Continuing to Follow in Frank Lloyd Wright's Footsteps

Oreos, octagons, and onerous piano exercises

Yesterday I went to Graycliff, Darwin Martin’s family’s summer home in Derby, N.Y. Frank Lloyd Wright keeps turning up in my life. I know, I called him a crappy person, however I do not know what it is, I just keep going back.

I went to Graycliff because my friend Joanne from the St. Louis Choir invited me on a tour.

I have to say this: That drive I took out to Graycliff, out in Derby, it was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever taken in my life!

Part of it was the trees, all red and gold. This was such a beautiful day. The last great day, people are saying. Tomorrow it is all supposed to go south.

But today! That drive just kept getting better and better.

This area out around Derby, when you head out Old Lake Shore Drive, it is like Millionaire’s Row all over again. We have Millionaire’s Row in Buffalo, with all the old mansions. This is like that. They all had summer homes out on the shore. Same old names: Rumsey, Schoellkopf, Kellogg.

Often you cannot see the houses. The driveways just go off into the trees. The houses are somewhere in there, down by the lake.

Before I toured Graycliff I went to Wendt. Wendt Beach used to be the estate of the Wendt family. There is still a house that was their house however it has seen better days, I am afraid.

Who cares about the house, however, when there is that beach. A road leads you right to it. Twenty steps and there you are. I made this video. You can see how happy I am!

And you can see how beautiful the beach is. I do not think you are allowed to swim at Wendt Beach however it is late in the season for that anyway. As I said in the video, I did wade for a while. The water was cold and felt great.

Walking on the beach was so relaxing and by the time I returned to Graycliff, about an hour later, I really enjoyed the tour.

There was this one guy on the tour from Israel who was on crutches.

He is on vacation here in the U.S. and he had hurt himself going hiking. “Attempting to hike,” was how he put it, rolling his eyes.

He was a hard-core Wright fan, working his way up and down those stairs. However he was not happy. The moral of the story: Do not hike! Lie down until the feeling passes. My friend Janet just broke her arm hiking in Letchworth.

Why can’t these people just walk on Wendt Beach? See, I went walking there and I am fine.

The bathtubs at the house all looked like my bathtub here at home. I wonder if I could get this cool faucet setup.

Who knew Oreos were so old?

Hilarious that of all the books they chose to put on the piano, they chose Hanon.

Those dull exercises, I am never going to play them again. Furthermore I am going to get Graycliff a nice Beethoven book to put on their piano instead.

Frank Lloyd Wright had an octagon theme running through the house. Even the wastebasket was an octagon. This was an actual wastebasket that belonged to the Martin family.

Speaking of the Martin family, I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news however Darwin Martin’s grandson, Darwin Martin Foster, just died last week. I learned that on the tour. He was in his 90s. He had lived in the Darwin Martin House when he was a child in the 1930s.

From the outside, the house looks like a public building with all those windows. Now it is a public building.

Our docent, the excellent and knowledgeable Marie, she told us that this is the only Wright house where people walk out saying, “I wish I could live there.”

We should use that in advertising! Graycliff is going for the gold, expanding its Visitors’ Center so it will about double in size. Pssst, everything in the gift shop is 30 percent off. You know me and gift shops.

Anyway, we should use that as a slogan. “Visit Graycliff, the only Frank Lloyd Wright House where you would want to live!”

I sure wanted to live there! I loved the light, the windows, the wood floors, heck, even the linoleum floors.

I sure want to live anywhere in that neighborhood.

Any mansion would do!