Article: Darwin Martin House - Buffalo, NY

[DavidC]

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin D. Martin House Complex


David

[jmcnally]

the effort in Buffalo to bring architecture to life is truly admirable

[SDR]

True.

I wonder what's killing the tree in the first photo. That specimen can't be 110 years old, can it ?

SDR

[DRN]

A lot of oaks in the northeast, especially urban ones, are being affected:

https://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/fidl ... ecline.htm

Two oaks on our property are showing signs of patchy branch die off, but the trees remain alive so far. The church down the street lost almost half of its all'ee which consists of two or more types of oaks...some species of oak are more susceptible than others.

[Roderick Grant]

Don Hoffmann emailed me about how impressed he was as he flew into Minneapolis/St. Paul, because there were no pesky trees blocking views of the architecture. I told him the entire city was an elm forest until an immense die-off in the 70s due to Dutch elm disease, followed by a maple scourge that took a lot of the rest. Here in California, we are losing the conifers to a bug infestation from, I believe, China.

At least it's the forces of nature. In Brazil, they are bulldozing the Amazon.

[DavidC]

Darwin D. Martin Estate Restoration in Buffalo


David

[Unbrook]

In the article there was no discussion of the landscape restoration and the great semi circle of plantings off the Living/Dining /Library Room. Is there any information or updates out there?

[Roderick Grant]

The planting is an intrinsic part of the design, but what was originally planted was a fragment of what was planned by WBG. The massing of plants that were to create the semicircle were so densely packed that it would have been impossible to maintain the garden, according to a plan that the house possesses.

The Martin Papers included a sketch for a semicircular pond in that area between the planting and the house, wrapping around the porch. As an original element of the design, and an important one, I would support the construction of it, even though it wasn't built.

[Unbrook]

I understand the landscaping was an important part of the overall design. I thought I heard/read that the Martin House Restoration was going to tackle this next. Since the original plan wouldn't work, does any one know what is planned? Do you think Ellen Biddle Shipman had any involvement at the Martin House?

[Roderick Grant]

I doubt it. Shipman was a colleague of Charles A. Platt, of whose architecture FLW was not fond (the feeling was reciprocated). Moreover, Shipman was just getting a start by 1910, after Martin was done. I doubt FLW had anything to do with her working on Graycliff, either. If FLW or DDM had enlisted the talents of a specialist in landscaping, I would suppose they would have chosen Jens Jensen.

FLW did, however, move closer to Shipman's work after his sojourn in Italy, which had inspired her by way of Platt. Taliesin I was decidedly of Italian heritage - house and landscaping.

[Unbrook]

I didn't think Mr. Wright would have suggested Ms. Shipman, but my thinking was that after the fact the Martins might have brought her in. I wonder where they found out about her when they consulted with her at Graycliff.

There is a restored Shipman garden at Stan Hywet in Akron, Ohio and my grandfather was a gardener at an estate in Connecticut for which I understand she designed a garden. thus my interest in her work.

[DavidC]

Buffalo in the 1900s: Frank Lloyd Wright's 'freak mansion'


David

[pmahoney]

Shipman was probably encountered at another estate in Western New York by the Martins. In Derby, New York alone she was involved in many projects at summer estates.