Frank Lloyd Wright’s Vision for the Martin House Included Everything Inside It. See How Experts Recovered Furniture, Artworks and Decorative Glass

A new exhibition at the home in Buffalo spotlights curators’ decades-long efforts to track down the original furnishings and other items, some of which the architect had designed himself

Sonja Anderson | Daily Correspondent

March 18, 2026

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When Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Martin House in Buffalo, he didn’t only envision its open layout, wooden beams and skylights. The architect also designed the home’s interior, finding and creating furniture, artworks and decorative glass. Wright described his Prairie-style creation as a “domestic symphony.”

The house was completed in 1905. But in the years that followed, it fell into disrepair, and many of the unique objects inside changed hands. Now, after an extensive restoration, many of those items have returned to the Martin House, which is now a museum. A new exhibition at the site, “Collecting Ourselves—The Objects of Martin House,” details how the pieces were recovered.

“For the first time, we are sharing the full story of how these objects left the house, how we traced them across the country, and how ethics, care and collaboration guided their return,” says Jessie Fisher, executive director of the Martin House, in a statement. “This exhibition is about stewardship as much as it is about architecture.”

The show spotlights some of the house’s original furnishings, including a dining room table stanchion, a floor lamp by Tiffany & Co., and a table and chairs designed by Wright. Also on display are archival letters, drawings and other records that shed light on the architect’s “meticulous furniture and interior plans,” per the statement.

Some original Martin House furnishings are on loan from various institutions for the exhibition, and they’ll be displayed alongside explanations of their significance. Museum officials hope to provide visitors with a behind-the-scenes look at the research that made the restoration possible.

“Restoration is not only about building. Wright’s philosophy is that everything about this place is part of the design, but sometimes objects are not the emphasis of the restoration story,” Susana Tejada, the Martin House’s curator, tells Artnet’s Min Chen. “We are recreating the whole vision that Wright had, not only by putting all the pieces of the puzzle of the building together, but reintegrating those objects into the story.”

Born in Wisconsin in 1867, Wright was a pioneer of the Prairie style, an architectural style characterized by horizontal lines, open layouts and an emphasis on the natural environment. In the early 20th century, Buffalo businessman Darwin D. Martin commissioned Wright to design his company’s new administrative headquarters, as well as a home for his family.

The nearly 15,000-square-foot house features an open floor plan with few walls. The interior is arranged around a fireplace and decorated with custom art glass. A walkway attaches the house to a conservatory full of rare plants and a replica of the Winged Victory of Samothrace. According to the museum, none of Wright’s other Prairie houses were “as meticulously detailed as Martin House.”

“This is probably one of the most famous houses that Frank Lloyd Wright designed,” Fisher told WKBW’s Jeff Russo in 2025. “People who are really interested in architecture, who are interested in modern design, this is really a mecca. They come from all over the world to see this place.”

The Martin House estate stretches across 1.5 acres. In addition to the main residence and conservatory, the property also includes the smaller Barton House (designed for Martin’s sister and brother-in-law), a carriage house and a gardener’s cottage.

In 1967, the University at Buffalo purchased the estate and conducted some restoration work. The Martin House Restoration Corporation, a nonprofit organization formed a few decades later, was a collaboration between the university and New York State’s Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The restoration that followed took several decades and cost $52 million.

Recovering the Martin House’s interior furnishings involved curators, scholars, archivists, collectors and other institutions “who were very intentional in wanting to see this place come back together,” Tejada tells Artnet. Some objects have traveled from far-flung places like Australia and Scotland. Items continue to be returned to the house—including three art glass windows that were recently reinstalled in the master bedroom.

“This story is ongoing,” Tejada says in the statement. “We continue to collect it, care for it and share it. It is now part of our community’s history, and it belongs to all of us.”

“Collecting Ourselves—The Objects of Martin House” will be on view at the Martin House in Buffalo from March 27 to September 7, 2026.

Sonja Anderson | Read More

Sonja Anderson is a writer and reporter based in Chicago.