COLLECTING OURSELVES: THE OBJECTS OF MARTIN HOUSE
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House went from a meticulously designed and executed family home that Wright described as his “opus” to decades of abandonment and disrepair to becoming one of the premier house museums in the United States. While the structural restoration and reconstruction get the majority of the attention in these types of projects, the role of collecting lost art glass, furniture, art work, and ephemera has generally received less attention. In the case of the Martin House, archives and collections perform critical roles in the restoration work, given that the majority of these objects were designed or selected by Wright himself specifically for this house and are critical for understanding the importance of the home, but were mostly removed in the period leading up to the restoration effort.
Collecting Ourselves will, for the first time, focus on the process and ongoing nature of collections work at the Martin House. It will take a deep dive into how these items were lost, where they ended up, how we’ve re-obtained them, and what the future of collecting at the Martin House might hold.
This exhibition will allow us to showcase the generosity of donors who have gifted items back to the Martin House over the years, will include loans of materials from museums that currently have Martin House items in their collections, a look at the museums who hold Martin House items and what those items mean to those institutions, a behind the scenes peek at ongoing collection conservation efforts, and public programming around house museums and collections efforts.
Presented by M&T Bank and Wilmington Trust. This project is also supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
This exhibition was on view March 27 – September 7, 2026.
Missed the exhibition? Enjoy this 3D Tour.
Presented by M&T Bank and Wilmington Trust.
FIAT LUX
For the 2025 Martin House Creative Residency, Cheyenne Concepcion has produced FIAT LUX or ‘let there be light’ – a project that explores Frank Lloyd Wright’s use of light as a primary medium.
The site-specific installation reimagines how Wright’s symphony of constructed rhythms alchemizes light into an ethereal, ephemeral, even spiritual experience. Concepcion’s work responds to the spatial strategies and design gestures the architect implemented at Martin House, most notably the central fireplace. The installation is anchored by the Martin House hearth, the beating heart of the home and what Wright believed to be a portal linking his buildings to earth and sky. Concepcion immerses the audience into her composition by combining cyanotype printed textiles with the enveloping motif of a Martin House original blueprint.
Drawing upon her heritage, she also employs the bold visual language of Binakol weaving—a traditional Filipino textile art characterized by geometric optical patterns holding deep religious significance and a connection with light and nature.
FIAT LUX is a poetic conversation between past and present, between Wright’s vision and Concepcion’s heritage-infused practice.
This exhibition was on view September 12 – October 27, 2025.
Presented by M&T Bank and Wilmington Trust.
The Space She Keeps
Martin House was profoundly shaped by the generations of women who lived and worked here. This exhibition gives voice to their remarkable stories through personal objects, photographs, archival materials, and artifacts that highlight female contributions and experiences during a significant era of change.
The Space She Keeps is a focused examination of gender roles, specifically as they relate to women’s participation within family, community, and culture during the turn of the American twentieth century as seen through the lens of Martin House. Themes explored include education, suffrage, the arts, social reform, travel and leisure, and women’s household and paid labor.
This display showcases rarely-exhibited works from the collections of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library; Buffalo History Museum; Buffalo Seminary; Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House; New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation; Pine Mountain Settlement School; Twentieth Century Club; Smith College Special Collections; SUNY Adirondack Library; and SUNY Buffalo Special Collections.
Organized by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House, The Space She Keeps is part of a series of exhibitions and programs that seeks to bring our community together through creative collaborations and cultural experiences.
This exhibition was on view February 14 – June 2, 2025.
Presented by M&T Bank and Wilmington Trust.
