

The pergola, conservatory and carriage house were demolished in 1960.

In 1967, the Martin House was purchased by the University at Buffalo, State University of New York for use as its "president's house."

Title to the Martin House was transferred by the University at Buffalo to the MHRC in 2002.

Eric and Eleanor Larrabee purchased the Barton House in 1967.

The Barton House was purchased from Eleanor Larrabee for the MHRC by M&T Bank, Rich Products Corp., and The Buffalo News in 1994.

The Larkin Building, a seminal work by Wright, was constructed in Buffalo between 1904 and 1906 and was demolished between 1949 and 1950.

BUFFALO'S WRIGHTIAN GOLDEN AGE

For a golden age of some 22 years -- from 1927 until 1949 -- ten Wright-designed structures stood in and around Buffalo. That heyday included:

1. George Barton House (1903-04), extant
2. Larkin Company Administration Building (1904-06), demolished 1949-50
3. Darwin D. Martin House (1903-05), extant, a National Historic Landmark
4. Martin House Pergola (1903-05), demolished early 1960s
5. Martin House Conservatory (1903-05), demolished early 1960s
6. Martin House Carriage House and Stable (1903-05), demolished early 1960s
7. William R. Heath House (1905), extant
8. Martin House Gardener's Cottage (1908), extant
9. Walter V. Davidson House (1912), extant
10. Martin family's lakeshore summer house/Graycliff (1927), extant

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

The Martin House Restoration Corporation is an Associate Member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

In 2000, a Joint Cooperative Agreement was entered into among the MHRC, the University at Buffalo, State University of New York and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation that set forth the organizational basis for restoring the Martin House Complex.

RECOMMENDED READING

McCarter, Robert, Essay in Frank Lloyd Wright: Windows of the Martin House (Buffalo, 1999)

Gill, Brendan, Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright (New York, 1987) [Leans toward the personal and sensational; weak on understanding and interpretation of Wright's work]

Pfeiffer, Bruce Brooks, (editor) Frank Lloyd Wright: Letters to Clients (Fresno, 1986) [Includes letters to Darwin Martin and others]

Quinan, Jack "Frank Lloyd Wright, Darwin D. Martin and the Creation of the Martin House," in Prairie House Journal (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1989)

Quinan, Jack, Frank Lloyd Wright's Larkin Building: Myth and Fact (Cambridge, Mass., 1987)

Secrest, Meryle, Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography (New York, 1992) [Heavy on Wright's ancestry and on the drama of his life; Secrest relies upon the work of architectural historians when she writes about his buildings]

Sweeney, Robert, Frank Lloyd Wright: An Annotated Bibliography (San Francisco, 1977) [This lists, chronologically, everything written about Wright (almost) from the 1890's to 1976]

Twombley Robert C., Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and His Architecture (New York, 1979) [A balanced assessment]

Uhlfelder, Eric, The Origins of Modern Architecture (Mineola, NY, 1998)

INK COLORS

Wright Red is Warm Red (Wright referred to this hue as "Cherokee" Red).

Wright Gold is PMS 872

FONTS

The official font of the MHRC is Eagle Feather, based on a type style used by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Martin House Restoration Corporation Market Arcade, 617 Main Street Buffalo, New York 14203 TEL. 716.835.3858 FAX 716.856.4009

© 2002, Martin House Restoration Corporation. All rights reserved.