Graycliff Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Graycliff
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


Location in New York
Location	Highland-on-the-Lake, New York
Nearest city	Buffalo, New York
Built	1926
Architect	Frank Lloyd Wright
NRHP reference No.	98001222
Added to NRHP	October 1, 1998

Graycliff is a beautiful estate designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It was built between 1926 and 1931. This special place is located about 17 miles southwest of Buffalo, New York. It sits on a high cliff overlooking Lake Erie. From here, you can see amazing views of Buffalo and the Canadian shore.

Graycliff was one of Wright's biggest and most detailed summer homes. Today, it has been fully restored. It is now a historic house museum. You can take guided tours there all year round. In the summer, there's even a market at Graycliff that everyone can visit for free.

The Story of Graycliff
How Graycliff Was Designed
Bringing Graycliff Back to Life
Gallery
Other buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright in the Buffalo area
See also

The Story of Graycliff

Graycliff was the summer home for Isabelle Reidpath Martin and her husband, Darwin D. Martin. Darwin was a successful businessman from Buffalo. This was the second home Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the Martins. Their first home was the Darwin D. Martin House in the city.

Wright and the Martins were not just clients; they were also close friends for over 20 years. The Martins even helped Wright financially during tough times in his career. Darwin Martin also helped Wright get a big job designing the Larkin Administration Building. Wright also designed homes for other people who worked with Darwin at the Larkin Company.

Isabelle R. Martin was the main person who asked Wright to design Graycliff. He created it especially for her enjoyment. Graycliff is one of only five buildings Wright designed between 1925 and 1935. It's also the only one from that time built using stone. Wright believed stone was the best building material. Graycliff is seen as a very important example of his "Organic Style" of architecture.

How Graycliff Was Designed

Graycliff is made up of three buildings. They are all part of a large 8.5-acre property. The buildings blend in with the gardens and land around them. Frank Lloyd Wright designed these outdoor spaces too.

The Main House

The biggest building is called the "Isabelle R. Martin House." It's very special because of its unique design. It has two stone sections with a central part made of clear glass walls. This means you can actually see through the house to the lake beyond! This was a very new idea for a design in 1926.

The house also has large balconies that stick out without visible support, called cantilevers. There are big outdoor areas and "ribbons" of windows. These windows let you feel connected to nature from inside the house. On clear days, you can even see the mist from Niagara Falls through the house's openings.

The Foster House

The Foster House was first built as a garage. It had an apartment above for the family's driver. The Martins owned two cars, a Pierce-Arrow and a Detroit Electric. After their first summer, the Martins asked Wright to make the building bigger.

Later, the Martins' daughter, Dorothy, and her family stayed here for many summers. Like the main house, the Foster House has strong horizontal lines. These lines match the flat look of the lake. It also has balconies that stick out and many windows.

Fountain, Graycliff

The Heat Hut

The smallest building at Graycliff is called the Heat Hut. It is built with the same materials as the other two buildings. These include stone found near the lake, yellow-brown stucco, and a red cedar shingle roof.

Gardens and Water Features

The gardens and grounds at Graycliff are also very special. Wright designed stone walls that match the horizontal lines of the buildings. He also planned unique water features. One is a covered entrance, called a porte-cochère, that extends from the main house. Water flows from it into a large, oddly shaped pool. This was meant to make it look like the lake was flowing right through the house!

On the west side, a wide walkway, called an esplanade, connects the terrace to the cliff and the lake. Wright wanted water to be pumped from Lake Erie and flow down this walkway. This would complete the illusion of water moving through the property. However, this idea was too expensive and was never fully built.

Other cool parts of the landscape include a sunken garden and a hidden garden. There are also stone walls that look like a "waterfall." It's interesting to know that Darwin Martin was the one who first showed Wright Niagara Falls, which is not far away.

Frank Lloyd Wright designed most of the 8.5 acres of gardens himself. This is rare for him. He included a tennis court and specific trees and shrubs to go with the buildings. Another famous landscape architect, Ellen Biddle Shipman, also helped. She added colorful flowers and a picking garden, fitting the Arts and Crafts Movement style.

Bringing Graycliff Back to Life

The Martin family lost a lot of money during the Great Depression. They had to leave their city house in 1937. But they kept Graycliff and visited it every summer until 1943.

In 1951, a group of Catholic teachers called the Piarists bought the property. They started a boarding school there. They also opened a private high school in Buffalo for gifted children. The Piarists added two buildings to the property. But they kept all of Wright's original buildings safe.

Over time, fewer students came to the schools. The number of priests also went down. In 1997, the Piarists decided they could no longer afford to keep Graycliff. They put it up for sale.

Soon after, a group of people who cared about Graycliff bought it. Developers wanted to buy the land to build new houses, which would have destroyed the historic buildings. This group formed a non-profit organization called the Graycliff Conservancy. Their goal was to buy the property, restore it to its original look, and open it to the public.

Many volunteers helped with this huge effort. They removed the buildings that were not designed by Wright. They also worked hard to fix the nearly 90-year-old buildings. Now, Graycliff offers public tours.

The Graycliff Conservancy has received many awards for its work. It even got a grant from the US Department of the Interior called Save America's Treasures. Graycliff is now a New York State Landmark. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.