Martin, Darwin D., House
About this property
The Darwin D. Martin House is a historic house museum in the Parkside East Historic District of Buffalo, New York, United States. Built for businessman Darwin D. Martin and his wife Isabelle, it is the main house of a six-building estate designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The main house is located at 125 Jewett Parkway, at the south end of the estate, and was built between 1903 and 1907. The complex also includes a pergola, a conservatory, a carriage house, a gardener's cottage, and the smaller George Barton House, along with a newer visitor center by Toshiko Mori and landscaping by Walter Burley Griffin. The complex is operated by the Martin House Restoration Corporation (MHRC). At the recommendation of his older brother William, Darwin Martin hired Wright to design a house in 1902. Following financial turmoil and Darwin Martin's death in 1935, the family abandoned the house in 1937. It was vacant for nearly two decades, and in 1946 the Buffalo government seized the property. Purchased in 1951 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, the estate remained empty until architect Sebastian Tauriello bought it in the mid-1950s, divided the main house into apartments, and demolished the carriage house, conservatory, and pergola. In 1967 the estate was purchased by the University at Buffalo (UB), which resold the Barton House and gardener's cottage, keeping only the main house. Restoration efforts began in the 1990s under UB, the New York state government, and the MRHC. The project included renovating the main house, reacquiring the Barton and gardener's residences, rebuilding the three demolished structures, and constructing a visitor center. The renovations were completed in 2019, having cost $50 million over three decades. The buildings are designed in the Prairie style, with decorations such as Roman brick, concrete trim, and red roof tiles, and are arranged along two perpendicular axes. The main house has a cruciform layout with a porte-cochère to the west, a veranda to the east, and intersecting one- and two-story wings. Its exterior has "tree of life" art glass windows, a well as overlapping roofs on several levels. The house's interior spans about 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) across two levels and a basement, with furniture designed by Wright. The Barton House, to the northeast, is also two stories tall and uses similar materials. There is also a gardener's cottage to the west, along with the rebuilt pergola, conservatory, and gardener's cottage at the center of the estate. Mori's visitor center, the Eleanor and Wilson Greatbatch Pavilion, is west of the main house and has a glass-walled design.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Martin, Darwin D., House listed on the National Register?
Martin, Darwin D., House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 24, 1986.
What type of historic resource is Martin, Darwin D., House?
Martin, Darwin D., House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
Is Martin, Darwin D., House a National Historic Landmark?
Yes. Martin, Darwin D., House has been designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL), the highest level of federal recognition for historic properties in the United States.
What is the period of significance for Martin, Darwin D., House?
The period of significance for Martin, Darwin D., House is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Martin, Darwin D., House?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Martin, Darwin D., House will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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