Darwin D. Martin House

The Darwin D. Martin House is located on Jewett Parkway in Buffalo, New York.  It is an important Prairie School era Frank Lloyd Wright complex, said to be one of his finest creations.  Darwin Martin and his brother, William E. Martin, were the owners of the E-Z Stove Polish Company in Chicago, Illinois.  William contracted Wright to build him a home in Oak Park, which came to be known as the William A. Martin House.  Darwin was taken enough with his brother’s home that he asked Wright to build him one on his property here in Buffalo.  The Darwin D. Martin Complex was built between 1903 and 1905.  It originally consisted of the main house, the Martin House, which was the home of Darwin and his wife, a smaller house, the Barton House, which was the home of Darwin’s sister, Delta, and her husband George F. Barton, a gardener’s cottage, a carriage house, and a conservatory, all interconnected by a pergola.  Wright maintained his friendship with the Martin family for a number of years, eventually designing homes for work associates along with another home for them in 1926, Graycliff, off Lake Erie, in Derby, New York.  The Wall Street Crash in 1929 cost the Martins their fortune, and with Darwin’s death in 1935 the family was forced to abandon the already deteriorating complex.  In 1951 the vandalized buildings were purchased by the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.  In 1955 the complex was then purchased by a private owner, who subdivided the grounds, converted the Martin House into apartments, and demolished the pergola, carriage house and conservatory.  Between 1994 and 2006 the existing structures were purchased by the Martin House Restoration Corporation and a major restoration project followed, which included reconstructing the carriage house, pergola, and conservatory.  The complex opened in 2008 as a museum.  The Darwin D. Martin Complex was added to The National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and declared a National Landmark in 1986.           

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