A Frank Lloyd Wright Masterwork

—Architecture of the Coast —

Section Through Living Room. Glass walls make upper story float and lower story transparent. Terrace mimics cliff brink and makes sky part of the house. Stone extends through house. Stone sided esplanade connects house to cliff. 65' cliff dropping to Lake Erie. Natural cantilever of Tichnor Limestone, the material used for the structure, and the gray band of dense rock that gave Graycliff its name, Front View. Overhangs & cantilevered balconies break vertical face of endwalls. Low walls extend house and emphasize horizontal form. Low shrubs obscure intersection of house and ground. Glass walls allow view through house to lake and sky beyond. Stone used liberally to meld building walls and cliff. Long, low, horizontal lines are sympathetic with the cliff strata and lake horizon. The lines emphasize continuity of space in both interior and exterior spaces. Integration of House and Site. Martin House. Wright conceived the main house as two buildings connected by a second story bridge. The glass-enclosed space under the bridge focused attention to the view of the lake beyond. Sunken gardens link outdoor and indoor spaces. Projecting porte cochere welcomes guests to entry. Sunken pool links image of horizon to foreground. Axis of entry drive, reinforced by placement of white pines, focuses
view toward the lake and setting sun. Foster House. The Foster House is a more traditional Wright design with extensive eaves and cantilevers. The house was originally conceived as a servant's quarters, but Isabelle's daughter, Dorothy Martin Foster lived here. Isabelle Reidpath Martin. Graycliff was built as a summer residence for Isabelle Martin and her husband Darwin, retired secretary of the Larkin Company, a soap manufacturing company in Buffalo, NY. Wright was a close friend of the Martins as documented by the large archive of correspondence between them. Frank Lloyd Wright. Graycliff is an excellent expression of Wright's famous ability to integrate building and site by breaking down the barriers between the building walls and outside spaces. The American lakeshore west of Buffalo became a popular location for large summer homes after World War I.

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