If you like Mid-Century Modern design, go to Field Farm in Williamstown, Massachusetts!  The grounds and views are lovely and you can stay there,  as the house is now a bed and breakfast. This post focuses on the guest house and its grounds;  the next post will be about The Folly, a freestanding guest house on the same property.  The Mid-Century vibe is everywhere!

As part of my receiving the Valerie Moran Grant, from the IFDA Educational Foundation, I visited the Guest House at Field Farm. A 20th century historic home, built by Lawrence and Eleanore Bloedel in the late 1940s, this main house was bequeathed to the Trustees of the Reservations on the death of Eleanore in the 1980s. The architect of the main house was Edwin Goodell. The Folly was designed in the 1960s by Ulrich Franzen. The Folly wasn’t open during my initial visit, but I was able to tour it later. For more information on the history of the property and the houses, go to Field Farm History.

From the Trustees of the Reservations website;  the description of Field Farm:

The Guest House at Field Farm in Williamstown MA, offers an authentic mid-century-modern Bed & Breakfast. This architectural gem is a museum of modern furnishings, that will transport you back in time. Featuring an unparalleled view of Mt. Greylock, Massachusetts’ highest peak, it is a refreshing change from your usual bed & breakfast. The house and landscape feature period artwork and thirteen sculptures in the surrounding gardens. Explore the property or visit The Folly, a three-bedroom, pinwheel-shaped shingled guest cottage, designed in 1965 by noted modernist architect Ulrich Franzen.

As the 2017 International Furnishings and Design Association Educational Foundation’s (IFDA EF) recipient of the Valerie Moran Grant, I was funded to visit a number of historic, 20th century properties, to experience great exterior and interior design first hand, and in turn, pass along what I learned to my clients’ projects.

In October of 2017, I visited two iconic Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW) homes in greater Buffalo, New York.  The Martin House Complex, designed from 1901 to 1909, was commissioned by Darwin and Isabelle Martin.  My blog entry about the Martin House Complex can be found here.  The second home I visited, Graycliff, is just outside of Buffalo on Lake Erie, and was also commissioned by the Martins, as their summer house, twenty years after The Martin House Complex property.  Plans were completed in 1926.  The Martins started using the property in 1928.  When I visited the property, in 2017, the interior was starting to undergo significant preservation work.  That work has been completed and I look forward to going back!!  For more details on visiting the property, go to the Graycliff Conservancy.

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was an architect, writer, designer and more.  One of the best known architects of the 20th century, who designed, according to Wikipedia, over 1000 structures.  Much has been written about him, so I won’t go into his biography here, but if you are interested in reading more about his life, go to The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

According to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buffalo Venture’s author, Jack Quinan:

“The house is a product of circumstances that differed significantly from those surrounding the Martin House Complex built twenty years earlier.  During the latter half of the 1920s Wright was embattled – two marriages and a divorce in four years, two significant house fires, flight from the law, a brief jailing….”  Wright was nearly destitute according to Quinan, and Darwin Martin wanted to provide work for him. The house was completed during Wright’s post-Prairie style period and prior to his regaining his career in the mid 1930s.

Darwin Martin had retired in 1925 and his wife, Isabelle, wanted to take charge of building a summer home where their entire family could gather.  Isabelle first contacted Wright in March of 1926 – a local contractor began building the house in the fall of 1926, with the completion of the house in early 1928.  

The house was built with three original components;  the main house, the heat house and the garage with an apartment over it.  As you can see in the photos, the house is built with low-pitched hip-roofs.  Darwin Martin died in 1935 and Isabelle, who summered at Graycliff until 1943, died in 1945. The house, after being vacant, was sold to an order of Roman Catholic priests (the Piarist Fathers), who established a boarding school on the grounds and added other buildings to the site.  In the late 1990s, the Graycliff Conservancy was formed and it purchased the entire site.  Much preservation work has been needed to bring the house back to its original condition.  (Details from The “Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly, Spring 2015.)

Graycliff

Graycliff doesn’t have the grandeur of the Darwin Martin House – according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly, Spring 2015 edition, as a summer home, the Martins wanted Wright’s eye for detail, but at the same time they wanted a clean, unfussy aesthetic and to be able to relax, away from the city.  

The photos below show both exterior and interior details;  much of the interior preservation work had not been done when I visited, so my photos are not comprehensive, but even undergoing renovation, etc., what a great property!!  And thanks to the Buffalo News and their photos showing the completed interior preservation work, in 2019.

The simplicity of line, along with the simplicity and repetition of design elements (door knobs, light fixtures, etc.), as well as the bringing of the outside in, are all hallmarks of Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs, and also certainly speak to Mission and Arts and Crafts design styles.  With the repetition of design elements, including, for example, the windows that flank the living room on the first floor, and line the gallery on the second floor, FLW creates a rhythm to the home.   And provides a relaxed atmosphere….

In addition, the sight lines that FLW provides, whether in the interior, the view along the gallery, or the views outside the living room and dining room, create an expansiveness.  There are intimate spaces as well, including the library off the living room (which I don’t show), and the bedrooms;  most of us like both types of spaces, depending on time of day, how we feel on any given day, etc.  The materials used on the outside of the house also move into the inside, for example,  the stones (on the floor and the fireplaces) and provide a strong connection from outside to inside.

I continued my fall 2017 visits to 20th century historic properties, by touring Manitoga, Russel Wright’s home in Garrison, New York.  (Supported by the Valerie Moran Memorial Grant, from the IFDA Educational Foundation!)

Russel Wright was a 20th century American designer – he is perhaps best know for his pottery designs, including his “American Modern” dinnerware for Steubenville Pottery Company.   

Partnering with his wife, Mary Strong Einstein Wright, also a designer and a marketing whiz, Wright’s designs took off.  After a career in theatrical design, starting in the late 1920’s, Wright produced everything from a spun aluminum line of housewares, to wooden serving accessories.  Furniture followed in 1935 and by the late 1930’s, “American Modern” dinnerware was introduced, which was Mary and Russel’s first major success. 

Mary and Russell Wright

As you walk onto the property, (which was originally a granite quarry without much vegetation) the buildings appear to organically be part of the hillside, that is, part of the landscape.  A highly individual creation, Wright designed the buildings (working with architect David Leavitt), their interiors and the landscape.  

Wright and his wife, Mary, purchased the land in 1942;  Mary died from cancer in 1952.  The house, which Wright called “Dragon Rock” was built from 1956 to 1962; Wright moved to Manitoga full time in the mid-1960s and lived there until his death in 1976.  The house is composed of two separate structures;  one for family living (which includes the bedrooms for his daughter Ann, who was adopted in 1950, and the housekeeper) and one for Wright’s studio and bedroom.

Wright himself felt that the property should be a combination of natural and machine-made items.  To my 21st century eyes, nature is still the predominant influence;  Wright even changed the linens and interior color selections to match the seasons;  warmer colors for the fall, cooler for the summer.  

According to one of the docents on the tour, Wright coordinated all the exterior landscape design, as well as all the interior design;  he wanted all the components of the property to work together, and in his own words, ” My aim was to have this unusual piece of land be the most important part of the whole project. In other words, I didn’t want there house to dominate the land.” (Taken from “Russell Wright: The Nature of Design.”)

Particularly in this time of Covid-19, connecting with nature, even looking at photos of nature and natural settings, is calming and centering.  Wright showed his connection to the land at Manitoga in every room in Dragon Rock!   While most of us might not want large stones in our living room, or large pieces of slate on our floors, we can access nature with something as simple as having plants in our interiors and/or selecting paint and other finish colors and patterns that are found in nature.  If we are designing a new home, or renovating an existing one, perhaps we could see the landscape outside our doors with new eyes; and see the connections we could make with the landscape and the home interior!

 Also, in designing our homes today, sustainability is something we are now focusing on more than ever;  Wright was ahead of his time in many of his interior selections.  The selections that were “man-made,” including fiberglass, formica, foam rubber, metal foil and styrofoam were chosen for their durability, ease-of-maintenance, and those that are not recyclable today, could be replaced with more sustainable choices.

Perhaps what struck me the most, was how nature predominated in every room;  for example, in Wright’s bathroom, in his studio, he could lower the entire window over his bathtub to its sill, and I imagine feel more like he was outside than inside.

How do you see the communication from landscape to interior (and back) as you join me walking through Manitoga and inside, through Dragon Rock?

Photos by KDZ Designs unless otherwise noted

As the 2017 International Furnishings and Design Association Educational Foundation’s (IFDA EF) recipient of the Valerie Moran Grant, I was funded to visit a number of historic, 20th century properties, to experience great exterior and interior design first hand, and in turn, pass along what I learned to my clients’ projects.

In October of 2017, I visited two iconic Frank Lloyd Wright homes in greater Buffalo, New York.  The Martin House Complex, designed from 1901 to 1909, was commissioned by Darwin and Isabelle Martin.  It includes seven components, according to Jack Quinn, in his book, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buffalo Venture, “… the plan, the main house, the pergola, the conservatory, the garage and stable, the fountain and the landscape – in a continuous narrative sequence.”  The Martins moved into the main residence in 1905, with completion in early 1907, according to Quinn. The second home I visited, Graycliff, is just outside of Buffalo on Lake Erie, and was also commissioned by the Martins, as their lake house, twenty years after the Martin House Complex property.  Plans were completed in 1927.  The Martins started using the property in 1928.

This blog entry covers the first of the properties, the Darwin Martin House Complex and specifically, the main house, pergola and conservatory.  The garage and stable are now the gift shop, the Barton House on the grounds was under renovation and couldn’t be visited.  Also, at the time, the upstairs of the home was not open to the public, and no photos were allowed inside the main house.  The restoration of the main house was completed in the fall of 2019, and I look forward to going back!!

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was an architect, writer, designer and more.  One of the best known architects of the 20th century, who designed, according to Wikipedia, over 1000 structures.  Much has been written about him, so I won’t go into his biography here, but if you are interested in reading more about his life, go to The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

Darwin Martin House, South View from Jewett Parkway

Darwin Martin House, West View Facing The Visitor’s Center

Darwin Martin House, East View

Darwin Martin House First Floor Plan http://www.thecraftsmanbungalow.com/frank-lloyd-wright-darwin-martin-house/

Wright also referred to the Prairie Style as Organic Architecture; Wright was influenced significantly by the Arts and Crafts movement that began in the 1880s in England; new designs that reflected social reform (away from industrialization, for example) and didn’t follow prior historical movements were established.  Wright viewed the entire architectural enterprise, including the interior, as his responsibility and it was important to connect furnishings, finishes and more to the overall design and to the environment and landscape.

Arts and Crafts objects were produced in all media: metalwork, ceramics, glass, textiles and furniture, while architecture typically provided the context within which these objects were brought together.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust. 

https://flwright.org/researchexplore/wrightandinternationalartsandcrafts

At the time of my visit, we were not allowed to photograph the interior of the house, aside from the pergola (enclosed passsageway, in this case) and connecting conservatory. I have attached photos from other sites (credited) to give an idea of what I was able to see of the first floor interior.  Many of the following photos are by Sharon Cantillon – Buffalo News: https://buffalonews.com/2017/06/03/gallery7354/#image=78

Frank Lloyd Wright designed almost all the furnishings in the house;  he was exacting about finishes and in the restoration of the home, finishes, tiles and more are all being redone as they would have originally been in 1907.

Darwin Martin House Entrance

Darwin Martin House Reception Room

Darwin Martin House – Relating to Design in 2020