Article: "Graycliff Conservancy donates Frank Lloyd Wright material to UB, University Archives"

[DavidC]

Graycliff Conservancy donates Frank Lloyd Wright material to UB, University Archives


David

[SDR]

"Selections from the new Graycliff collection will be available online in the spring, adding to several existing digital collections on Wright and the Martin family. More information on the collections is available at: https://research.lib.buffalo.edu/martin-wright

One wonders if drawings not previously seen by the public will be available. Perhaps Pat Mahoney will be able to comment on that possibility . . .?

S

[SDR]

The resource linked above contains, in "Collections," many things Martin including two short color films from 1976. This one ends with a stained-glass window I hadn't seen before. Is that Wright ? Where is/was this window located ?

https://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/items/show/83452

S

[Roderick Grant]

Check for the thumbnail drawing of the proposed piano for the Buffalo house. It seems to have disappeared since the auction of the Martin Papers in 1984.

[SDR]

Was that sketch ever published, do you know ? A small collection of Wright and Wrightian piano designs could be assembled, including one drawn and built for the Irving house, a design perhaps inspired by earlier Wright designs and/or by a piano designed by J M Olbrich in 1901 and exhibited in 1904 at the St Louis world's fair.

S

[JimM]

The resource linked above contains, in "Collections," many things Martin including two short color films from 1976. This one ends with a stained-glass window I hadn't seen before. Is that Wright ? Where is/was this window located ?

That's actually an interesting aspect of arguably the most Wright-wrought interiors other than Dana and Coonley. I seem to remember at one time the tree motif was above the dining room sideboard. That particular three panel fenestration is only found in the dining and library wings of the unit room. Definitely not Wright but just can't recall by who, why, or when. The only early photo I've found of the sideboard casing wall appears to have the center panel and flanking side lites with plate glass, and the only post-restoration partial view appears all plate glass as well... perhaps it was added by Isabelle as "decoration" in the dining room; the library being Darwins domain.

The 1976 film would be showing the exterior of the wall due to the concrete sills which do not appear anywhere else on the interior. Note the original 100' pergola started on the other side of that wall, and since it abutted the dining room, it became the only remaining section when the rest was demolished along with the conservatory and garage.

[SDR]

Thanks, Jim.


Photo K C Kratt

[Roderick Grant]

I know of the sketch only from reviewing the contents of the auction for two days. I have asked about for information about it but have never received a reply. There were rumors that certain items were sold off to private buyers and never made it to SUNY/Stanford.

The design used a standard box for the keys and strings (Steinway?) and did away with the legs altogether. Support was by two boxes 8"x16" in plan (undoubtedly meant to be weighted) placed on either side just forward of the keys and rising 8" above with planters atop. Below the piano the boxes were connected by a row of FLW's typical spindles which also held the pedals. The far end was cantilevered without support. At least that was the hope.

Martin's piano would have been superior to Irving's, which is a heavy-handed design, so much so that it is hard to believe FLW had anything to do with it. Nor does it look like Niedecken's work. I shall give it to Mahony.

[SDR]

Cheryl Robertson (1999) on Irving provides the ins and outs of who did what after Wright's departure. She made use of surviving company records of the Niedecken-Walbridge firm. Here are scans of the pages in her book devoted to the Irving commission; I have omitted some illustrative material not pertinent to the furniture designs.

Note that Mahony's living room plan contains a piano with an incongruous plan form, quite different from the one that was built, photographed and published. One wonders where that realized piano is today . . .

(As usual, images posted here can be enlarged by opening them in a new window on your device. Right-click and choose "open image in new tab.")



See below for the contents of Note 139






The footnote referred to on page 42 of Robertson's book, in reference to Mahony's claims of authorship of Irving furniture designs:

[DavidC]

Graycliff donation expands UB’s Frank Lloyd Wright and Martin family collection - (1:36)


David

[pmahoney]

Variations of the piano design were issued for the Heath, Martin, Shaw and Fricke residences.