Martin House Announces New Exhibition on Restoration and Recovered Objects

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House presents Collecting Ourselves, a new exhibition celebrating one of the most ambitious and successful historic restoration efforts in the United States. Opening March 27, 2026, the exhibition offers an unprecedented look at the decades long effort to recover, document, and reunite original objects designed for the Martin House.

Collecting Ourselves reveals how lost Wright-designed art glass, furniture, and decorative objects were tracked through private and institutional collections, and how their return has helped restore the Martin House to Wright’s original vision.

“For the first time, we are sharing the full story of how these objects left the house, how we traced them across the country, and how ethics, care, and collaboration guided their return,” said Jessie Fisher, executive director of the Martin House. “This exhibition is about stewardship as much as it is about architecture.”

The exhibition will feature:

• Original Martin House objects, including a Tiffany & Co. floor lamp, a dining room table stanchion, and Wright-designed table and chairs
• Archival letters, drawings, and documentation detailing Wright’s meticulous furniture and interior plans
• Loans from institutions that hold Martin House objects, alongside stories of their significance
• A behind-the-scenes look at ongoing collections care and conservation efforts

Once described by Wright as his “opus,” the Martin House went from a meticulously designed family home to decades of abandonment and disrepair before reemerging as one of the premier house museums in the United States. While structural restoration often draws the most attention in preservation projects, Collecting Ourselves shifts the focus to the critical, and often overlooked, role of archives and collections.

“This story is ongoing,” said Susana Tejada, Martin House curator. “We continue to collect it, care for it and share it. It is now part of our community’s history, and it belongs to all of us.”

Exhibition tickets are included with Martin House Plus and Specialty Tour tickets and may also be purchased separately or added to any Martin House Tour ticket. Admission is valid at any time during regular open hours.