Restoration

More and more, so it seems to me, light is the beautifier of the building. – Frank Lloyd Wright What happens when a work of art designed for a particular location is removed losing all or a substantial part of its meaning? Belonging For the Martin House, Frank Lloyd Wright…

The Martin House is replicating seven Tree of Life art glass panels to complete the band of windows for the south end of the reception room. The Martin House has selected Oakbrook Esser Studios of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, as the fabricator of these exquisitely intricate reproductions based on Frank Lloyd Wright’s…

This article originally appeared in The Globe and Mail on April 24, 2020. I don’t care what season it actually is, step into the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo (1904-05), and its perpetual fall. Maybe that’s because its architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, worshipped Mother Nature, and fall is when she…

This article originally appeared in National Trust for Historic Preservation on October 18, 2018. Frank Lloyd Wright was issued a test, of sorts, when a businessman named Darwin D. Martin approached him in 1902. Martin, an executive at the Larkin Soap Company in Buffalo, New York, was looking for an…

A Canadian-American Museum Partnership in Celebration of the 150th Anniversaries of Canadian Confederation and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Birth The University of Victoria (UVic) and the Martin House Restoration Corporation (Martin House) announce the historic transfer of seven original art glass panels from the University’s Legacy Art Galleries back to their original…

Our restoration process began its final stage when we unveiled the Wisteria Mosaic Fireplace. The beautifully hand-crafted, four-sided, historically-accurate replica of the Martin’s original fireplace acts as our house’s centerpiece, representing more than craftsmanship alone. It’s a symbol of the Martin’s themselves: strong-willed yet graceful, elegant yet modest. The fireplace,…

The Martin House opened its doors to the public for docent-guided tours even before the formation of the Martin House Restoration Corporation in 1992. Visitors today may be touring the complex for their first, third, or even sixth time and have never experienced the multi-residential estate in the same condition…

A home is never truly complete without a kitchen stove, and this sentiment holds true even at the Martin House. Given its prominence on the first floor, the Martin House kitchen seems somewhat unfinished without its stove—historically, the focal point of the south wall of the home’s principal domestic space.…