press releases
Reconstruction, groundbreaking, documentary and production of “Shining Brow” highlight Buffalo’s ongoing restoration and celebration of its architecture
Reconstruction of missing pergola, conservatory and carriage house at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House Complex nears completion
“Buffalo’s Architectural Treasures” debuts as video podcast/DVD
Construction begins on Wright-designed boathouse
Buffalo Philharmonic to perform opera based on life of Wright
BUFFALO, NY, Sept. 29, 2006 -- The re-construction of three Frank Lloyd Wright buildings at the Darwin D. Martin House Complex, one of Buffalo’s preeminent architectural treasures, is nearing completion as crews work feverishly in anticipation of the October 4 premiere of the lost buildings that will feature remarks by New York State Governor George Pataki, Senator Charles Schumer and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. The completion of the reconstruction will mark the first time in America that demolished Wright buildings have been rebuilt. The house that Wright himself referred to as “a well nigh perfect composition” will be seen once again in its historic integrity and symmetry, the long-missing pergola, conservatory and carriage house rebuilt according to Wright’s specifications. While work remains on the restoration of the interior of the Martin House, the entire Complex will be open to visitors in early November much as it was whenDarwin and Isabelle Martin resided there 100 years ago.
“Buffalo’s Architectural Treasures,” a joint productionof WNED-TV and the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau, explores the city writer R.W. Apple, in Apple’s America, called “a textbook for a course in modern American buildings.” Hosted by noted Buffalo lecturer, author and activist, Tim Tielman, the video documents Buffalo’s history as the quintessential 19th century boomtown. The frenzy of economic activity that Buffalo experienced between 1865 and the turn of the century produced great wealth and what Tielman calls a “will to greatness” in the city’s leading citizens, who brought the best and brightest talents of the Gilded
Age to Buffalo.
In the course of a ten-minute tour, viewers will visit the tree-filled parks and mansion-lined parkways designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, as well as the masterworks left in Buffalo by such legendary architects as Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, H.H. Richardson, Stanford White, Richard Upjohn, Daniel Burnham and Eliel and Eero Saarinen. A Flash video version and downloadable video podcast of “Buffalo’s Architectural Treasures” is available at wrightnowinbuffalo.com.
“Buffalo’s Architectural Treasures” is also available as an extra feature of the DVD release of the PBS documentary “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buffalo” by calling 1-800-593-4420.
Members of the Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rowing Boathouse Corporation were joined on Sept. 6 by award-winning television writer and producer Tom Fontana and local and state government officials to break ground on the site of a new boathouse designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1905. The $5.4 million boathouse will be located adjacent to the West Side Rowing Club on the Black Rock Canal, facing the Niagara River and the Canadian shore. Fontana, a writer and producer of such television programs as “St. Elsewhere” and “Homicide: Life on the Street,” has generously donated $500,000 towards the Boathouse construction. His father, Charlie, was a long time coach at the West Side Rowing Club.
Originally designed for the University of Wisconsin, the Wright boathouse will be operated as an architectural tourist site and as a working boathouse. The boathouse design was part of a special exhibit of Wright’s drawings and models at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1907. Wright also included his rowing boathouse in the Wasmuth portfolio, his only monograph that was published in Berlin in 1910-11.
The West Side Rowing Club, one of the largest rowing clubs in the United States, has a large facility next door and will operate the Wright boathouse for rowing purposes. West Side will immediately fill the boathouse with boats and this new facility will provide expanded opportunities for members of the Buffalo community to participate in rowing activities. Completion of construction is expected during summer 2007.
The city’s architecture meets the stage when the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra presents Shining Brow, a concert opera that follows the life of Frank Lloyd Wright, during the tumultuous years between 1903 and 1914. The production portrays Wright’s relationship with Louis Sullivan, Mamah Cheney, and his wife Catherine with scenes shifting from the Cliff Dweller’s Club in Chicago, to Oak Park, Berlin and Taliesin. Composed by Daron Hagen, this concert version will make its Buffalo debut on Saturday, Nov. 4, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 5, at 2:30 p.m. at Kleinhans Music Hall. Information about a weekend package featuring admission to the concert, accommodations and a tour of Buffalo’s architectural treasures, including the Martin House Complex and Wright’s Graycliff Estate, can be found at wrightnowinbuffalo.com.
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