Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House, Buffalo, New York
At the turn of the 20th century, Buffalo was a prosperous and proud industrial city, drawing worldwide attention as the site of the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. The city’s wealth and prominence attracted well-known architects for high-profile projects, including H. H. Richardson, Louis Sullivan, and Daniel Burnham—as well as upstarts like Frank Lloyd Wright, who looked to make his name with his first major office building.
The Larkin Soap Company’s headquarters brought him that recognition, as well as the foundation for a strong and lasting friendship with one of his most important patrons, Darwin D. Martin. Over the next decades, Wright would go on to produce a series of iconic structures throughout the United States, but he referred to the complex he built for Martin and his family as “perfect.” The Martin House and Wright’s other Buffalo designs have become vital parts of the city’s architectural and cultural history. Bill Keene, a lecturer in architecture and urban studies, leads a 5-day tour that highlights significant works by Wright and his contemporaries.
DAY 1: Participants arrive in Buffalo. The tour opens with a welcome lecture and dinner.
DAY 2: Begin your Buffalo adventure with a driving tour led by local architectural historian and guide Martin Wachadlo, highlighting the rich architectural heritage of Buffalo, stopping at and touring many buildings by masters of American architecture. After lunch, spend the afternoon touring the East Aurora campus of the Roycrofters, members of an early 20th-century American Arts and Crafts movement. View a printing demonstration and try your hand making your own print and binding a journal. Dinner is at the historic Roycroft Inn.
DAY 3: The day begins with a guided tour of the Richardson Olmsted Campus, a National Historic Landmark designed by Henry Hobson Richardson with Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Completed in the late 1800s as the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane, it now houses the recently renovated Richardson Hotel. Afterward, enjoy a tour of Buffalo City Hall, an Art Deco gem known for its striking mosaics, followed by a guided visit of the 1905 Martin House complex. The buildings were commissioned by Martin and stand as one of Wright’s most significant early works, reflecting the height of his Prairie School period. The tour includes the main residence, Barton House, and the gardener’s cottage.
DAY 4: At Graycliff, Darwin and Isabel Martin’s summer house overlooking Lake Erie, master docents detail the history of the light-filled house, created by Wright at the request of Isabel Martin in reaction to the couple’s darker residence in town. The afternoon includes a guided riverboat tour that travels the nearby historic waterways. Learn how the bustling waterfront shaped Buffalo from the days of the Erie Canal’s construction to the Gilded Age.
DAY 5: Before airport departures, enjoy a morning tour of two Wright designs built posthumously: the Fontana Boathouse—originally created in 1905 for the University of Wisconsin and finally constructed in 2007 on Lake Erie for the West Side Rowing Club—and the Buffalo Filling Station, designed in 1927 and realized in 2014 in a dedicated pavilion at the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum. Guided tours of both sites provide special access to these unique structures
Know Before You Go
- This tour begins on Wednesday, August 19, at 6 p.m. with dinner in Buffalo and ends Sunday, August 23 at 1 p.m. with a transfer to Buffalo Niagara International Airport or the Amtrak train station.
- Important note: Flights to Buffalo are not included; participants make independent travel arrangements to and from Buffalo. Once the tour has reached its minimum registration, participants will be notified and encouraged to purchase airline tickets. This will occur no later than 60 days prior to the start of the program. Additional information will be sent via email.
- Cost includes 4 nights of accommodations at the Richardson Hotel, bus transportation, services of a study leader and Smithsonian representative, 11 meals (4 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 4 dinners), gratuities, taxes, and entrance fees.
- Single-room supplement $420 (factored into the Single Room Member and Single Room Nonmember pricing).
- Singles registering at the double-room rate are paired (on a nonsmoking basis) if possible, but must pay the single-room supplement otherwise.
- Detailed information is emailed to registrants about 4 weeks prior to departure.
- Participants are advised to purchase travel insurance for overnight and multi-day tours from a provider of your choice. Travel insurance provides additional coverage against unforeseen incidents that require last-minute cancellations.
General Information
- Smithsonian Associates is a mask-friendly environment. Please feel free to bring and wear a mask at any time during a tour, both for your safety or the safety of others.
- As we aim to move away from single use water bottles, guests are strongly encouraged to get in the habit of bringing their own reusable water bottle on tour.
- For additional tour information:
