Frank Lloyd Wright's Pieces Added to 2008 Tours of Buffalo's Historic Architecture
Submitted by: A Couple of Chicks e-Marketing
2008-01-15 00:02:24
Buffalo Hailed as an Architectural Museum and Center of the American Arts & Crafts Movement
Buffalo, NY (OPENPRESS) January 15, 2008 -- Buffalo, New York is a city of great American architecture and art, from famous architects— Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, H.H. Richardson—to exceptional art collections like that of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, to the center of the Arts & Crafts Movement at the Roycroft Inn and Campus. This spring, don't miss out on Frank Lloyd Wright's Buffalo. You'll find tours of historic houses, walking tours of surrounding neighborhoods, and nearby natural wonders like Niagara Falls. Here are a few of the top things to see and do:
• Amidst a $40 million restoration effort, Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin D. Martin House Complex has recently acquired the nearby Wright-designed Gardener's Cottage and added it to the extended two-hour tour of the complex. The Martin House Restoration Corp. has also re-installed a 9 foot 6 inch replica statue of Nike, also known as Winged Victory, in the Martin House Conservatory. This is the crowning feature of Wright's remarkable design for the Martin House.
• Frank Lloyd Wright's Rowing Boathouse has recently opened on a spectacular site on the shores of Buffalo's Black Rock Channel overlooking the Niagara River and Fort Erie, Ontario. This $5.4 million boathouse is based on a 1905 design that was included in Wright's Wasmuth Portfolio series and will be home to the nation's largest rowing club.
• Set on a scenic 70-foot cliff overlooking Lake Erie, an example of Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture, Graycliff Estate, has recently completed extensive exterior restorations of all three Wright-designed buildings, including the striking red roofs, massive stone chimneys, cantilevered balconies and glass pavilion windows. Tours are underway during the restoration process.
• Also of interest to fans of America's greatest architect is Frank Lloyd Wright's Blue Sky Mausoleum, set in Buffalo's beautiful Forest Lawn Cemetery. Commissioned by Darwin Martin, the design was completed shortly before the 1929 Stock Market Crash that ushered in the Great Depression. Martin lost his fortune and the plans were put aside until 2004, when the mausoleum was finally built. None of the Martin family is buried there, however. Instead, crypts are available to anyone in the world.
• Buffalo and environs were at the epicenter of the social and cultural ferment of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Among the leaders of this turn-of-the-century cultural vanguard was Elbert Hubbard, founder of the Roycroft community in nearby East Aurora and father of the American Arts and Crafts movement. An ambitious restoration plan has already seen the magnificent Roycroft Inn returned to operation and work on the Power House underway.
• Buffalo is a six-hour drive to another stop on the Frank Lloyd Wight trail. After visiting Frank Lloyd Wright Buffalo, be sure to stop by Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob in Western Pennsylvania.
• And less than fifteen minutes away is Niagara Falls, one of the most awe-inspiring natural architectural wonders of the world.
For more information on architecture, design and the arts in Buffalo, New York, visit www.wrightnowinbuffalo.com.
