Frank Lloyd Wright's Buffalo

[pharding]

I just finished watching this great documentary which was very well done. The cinemaphotography and photographs were both informative and beautiful. I highly recommend it.

[JimM]

These photos were not taken under the best circumstances, but it's still awesome to see a rare Wright multi-structure complex being reconstructed. You would not believe the exacting standards they are adhering to. The final restoration will be dazzling, especially the glass wisteria mosaic on the main fireplace. They are obtaining as many original artifacts as possible (furniture, windows, etc), and will recreate everything else that was originally included in the final design circa 1907.



The massive nature of the house and its physical condition over the years has masked its importance, I feel. When fully restored it will certainly attain its deserved stature. Jack Quinan's point about the "portraiture" this house embodies is obvious given the visual link to the Larkin Building and its importance to both Martin and Wright. Look at all those bricks!! I would not suspect Larkin will be rebuilt anytime soon. Click in a new window for detail.



BTW, photobucket.com (thanks to my daughter) is an easy way to post photos on boards, eBay, etc.. As far as I know, images have to be on a server to be displayed here. And its free.

[RJH]

I watched the PBS special (aired at 3AM). Very well done! I am glad they didn

[Roderick Grant]

I hope to take the Grand Tour (Zimmerman to Taliesin and all points in between) once Martin is done. The restoration is a wonderful thing. The docu was terrific. Secrest was right when she pointed out that FLW could not grant Mrs. Martin her request for more light inside because it would have interfered with the architecture. At least up to a point; he did provide for a skylight in the exact location that Edgar Tafel added one years later in the stair hall, although FLW's was done in art glass. With everything he did, FLW's goal was architecture first and accommodating the clients a distant second. The Martin House is less a portrait of its client than of Wright himself.

[RJH]

If that is what photobucket looks like, it is not worth my efforts.

[dkottum]

RJH, the Photobucket works perfectly here. Click on an individual picture and it fills the screen with a high quality image.



Doug Kottum, Battle Lake, MN

[JimM]

If that is what photobucket looks like, it is not worth my efforts.

Sorry my efforts are not worthy of your standards! I did say the photos were not taken under optimum conditions, and assume you did enlarge them. Whatever.

[Unbrook]

When you do the Grand Tour, make sure you include the Weltzheimer/Johnson house in Oberlin, Ohio. Open first and third Sundays of the month from 12-4, or by special arrangement. I thought the program was terrific. I have been waiting since the early 1980's to see the project completed. Hopefully it will show a fully restored building inside and out, just a Mr. Wright designed it.

[RJH]

I would like to post the 59 pics I have of Massaro. I have even emailed them as a courtesy to some on the chat pages such as pharding. However, photobucket is REALLY bad. I did click the images and even the enlarged quality is not worth it. Furthermore, you have to create an account, user names, passwords just to log in. I

[pharding]

An interesting fact noted in the documentary: Mamah Cheney was 27 when she ran off with FLW. FLW was probably about 42 at the time. FLW must have been incredibly charming.

[pharding]

Did the Martin House originally have gutter straps like those shown in those wonderful photos? I can't believe that given the nearly unlimited budget that FLW used such a pedestrian detail. Those straps can't be Wright.

[Craig]

Jim,



Thanks for posting the photos. As a native Buffalonian I have been visiting the house each time I am in town and am very excited for what is being done.



Not sure why someone feels compelled to complain about a free, photo-posting service - I'd rather have an image to see than nothing at all. I mean, really, you have to create a log-in to use ANY free, web based service (including this site).



Keep those photos coming

[JimM]

Could you rebuild Martin today in total for that amount? Extremely doubtful....

They no longer estimate a final cost or timeline. They are committed to a 100% accurate restoration, no matter the cost or time. The last estimate I heard at the house was over $35,000,000 and about 10 years! Darwin Martin was a VERY rich man, and if nothing else those unbelievable figures are indicative of the expense that went into the original complex.



The Barton House (current tour center and gift shop) gets little of that money since it has been taken care of beautifully over the years and needs little restotation.



They also own the gardeners cottage, with no current plan to put in on the tour. The people that sold it are still living there.



Also, the new tour center and gift shop are a a perfect example of appropriate design alongside a Wright site. The simple genius of an inverted prairie hip roof with transparent walls works beautifully. It also collects and stores rain water for the anticipated conservatories and gardens. The plans also call for a geothermal plant.



The progress can be seen in real time video at www.lpciminelli.com

[JimM]

Those straps can't be Wright.

My understanding is that they were originally detailed as shown. Also, it is a "gutter within a gutter". Due to the immense shedding of water and pitch required, Wright placed a "real" gutter within an outer gutter which was installed level. The corner concrete drains (no down spouts) at grade level are almost 4' square.

[pharding]

If one looks at the beautiful photographs in Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House: architecture as portraiture by Jack Quinan you can see what happened. The aerial view shows that the straps are there. From eye level they are not visible because the original gutters were higher on the fascia than the restored house.