Special shout out to all Graycliff Volunteers, especially the Historic Housekeeping Teams, which have been battling spiderwebs assiduously this summer, and the Green Team for the lovely flowers---the rose beds are newly mulched and look terrific...
And to Graycliff's dedicated Docents, who have been leading tours all of this holiday weekend...
And most of all to Earle Newman, who has been mowing and mowing and mowing, along with edging and trimming and raking gravel. THANK YOU, EARLE!
Last but not least, two terrific reviews this weekend on TripAdvisor:
Gothic Frank Lloyd Wright?”
I have followed the restoration of this property touring it at various intervals since 1989 and it is finally reaching an interesting stage. It is worth the drive out to Derby to enjoy the windswept romantic location alone. It is a small, but beautiful property, has an excellent gift shop, knowledgeable docents and one feels good that the fees for touring will be used towards further restoration of the property. I recommend the tour which includes the upstairs as the view from the veranda off the bedrooms is breathtaking and you get a stronger sense of the family life touring the bedrooms. Wear sensible clothing in inclement weather.
“A wonderful FLW property”
This was the second of the two FLW buildings we visited. It's about 20-30 minutes from Buffalo with a beautiful drive along Lake Erie. This was a later summer house for the Martin family (see also their city house the Darwin W Martin House Complex in Buffalo). It is done in a different style and was heavily influence by Mrs. Martin (as much as you could influence FLW). The house sites perfectly on the site, although lake Erie has eroded a large amount of the back yard. We did the two hour tour and our docent has been there since shortly after the conservetry took over. She was well informed about the design and building of the house, throwing in lots of the behind the scenes discussions between FLW and Mrs. Martin. The restoration is not as complete as the city house (if you know anyone with some money looking for a good cause, this would be up there). Externally all is done but there's still a lot of work to be done inside. Either as a standalone tour or as a companion to a tour of the city house, it's an impressive view of how FLW can fit a house to a landscape and work with a client to keep his view and meet their needs.
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