The House Beautiful

Docent Jim Beardsley has shared an article that recently appeared in  UU World, a publication of the Unitarian Universalist Church, on The House Beautiful.  Thank you so much, Jim!

While  a draftsman for Joseph Lyman Silsbee in Chicago, Frank Lloyd Wright worked on  commissions relating to his family's close association with the Unitarian Church.   In 1886, his family commissioned the Unity Chapel in Spring Green, WI, and two years later, he worked on All Souls Church in Chicago, had been founded by  his uncle, Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones.

Wright's association with the Unitarian Church continued a decade later, when the tiny Auvergne Press published a hand-printed edition of the Rev. Willian Channon Gannett's essay, The House Beautiful.   Working with  his former client and amateur printer William H. Winslow, Wright contributed both drawings and nature photographs to the volume.

Of the original 90 copies of the book, one surviving copy is now in the University of Rochester's Department of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation.

The book was re-printed a few times over the years, most recently in 2006 by Pomegranate.  The Graycliff Pavilion Shop carried it at that time, but its now out of print.  (Although used copies are still available on-line.)  Pomegranate also has notecards based on Wright's designs for the book....if you'd like to order a box, please talk to Ryan in the shop.

To read the article provided by Jim Beardsley, please see:  Frank Lloyd Wright's Beautiful book

For a complete history, with photos, of The House Beautiful, see: The House Beautiful

FLW and Japanese Prints

                                                    
                                                                                                     
                                                                 
A  week ago I led a tour for a young Japanese couple who after touring the house stated that they felt a certain Japanese influence in the design of the house.  I explained to the couple who had almost no prior knowledge of Wright that indeed he was influenced by Japanese culture, had travelled to Japan several times and had designed the Imperial Hotel there as well as become a kind of dealer in Japanese fine art prints.  They were happy with this connection and reasserted the clear Japanese influence in the design of Graycliff.  I felt I needed to reacquaint myself with the story of Wright and Japanese prints.  I found the linked article which is an excellent source on the subject as well as listing several other comprehensive resources on the issue.  There are several books out on Wright's collecting and dealing in Japanese Woodblock prints, but we tend to forget about that aspect of the man because we are so focused on his architecture.  It is good to remember that one did have an effect on the other as my Japanese guests noted very easily.

http://www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/flw.htm


George

American Scholar Day

Graycliff’s Annual Celebration of American Scholar Day

Every once a year I have the boys around me read Emerson’s The American Scholar.

 Get it and read it if you haven’t read it.

Frank Lloyd Wright, address to architecture students, Chicago, 1957

Frank Lloyd Wright thought there should be a national holiday called American Scholar Day. He observed such a day himself on August 31st, the anniversary of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s lecture called The American Scholar. Called America's literary Declaration of Independence, this statement on American education and learning is one of Ralph Waldo Emerson's best-known essays.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.  Emerson typically gave speeches, which were subsequently published as essays.

The American Scholar was a speech given by Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was invited to speak in recognition of his groundbreaking work Nature, published a year earlier, in which he established a new way for America's fledgling society to regard the world. Sixty years after declaring independence, American culture was still heavily influenced by Europe, and Emerson, for possibly the first time in the country's history, provided a visionary philosophical framework for escaping "from under its iron lids" and building a new, distinctly American cultural identity.

This coming Saturday, Graycliff will be distributing free copies of Emerson's essay on the topic.  Or you can read a copy of it here:  The American Scholar by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Exciting News!

The Graycliff Conservancy, Inc, is proud to announce that the next major restoration project at Graycliff will begin imminently: the restoration of the living room floor, the front entry floor, the dining room floor and related sections of the fire suppression system.

President Diane Schrenk reports that this project will be very challenging for docents, but that we will be developing paths around the construction. She asks that:  "Docents, please be creative,  and share your ideas as the work progresses!"

According to the contractors, BRD Construction, "There will be a big hole for about two weeks."   There will probably also be times when there will be loud sounds coming from the basement, and brief periods when the dining room or the front entry will not be accessible.  To paraphrase Vice President Pat Mahoney, "It will be fascinating for visitors--and for all of us--to see directly from the living room into the basement. It won't last long, and we'll only have one chance to see this!"

Fortunately, BRD has been the major contractor for  earlier restoration projects at Graycliff, and is very cognizant of and respectful concerning tours.  BRD will also be providing updates, on a roughly weekly basis, of what work is in progress and what will be coming up.

Information regarding work as it unfolds will be shared via this blog, so please keep an eye on the blog!

Housekeeping Team members, BRD has also promised to do what it can to prevent dust everywhere, but the reality is that this will mean extra attention to dusting both during construction, and after, as dust settles.

 All work is due to be completed by the end of December.

This project is being undertaken thanks to the following: Governor Andrew Cuomo, NYS Senator Mark Grisanti and  the NYS Legislature; The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation; The Hooper Family Foundation; and an anonymous corporate donor.

Want to Buy Wright?

I came across a recent article in the Huffington Post from August 28 that Darwin's Brother's William's house, also designed by FLW, is up for sale.  If you have 1.2 million, it can be yours.  The article contains some interesting commentary by the current owner who is also a real estate agent as well as quotes Kim Bixler who wrote the book about growing up in the Boynton House in Rochester.  All in all, an interesting article with some nice pictures of the house as well as how Kim's family took care of leaks in the Boynton House. Enjoy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/artinfo/frank-lloyd-wright-house-for-sale_b_3786513.html


George

What kind of Job are we doing?

                                                   



A few days ago our esteemed director sent me a couple comments about docents and volunteers and suggested I look at other sources like Yelp.com and tripadvisor .com for Graycliff.  I spent several hours reading through comments about Graycliff made by guests on a number of different sites.

People comment through our website, too...just in the last week or so we received comments from:

 Anne and Gary Martin from Cambridge, Ontario:  We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Graycliff and look forward to coming again and seeing the restoration as it progresses. A very big thank you to the gentleman who runs the shop and our tour guides, especially the lovely lady who very generously gave us her passes to the fair! I apologize for not making note of everyone's names, but I'm sure you will know who we mean! Thank you!

Patricia Nolan fron Erie, PA, about Mary Wilde:  Our group was very pleased with our docent, she did a beautiful job, giving information and moving the group through the grounds with the grace the house deserves. I was surprised by the group itself, it was a mix of no nothings to know it all!!!

I found some interesting things.  TripAdvisor gives Graycliff 4 stars out of five.  Some recent comments expressed unhappiness with construction in progress....due to the landscape restoration.  And there are always a few comments from a few people  upset that Graycliff's restoration is not yet complete, or that they just can't walk the grounds without paying for a tour.

However, the one universal element through almost all the comments was a strong appreciation for the knowledge level and enthusiasm of the docents.  There were numerous comments about the friendly and helpful staff and the untiring work of volunteers and how amazing it is that Graycliff functions almost entirely on a volunteer basis.  At least half of the comments I read mentioned their docent as being a real plus to their Graycliff experience.

Here are the three most recent comments on TripAdvisor:

folkways

Georgetown

Top Contributor

 122 reviews

 35 attraction reviews

 Reviews in 48 cities

 43 helpful votes

“Success in our third attempt.”

Reviewed August 15, 2013 NEW

We had been here before but arrived too late for the last tour. This trip we made a reservation but an unplanned business meeting delayed our arrival so a postponement was necessary. The staff was very accommodating and understanding. By staying overnight in Buffalo, we were able to upgrade to the longer tour. That was a good idea. The luck of the draw gave us Marsha as our tour guide.

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Visited August 2013

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Mathyew

Madison, Wisconsin

Top Contributor

 78 reviews

 32 attraction reviews

 Reviews in 52 cities

 83 helpful votes

“Great Piece of FLW Architecture”

Reviewed August 3, 2013

The setting on a cliff overlooking Lake Erie is a wonderful spot for this house - and obviously influenced FLW's design of it. As other posts have stated, the house is undergoing a lot of renovation so feels a bit like a construction zone. However, that didn't bother me - I think it actually provided a real canvas to understand what subsequent owners did to the property, and I found it interesting to see what it is taking to strip it back to FLW's original plan. Plus, it was still fairly easy to see the design ideas. We had a great guide who truly loved Wright's work which also made the tour a joy.

Visited July 2013

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WesternNYTravelFrog

Dunkirk, New York

Top Contributor

 85 reviews

 22 attraction reviews

 Reviews in 43 cities

 32 helpful votes

“Much Progress Has Been Made”

Reviewed August 3, 2013

Much has been written in previous reviews of this FLW designed summer 

cottage on Lake Erie SW of Buffalo regarding its unfinished state when 

compared to other, more well known Wright residences, including some 

nearby. I want to take issue with reactions I've read here. First, none of the 

writers saw the condition of the buildings and grounds as much as 20 years 

ago when the entire property was in a VERY sad state of repair with many ill-

conceived additions and general lack of maintainence. We've visited on 

three occasions over about a 15 year period and while the restoration is NOT 

complete, it has come an incredible distance given the paucity of funding 

available at any one time. The Graycliff Conservancy is to be congratulated 

on inroads they have accomplished in a relatively short period of time. It is 

worth recalling that this entire property was on the verge of complete 

demolition and conversion to a condo site as recently as 1997. When we 

visited today, the exterior of all buildings was about 95% complete and l

landscaping of the front of the property is 100% complete. While it is true 

that the interior is not in pristine condition, the exposed bones of the structure are 

as informative to even a neophyte as a sparkling clean completed 

restoration.  Our docent, the president of the Conservancy, made no apologies for where 

the restoration progress is at this point. None are necessary. It simply is a 

work in progress. This is a very worthwhile residence to visit and will only 

become more interesting as solutions to almost insurmountable issues are 

found and executed. Kudos to the Conservancy and its members!





























George Struebel

Pittsubrgh Post Gazette Article on Graycliff

A terrific article appeared on the front page of the Sunday magazine section of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette (the major newspaper in the Pittburgh area)  a couple of weeks ago, followed by lots of photos on an inside page.  There were three stories about Buffalo in the section that day, including one on all the Wright buildings in Buffalo, which focused primarily on the Darwin Martin House, but mentioned Graycliff again in the first paragraph--specifically the landscape restoration.  The other article covered dining out in Buffalo, from Teds and chicken wings to fine dining.  We've had a lot of visitors from the Pittsburgh area in recent weeks as a result.

See them for yourself here:
Graycliff: Secret Frank Lloyd Wright house on the Lake

Buffalo is a major site for Frank Lloyd Wright architecture

Dine: Wingin' it at restaurants in Buffalo