Visiting upstate New York this weekend -- way upstate -- I spent a day in Buffalo, checking out two new must-see art attractions, the Burchfield Penney Art Center and the Darwin Martin House, Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece and the subject of this post.
Even people who find Wright's prairie house style not to their liking will appreciate the Martin House. Although it's still being restored, and will be even more beautiful in about three years' time, the restoration group that saved it essentially announced that the home was ready for prime time this spring, when they opened a $5 million visitors center designed by Toshiko Mori. With its floor-to-ceiling windows, long flat shape and an orientation parallel to the pergola Wright use to unify the Martin House complex, the center is a perfect complement to Wright's design.