It may be hard to fathom that the original Martin pergola, conservatory and carriage house were razed by bulldozers in 1962. But this small, sculptural fragment from a conservatory art glass window is a surreal reminder and proof positive that three of five original buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House complex were torn down, art glass and all.

Martin House Senior Curator Jack Quinan recovered this art glass fragment from the back-fill of the original conservatory site in 2004, prior to the reconstruction of the building. He soon came to refer to that heap of dirt as the "spoils" pile, as it yielded several boxes full of original floor tile, various types of glass, brass caming, fragments of Novus glass and the like. No pieces of the True Cross, but some "holy relics" of original Wright buildings nonetheless.
For more of the strange and gruesome tale of the demolished Martin art glass windows, see "Stranger Than Fiction" and "Picking Up the Pieces," previous posts on the Weekly Wright-up.
1 comment:
Amazing to think that anyone would destroy something as beautiful, with so much character and charm as a Frank Lloyd Wright creation. Thank God for the wonderful people working so hard to restore this wonderful place.
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