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MAY 2017
Kicking off an exciting summer, the Larkin Gallery will be the next amenity coming to the Larkin Center of Commerce. The gallery will feature a collection
of Larkin Soap Company items of historic significance which provide a narrative of the innovation of John D. Larkin, Darwin Martin, William Heath, Elbert Hubbard, Frank Lloyd Wright and more. The collection includes initial soap products of LSCo to a reflection of the expansive market created by the Larkin Company; including ephemera, dining ware, furniture and the marketing material that prompted it all.
Join us next Thursday, June 8 at the ribbon cutting ceremony. A kick off to the celebration of 150 years of Frank Lloyd Wright, then event will draw local historians, Larkin family members and FLW followers from around the world.
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SAVE THE DATE
The Larkin Center of Commerce is the perfect setting for any gathering, whether it's an office party, a charity or fundraising event or even a large, corporate training session, we offer a variety of shared, communal spaces for both indoor and outdoor events. Our complex's ample parking, heated sidewalks for Buffalo winters and inviting retail storefronts will give your guests a taste of the unexpected.
Easy to get to and a lively environment that's been labored over, the Larkin Center of Commerce is a venue worth remembering. At the event, you'll be able to mingle with other professionals, meet new clients and learn about the area's great businesses. There's no better place to host a social or professional gathering than in Buffalo's resurgent Larkin District, where there's local vendor fairs, networking events, outdoor activity at the neighboring Larkin Square, and plenty more. Events like our monthly Mix & Mingle allow existing tenants to interact, exchange ideas and network amongst themselves. This is exactly the type of event that wouldn't be possible were it not for Larkin's integrated, all-in-one approach to supporting our partners.
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FOUNDING FATHERS:
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
June 8, 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of Frank Lloyd Wright's birth. Celebrations are planned throughout the United States to commemorate and honor America's greatest and most famous architect.
In 1987 author Brendan Gill wrote that at that time it had been more than 25 years since FLW's death, noting "how pleased he [FLW] would be to learn that his name was still capable of provoking headlines in our contemporary press." It is now 30 years since Gill's biography, and FLW's persona and work continues to thrill the populace.
FLW was born in 1867 in Wisconsin to Welsh Unitarian parents in a rural community of second and third generation Welsh immigrants who had fled from Wales seeking religious freedom. They had been considered nonconformists, committed to their faith and self-sustaining abilities. The Lloyd-Jones family was extensive and loving. The children were raised as much by aunts and uncles as they were by parents. The beautiful valley
they settled in came to be known as "The Valley of the God Almighty Joneses."
Continue reading.
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LARKIN COMPANY PICNIC REVISITED - JUNE 6th
GRAYCLIFF
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LARKIN GALLERY RIBBON CUTTING - JUNE 9th
LARKIN CENTER OF COMMERCE
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ROTARY SHRED-A-THON - JUNE 10th
FERGUSON ELECTRIC
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SUSAN G. KOMEN RACE FOR THE CURE - JUNE 10th
BUFFALO RIVERWORKS
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HEART OF NIAGARA - JUNE 13th
701 SENECA LOBBY
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UPCOMING EVENTS
for a detailed calendar of events in and around Larkinville.
LARKIN FAMILY PICNIC
LARKIN GALLERY RIBBON CUTTING
ROTARY SHRED-A-THON
HEART OF NIAGARA
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FOUNDING FATHERS:
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
continued
June 8, 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of Frank Lloyd Wright's birth. Celebrations are planned throughout the United States to commemorate and honor America's greatest and most famous architect.
In 1987 author Brendan Gill wrote that at that time it had been more than 25 years since FLW's death, noting "how pleased he [FLW] would be to learn that his name was still capable of provoking headlines in our contemporary press." It is now 30 years since Gill's biography, and FLW's persona and work continues to thrill the populace.
FLW was born in 1867 in Wisconsin to Welsh Unitarian parents in a rural community of second and third generation Welsh immigrants who had fled from Wales seeking religious freedom. They had been considered nonconformists, committed to their faith and self-sustaining abilities. The Lloyd-Jones family was extensive and loving. The children were raised as much by aunts and uncles as they were by parents. The beautiful valley
they settled in came to be known as "The Valley of the God Almighty Joneses."
By all accounts, FLW's mother, Anna Lloyd Jones, was a complex, deeply principled person committed to fighting discrimination and bigotry at the same time devoted to being a loving, caring mother. She married a widower William Wright, who had recently lost his wife, leaving him three children to raise. Anna, at age 28 - almost an old maid - seemed to embrace the children (though as time went by it appears she treated them badly, according to Gill.) She went on to have three of her own (not counting one who died in infancy). Meryle Secrest, in her biography of FLW, notes Anna's love of the natural world, teaching the children about plants, flowers and animals. She epitomizes the "Welsh concept of nature as one's fortress in adversity and a salve to the soul." She would, according to Secrest, "link concepts of Truth, Beauty, Simplicity and Nature with the idea of 'home'." While teaching her children to love these concepts, she singled FLW out to convince that the role of architect was of high and almost sacred importance. Tellingly, FLW's first commission, as a teenager, was to design a small chapel for the Lloyd-Jones clan, which still stands next to the family graveyard in the valley.
His father, William Wright was an extremely talented, versatile man who was well-liked and succeeded at all that he did - preacher, composer of music, crafter of instruments, music education administrator, lawyer, physician and political officer holder. But he soon left each position - of his own volition - and was missed by those he had become acquainted with. Gill points out that in William's 55 adult years he lived in over 20 towns in 7 states, dying near Pittsburgh, PA.
As the years proceeded, Anna became increasingly hateful towards the step-children, to the point that William placed them out with other of his relatives. By 1883 Anna had turned her wrath on William. It is hypothesized that William's inability to settle down in either a career or community was the result of his inability to handle money wisely. It is suggested that Anna's anger and frustration turned full force on William till she filed for divorce that next year. The schism between the first family and the second was complete. William had become mean towards FLW because he was "Mama's pet." And after the separation, Anna refused William contact with her three children. She certainly had no interest in William's first children. FLW was never again to have any relationship with any of them including his father.
So, like John D. Larkin and Darwin Martin, FLW had a bizarre childhood that nevertheless did not imped his creativity and drive to be the "greatest" architect.
Skipping over many years of fascinating history, we come to 1902. FLW had developed a very successful career designing residences in Chicago and its suburbs designing residences. D.D. Martin, in September, 1902, went to visit his brother, William, who lived in Chicago and was considering having a house built in nearby Oak Park. As they looked around the community, they were attracted to a number of homes designed by FLW. So they visited FLW's studio, and though they did not meet Wright on that occasion, they were both bitten by the bug.
Jack Quinan's book, "FLW's Larkin Building: Myth and Fact," is wonderfully researched and a wealth of information. Most of the following I gleaned from that source.
William Martin met FLW (and his mother) later that Fall. He wrote to D.D.M., "I have been - seen - talked to, admired, one of nature's noblemen - FLW...He is not a fraud - nor a 'crank' - highly educated & polished...High ideals - I met his mother - a beautiful type of woman...He thinks a design that would please me could be made...He would be pleased indeed to design your house - further he is the man to build your office...I suppose that if you discover this man - that Mr. L(arkin) would never consent to his drawing the plans - yet I am sure he is the man you want, and if some way could be devised so that Mr. L. would first discover him that he would be tickled to death with his find...You will fall in love with him - in 10 min. conversation."
By November 18, 1902 FLW was in Buffalo. Out of that visit D.D.M. commissioned a house for his sister and her husband, George Barton. William Heath got 'bitten' as well, and had a house designed.
Plans for the building evolved slowly. FLW's concepts were new and untried. J.D.L. was not an adventurer and he preferred working with people he knew. He had seen work by Adler and Sullivan, and felt more comfortable with them. D.D.M. went back to Chicago in March, 1903 to confer more with FLW.
He reported back to J.D.L., "At the risk of appearing to have been made intoxicated by my contact with FLW, I do not hesitate to say at the outset of this, my report of my interview with him...that I believe we have all greatly underestimated our man."
Adding to the conflict was that the L.S.C. itself was actually two businesses - manufacturing headed up by J.D.L., his sons and the executive Coss brothers, who had their concept of what was needed. The other business was the mail order business headed up by D.D.M., with different ideas about the design. Heath also liked the FLW design, but did not seem to have much influence on J.D.L. Already by this point as well, these characters were vying for power in anticipation of succession of control of the company when J.D.L. was no longer its head.
In the end, J.D.L. relied on the judgment of the man whose loyalty to him was unquestionable and who had contributed so much to his financial success: D.D.M.
Jack Quinan writes that once the commission was secured, "The zeal with which Wright approached the Larkin commission at the outset never waned. As the design passed through successive phases of development, Wright gathered a kind of inspired momentum that enabled him to make the design richer and more complex. Indeed the process of designing a commission of this magnitude was so all-consuming for Wright that he would later write, of the final form as having 'come from me,' as if it had been born after months of internal nurturing." (p.9)
Next month we will explore the features of what still today is considered one of the most remarkable buildings ever designed, not only by FLW, but by any architect.
~From the Desk of Sharon Osgood
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