Buffalo girls at the Martin House

I forgot to include this photo, taken by the waiter with Brit's phone, in the last post. The group of us out to dinner.

Sunday morning it was breakfast at Camille's, a lovely french bakery. I had an apple and caramel crepe. I am salivating just typing about it.

We had a 10 o'clock tour booked at the Martin House, a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home that is open to the public. We started with a brief video and then joined our volunteer tour guide for our 2 hour visit. Unfortunately we were only permitted to take photographs of the outside, no inside shots, and the landscaping was all being redone, just basically soil, so not that inspiring.

We went to the Gardeners Cottage first where some of the characteristics of Frank Lloyd Wright's (FLW) Prairie Style were pointed out; the band around the base, side or hidden front doors, ribbon windows and wide overhangs.

Each of the houses on the property had distinct and different leaded glass designs for the windows.

Next we went to the house that was built for Darwin D. Martin, an affluent businessman in the late 1800s, early 1900's in Buffalo.

The house had gone through a number of owners, parts had been rented out, sold off and abandoned and it is still undergoing restoration. I realized after taking this window shot

that this was one of the ones that had been covered with a decorative film to emulate the stained glass design that had been taken out for restoration.

Inside we saw the central fireplace (opening into the front foyer and, on the other side, the living room) that FLW considered the heart of the home. His use of ceiling heights and confined and then open spaces designed to impress guests and define rooms in an open concept layout. It was fascinating to hear about his attention to every detail in the house and his innovative building and heating systems. He had an unlimited budget in this home (although in all the homes he built he always came in over budget) and spent it lavishly on wood, brick, tiles, stained glass, furnishings and state of the art home decor. Everything was beautiful and thoughtful.

Even this walkway to the conservatory has a basement and the glass blocks on the floor let light down to it and at night those same blocks light the walkway.

Mrs Martin had asked for a greenhouse so FLW built her a conservatory, with glass panels on the roof that could open for ventilation.

Next we went into the house FLW built for Mr Martin's sister, also on the property.

The final stop was the Carriage House, built to accommodate the horses and carriages but almost immediately it housed motor cars and the chauffeur lived upstairs.

Frank Lloyd Wright was named "the greatest American architect of all time" by the American Institute of Architects and I have been interest in seeing  his work for some time now. George and I  tried to see one about 8 years ago but it was closed for renovation. I am even more determined to see some of the others, that are open as museums, now.