Collection ID: MS.0022.0006

Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Martin, D.D. (Darwin D.), University Archives, and Buffalo and Western New York Architecture Collection (State University of New York at Buffalo)
Abstract:
Papers, circa 1878 to 1935, of Darwin D. Martin (1865-1935) of Buffalo, New York, an official of the Larkin Company and an early client of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Extent:
5.71 Linear Feet and 10 legal manuscript boxes, 2 half legal manuscript boxes, 1 flat box, 1 oversize flat box, 1 oversize folder
Language:
Collection material in English.
Preferred citation:

[Description and dates], Box/folder number, MS 22.6, Darwin D. Martin Family Papers, circa 1878-1935, University Archives, State University of New York at Buffalo.

Background

Scope and Content:

Papers, circa 1878-1935, of Darwin D. Martin (1865-1935) of Buffalo, New York, an official of the Larkin Company and an early client of Frank Lloyd Wright. Includes diaries, memorandum books, business and family correspondence, genealogical material and other items concerning Darwin D. Martin, his wife Isabelle Reidpath Martin, and their children Dorothy and Darwin R. Martin. Also included are letters to Martin from his brother William E. Martin of Chicago, 1902-1910, letters to Martin from Elbert Hubbard of the Roycroft Shop, East Aurora, New York, 1893-1912, and letters to Martin from Booker T. Washington, 1901-1915. Some of the correspondence between William E. and Darwin D. Martin concerns the activities of Frank Lloyd Wright. Also included are various memoranda concerning the Darwin D. Martin House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and a typescript draft of "Romeo and Juliet", 1929(?), which was later incorporated into Frank Lloyd Wright's Autobiography (1932). The bulk of the correspondence between Darwin D. Martin and Frank Lloyd Wright, including additional letters of Darwin D. to William E. Martin, is included in the related "Frank Lloyd Wright Darwin D. Martin Papers" (MS 22.8) available at the University Archives of the State University of New York at Buffalo and in the Special Collections at Stanford University. The University Archives also has architectural plans, contractor's correspondence and photographs of the Darwin D. Martin House and related structures (MS 22).

Biographical / Historical:
Date Event
1865
Darwin D. Martin born - Boucville, Madison Co., New York
1867
Frank Lloyd Wright born - Richland Center, Wisconsin
1869
Isabelle Reidpath, the future Mrs. Martin, born - Buffalo, New York
1878
Brothers Darwin D. Martin and Louis Frank Martin selling soap for Larkin Company in New York City
1879
Darwin D. Martin, aged thirteen, begins work at Larkin Company in Buffalo
1885
Darwin D. Martin invents cardex
1887
Frank Lloyd Wright begins studies at the University of Wisconsin
1888
Darwin D. Martin begins building house on Summit Avenue in Buffalo
1889
Darwin D. Martin marries Isabelle Reidpath
Frank Lloyd Wright builds Home and Studio in Oak Park
1890
Frank Lloyd Wright joins Alder and Sullivan
Darwin D. Martin replaces Elbert Hubbard as Secretary of Larkin Soap Company
1893
Frank Lloyd Wright starts his own practice
1902
October 29 -- Darwin D. Martin meets Frank Lloyd Wright
Darwin D. Martin purchases site for Martin House Complex, Jewett Parkway
1903
October 11 - Construction begins on Barton House
1904
July 20 - Construction begins on Martin House
October - Barton House occupied
1905
Martin House Complex completed
1910
Frank Lloyd Wright designs Bar Beach Cottage (Bay Beach, Ontario, Canada) for Darwin D. Martin (unexecuted)
1923
Darwin D. Martin commissions Frank Lloyd Wright to design a home for James and Dorothy Martin Foster, daughter of Darwin D. Martin (unexecuted)
1925
Martin retires from the Larkin Company
1926
Construction begins on Graycliff
1928
June 20 - Graycliff occupied
Frank Lloyd Wright designs the Blue Sky Mausoleum for Darwin D. Martin's ploy in Buffalo's Forest Lawn Cemetery (unexecuted)
1935
Darwin D. Martin dies in Buffalo
1936
Fallingwater (Bear Run, Pennsylvania), designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Kaufmanns
1945
Isabelle R. Martin dies in Buffalo
1959
Frank Lloyd Wright dies
Date Event
1926
April 5 - Darwin D. Martin writes to Frank Lloyd Wright requesting 1910 Bay Beach Cottage design; Darwin D. Martin is considering building on shores of Lake Erie
April 18 - Darwin D. Martin looks at site in Derby, New York
April 19 - Darwin D. Martin purchases 250-foot front on Lake Erie, with 60-foot cliff
April 21 - Darwin D. Martin informs Frank Lloyd Wright that he's not interested in 1910 cottage design, but a two-story stone house designed by Frank E. Newman for E.W. Russell of Greenwich, Connecticut
May 3 - Frank Lloyd Wright sends Darwin D. Martin preliminary drawings
May 5 - Darwin D. Martin informs Frank Lloyd Wright that Isabelle R. Martin is Frank Lloyd Wright's client
August 19-20 - Frank Lloyd Wright in Buffalo to see site
August 27 - Isabelle R. Martin sees the site for first time
September - Construction on garage begun.
September - Due to marital problems, Frank Lloyd Wright asks his son John Lloyd Wright to take over the project; the Martins did not approve the change
November - Frank Lloyd Wright resumes his service to the Martins; construction continues on the site
1927
April 5-6 - Frank Lloyd Wright visits site
June 4 - Darwin D. Martin writes to Frank Lloyd Wright of the completion of the foundation of the main house
June 15-16 - Frank Lloyd Wright visits site
August 31-September 2 - Chimney and masonry of main house completed
September - Frank Lloyd Wright finalizes designs for landscape, tennis court, circle, and guest house; the guest house was not executed
September - Furniture designs by Frank Lloyd Wright are executed
1928
March 10, 12 - Furniture bought for main house
June 20 - Martins "open" house
September 20 - Paul A. Harsh, a house guest at Graycliff, suggests the name "Graycliff"
1929
April - Isabelle R. martin asks Frank Lloyd Wright to design a screened walk to cross the esplanade behind the stone bench for servants
June 15 - Frank Lloyd Wright visits site
July - Martins request Frank Lloyd Wright to design a "concrete tent house" for the Foster family (unexecuted)
July - Martins request Frank Lloyd Wright to design a third-floor to main house (unexecuted)
July 29 - Construction on evergreen garden, stone seat begun; Frank Lloyd Wright selects and ships furnishings for the main house from Marshall Fields in Chicago; Frank Lloyd Wright suggests wicker and overstuffed chairs fo the main house
1935
Darwin D. Martin passes away
Isabelle R. Martin continues to summer at the site, and winters with the Foster family
1938
November - Engineering report on site compiled by G.E. Seitzmiller for insurance purposes
1941
Isabelle R. Martin continues to summer at the site, but moves into garage apartment
1942
Isabelle R. martin spends her last summer at the site; she moves permanently to Buffalo to live with the Foster family
1945
Isabelle R. Martin passes away
Stewardship of the site falls to a holding company belonging to Darwin R. Martin, son of Darwin D. Martin
1950
Piarist Fathers, a Hungarian order, purchases site from Darwin R. Martin
Mid-1950s
Chapel addition constructed over south terrace of main house
Garage addition and a storage building constructed
Circa 1956
School building/dormitory constructed to house Hungarian refugees
1958
August - Frank Lloyd Wright visits the site
1996
Piarist Father's place property for sale
Graycliff Conservancy is formed to acquire and restore the site
1997
October - Graycliff Conservancy signs a contract to purchase the site
Acquisition information:
Gift to the University Archives, State University of New York at Buffalo, by the Estate of Mildred Martin (Mrs. Darwin R. Martin), in 1983; also includes related documents donated by Darwin R. Martin, son of Darwin D. Martin, in 1976, and 1977; and from the Office of the President, State University of New York at Buffalo, in 1981 and 1983; printed invitation to "Informal Musical" at Martin House on October 11, [no year], donated by Margaret Phillips, December 12, 2000, and added to folder 6.7, ephemera.
Processing information:

Processed by University Archives staff, 1983. Finding aid revised 1988, 1995. Part of this collection was transcribed by Anita Mitchell in 2014 and published on Digital Collections in 2016.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in 17 series:

  1. Index
  2. Diaries
  3. Autobiography
  4. Travel Accounts
  5. Diaries, Memorandum Books and Notebooks
  6. Darwin D. Martin, 1880s
  7. Family Correspondence
  8. Elbert Hubbard
  9. Booker T. Washington
  10. Frank Lloyd Wright
  11. Miscellaneous Items
  12. Financial Records
  13. Larkin Company
  14. Genealogy
  15. Darwin R. Martin
  16. Oversize Materials
  17. Miscellaneous
Accruals:

No further accruals are expected to this collection.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

Darwin D. Martin Family Papers, circa 1878-1935, are open for research.

TERMS OF ACCESS:

Copyright of papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns. Researchers must obtain the written permission of the holder(s) of copyright and the University Archives before publishing quotations from materials in the collection. Most papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures unless otherwise specified.

PREFERRED CITATION:

[Description and dates], Box/folder number, MS 22.6, Darwin D. Martin Family Papers, circa 1878-1935, University Archives, State University of New York at Buffalo.

LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
420 Capen Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260, United States
CONTACT:
716-645-2916
lib-archives@buffalo.edu