In 1905, Frank Lloyd Wright completed a residential estate that would become one of the most important works of his career. Buffalo's Darwin D. Martin House Complex is a seminal Prairie House and a rare Wright design that incorporates multiple structures for an extended family.
A self-made man, Martin was a top executive for the Larkin Soap Company, a rapidy growing soap and mail order corporation at the turn of the century. Having experienced a lonely and isolated childhood, Martin's dream was to have a home where his family could be reunited. This dream was realized when he commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright - destined to become America's greatest architect - to design the complex.
The complex would include a spectacular main house for Darwin and his wife, Isabelle, as well as a conservatory, a garage-stable, a dramatic connecting pergola, and a separate house for Martin's sister and brother-in-law, Delta and George Barton.
This beautiful complex, a National Historic Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is currently being restored to its glorious zenith of 1907.