Susie's Birthday

For Susie's birthday this year, we went to Buffalo to see some early Frank Lloyd Wright houses: Graycliff and the Darwin Martin House. These were some of Wright's early homes. The Darwin Martin house was the first "prairie" house, and we don't have any pictures there because no photography is allowed inside. Graycliff was a "natural" house, built to blur the lines between inside and outside. As you can see in the picture below, Graycliff was built with windows on the main floor so that you can see through it to the lake beyond.

In the front of the house is a fountain and reflecting pool, providing a symmetry to the lake in the back. Looking out the back, Wright originally planned another pool to act as another link to the lake, but unfortunately the Martins never filled it with water. Here is a shot looking back at the house from the "pool." The terrace runs all along the back of the house with entrances into all the bedrooms through huge windows.

Here is the gray cliff, which gives the house its name and overlooks the lake.

And here we are on the benches at the end of the pool. No photography was allowed inside, unfortunately. The outside is about 80% restored, but the inside has a long way to go.

It was a lovely birthday, ending with a sumptuous meal at The White Inn. We had never been there before, but we will be going back for our next special occasion. Rachel had the best steak we've had in town, and I had great seafood.