The original five buildings of the Martin House estate totaled 29,080 square feet. This breaks down as follows:
Darwin D. Martin House: 14,978 sq. ft.
Pergola: 1,540 sq. ft.
Conservatory: 2,655 sq. ft.
Carriage House / Stable: 5,507 sq. ft.
George Barton House: 4,400 sq. ft.
Additional buildings added to the Martin estate after 1907:
Gardener’s cottage: 1,668 sq. ft.
Greatbatch Pavilion: 7,775 sq. ft.
The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 created the National Register of Historic Places. Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House has been on this list since 1975. The Martin House was named a National Historic Landmark (NHL) in 1986.
The Martin House is a prime example of a Prairie house, a revolutionary design developed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the first decade of the 20th century. The Prairie house style is characterized by rectilinear, horizontally-oriented structures linked by crossing axes and "woven" into their site. The buildings on the Martin House estate were designed in this fashion, allowing clear, linear vistas throughout the various buildings and surrounding landscape.
Other characteristics of the Prairie House style include:
- low, hip roofs with broadly cantilevered eaves
- prominent foundations that anchor the house to the site
- horizontal emphasis in masonry, sills, copings, and garden walls
- horizontal bands of windows (usually with art glass)
- intentionally concealed entrances and sheltered spaces
- "organic" application of materials
- cruciform floor plans
For a period of some 22 years—from 1927 to 1949—a critical mass of Wright-designed structures stood in and around Buffalo. This concentration of Wrightian buildings was the second largest in the nation, after that of the Chicago area. These buildings included:
The Martin House Estate:
- George Barton House (1903-04), extant
- Darwin D. Martin House (1904-05), extant
- Martin House pergola...demolished, 1962; reconstructed, 2004-07
- Martin House conservatory...demolished, 1962; reconstructed, 2004-07
- Martin House carriage house...demolished, 1962; reconstructed, 2004-07
- Martin House gardener's cottage (1909), extant
Larkin Administration Building (1904-06), demolished 1949-50
William R. Heath House & Garage (1904-05), extant
Walter V. Davidson House (1908), extant
The Graycliff Estate:
- Isabelle R. Martin House (1926-29), extant
- The Foster House (1926-29), extant
- Graycliff Heat Hut (1926-29), extant
From 1996 - 2019, a massive five-phase restoration project restored the Martin House to its condition of 1907. Find all of the details at our restoration overview.
The total approximate cost of this ambitious restoration project was $50 million, which included design and construction of our visitor center, the Eleanor and Wilson Greatbatch Pavilion.
Funding for the Martin House restoration project came from a nearly-even split between public and private sources: federal, state and local governments, various foundations, corporations, and numerous private donors at all levels.
