Doreen and Laura's Excellent Adventure: New York

August 9, 2019 - August 12, 2019

We moved on to Niagara Falls, NY and set ourselves up to see the area. Our first venture was to see another Frank Lloyd Wright house in Buffalo, NY.

Drawing of the Martin House Complex. Hopefully you get an idea of how large the place is.
The main house is on the right with a long pergola off the back leading to the conservatory and the stables/carriage house.
The gardener's "cottage" is the unattached house on the left side.
The separate house toward the back at the top right of the drawing is where one of his sibling's lived.

Front of the home.
It's hard to believe this house was built between 1903 ad 1905.
It sits directly in the middle of a very traditional old style neighborhood.

Right side of the home with the conservatory in the background on the right.

Frank Lloyd Wright did not just design buildings, he frequently designed the furniture, art glass and specific architectural details for those buildings. According to an article in wikipedia, "More patterns of art glass were designed for the Martin House than for any other of Wright's Prairie Houses." A few examples:

Of course the falls is the big draw at Niagara Falls. Laura had never seen them before so she was suitably amazed by them. They consist of Horseshoe Falls (the Canadian part of the falls), and two falls on the American side of the river - American Falls and Rainbow Falls. Between Horseshoe Falls and Rainbow falls is Goat Island.

Some of the rapids above the falls.
You wouldn't want your boat's engine to fail anywhere in this area.

American Falls from a vantage point on Goat Island.

American Falls taken from the spot where the people are standing in the previous picture.
Rainbow bridge which joins the US an Canada is in the background.
The platform with the slender building in front of the bridge is a viewing platform and provides an elevator to dock where the "Maid of the Mist" boat tour begins and ends.

The American Falls from the city side of the river with Horseshoe Falls in the distance.
The city on the other side of the river is Niagara Falls, Ontario.

For a price you can take an elevator down to the bottom of Rainbow Falls and get a good drenching.
Rain gear is included in the price!
This picture is zoomed in to show the people. In reality - they look much smaller from the edge of the falls.

It's truly hard to imagine the flow of the Niagara River drying up under any conditions - but it did.

The original hydroelectric plant on the American side of the falls after two parts of the power station came crashing down in 1956. It was built in stages. The first stage began in 1882, the second in 1898, the third (called 3A) in 1914, the forth (called 3B) in 1918 and the fifth (called 3C) in 1924. Stages 3B and 3C were the portions that fell in the rockslide.