Graycliff

6472 Old Lake Shore Road in Derby New York

The Graycliff estate was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) and was built between 1926-1931.  It is located about 20 minutes south of downtown Buffalo. Sometimes called "The Jewel on the Lake", Graycliff is sited on a bluff overlooking Lake Erie with sweeping views of the Buffalo skyline and the Canadian shore. Graycliff was one of the most ambitious and extensive summer estates Wright ever designed.  

Graycliff was the summer home of Isabelle R.. Martin (1869-1945) and her husband, Darwin D. Martin. Isabelle was the client of record for Graycliff and was designed for her pleasure. 

Wright also designed houses in Buffalo for fellow Larkin Company executives, William P. Heath and Walter V. Davidson.  The Heath House is located at 76 Soldiers Place in Buffalo and the more modestly built Davidson House (1908) is located at 57 Tillinghast Place in the city's Parkside East Historic District, a neighborhood planned by Frederick Law Olmsted. 

Walter V. Davidson House

Graycliff is one of only five of FLW designs that were built between 1925 and 1935 and the only Wright designed structure built between two other Wright homes, Taliesin in 1914 and Fallingwater in 1936 using stone.  Wright believed stone to be the only true building material and may be why he insisted the Martins incorporate it at Graycliff.  Graycliff is considered to be one of Wright's most important mid-career works in his organic style. Grayliff is a complex of three buildings integrated within an 8.4 acres landscape.  It is located high on a bluff with views of Lake Erie across to Ontario.  The buildings, in Wright's architectural style are set amidst extensive grounds and gardens also designed by Wright.

One of the most infamous examples of organic architecture is FLW's Fallingwater in Mill Run, PA. Built directly over a stream and incorporating a waterfall into the design of the home.  Fallingwater is the epitome of organic architectural design. The quote below by Frank Lloyd Wright certainly applies to Fallingwater pictured below. 

If you have interest in historical architecture, make plans in the new year to visit a home(s) built and designed by FLW.  You will not be disappointed. 

The good building is not one that hurts the landscape, but one which makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the building was built.

Frank Lloyd Wright