martinhouseclr

38 DARWIN D. MARTIN HOUSE // CULTURAL LANDSCAPE REPORT terminal visual relationship of the landscape to the verandah and implies the mass and scale of vegetative screening at the corner of Summit and Jewett, which was first reflected in the planting scheme of the block plan. Furthermore, Martins remark on “spaciousness” indicated that the landscape area around the Martin verandah was clearly becoming important in the overall scheme. William Martin’s letter also includes the mention of the nursery from where his own plant material was ordered, the “Shady Hill Nursery Co.” of Bedford, MA, with offices in Boston. 73 August of 1904 also coincides with the first serious correspondence regarding plant material and a preliminary selection of some plant species for the Barton House. A letter from Wright’s office superintendent and landscape architect, Walter Burley Griffin, mentions the inclusion of a “partially worked out” planting list: Dear Sir:- This list is but partially worked out. The problem requires considerable study for which there has not been time, but this will give you an idea of the foundation materials you will require though not of the quantity... which needs to be increased I believe. Yours, Walter Burley Griffin 74 73 The owners of Shady Hill Nursery Co. of Bedford, MA, changed the name to New England Nurseries in 1912. It is still in business. The CLR authors attempted to retrieve records from New England Nurseries regarding potential purchases made by the Martins, however, no additional information was provided by the owners after repeated requests. 74 WBG-DDM, 3 August 1904, Trans. Quinan 2003, WMP-UB. The list noted in the letter seems to have been lost, and indeed there is no genuine identification from Griffin within the letter that the list concerns plant material as it could have been referencing often-discussed building materials of the time. However, the letter from Griffin comes days after Wright asserts that it was too early to discuss plant material. 75 Martin must have insisted on the matter as the Griffin list came just days later. Additionally, Martin writes his brother William the very next day, in part, noting that he had received the “shrubbery list” from Wright’s office and that now he has the nursery name as well, thanks to William’s letter. 76 Martin is beginning to force the issue with regard to plant material and the landscape. Indeed, an apparently-late response from Wright confirming (as Martin’s brother had days prior) the source of the plant material as Shady Hill Nursery arrived in Buffalo on August 15. In this letter, Wright also makes reference to a water table of a “flower garden” being sixteen inches high. 77 This matches with both the height of the terrace wall along the east side of the pergola and the 75 FLW-DDM, 26 July 1904, Trans. Jack Quinan 2003, WMP- UB. Note that though this letter from Wright has numbered responses, which were often in order of a prior letter of requests from Martin, there is no mention or request for plant material information in Martin letters prior to this date. One must presume that Wright is responding to a letter that has been lost or some other form of communication. 76 DDM-FLW, 5 August 1904, Trans. Jack Quinan 2003, WMP- UB. 77 FLW-DDM, 15 August 1904, Trans. Jack Quinan 2003, WMP- UB. intended purpose of the raised terrace as a flower garden. 78 On September 16 of 1904, Martin dedicates one line in an otherwise routine letter of questions, comments, and protests to Wright that “the hemicycle is horribly big and deep.” 79 This is the first written reference to the hemicycle, which would ultimately transform into one of the designed landscape’s signature features. However, is it peculiar that Martin’s comments come more than eight months prior to the first installation of any herbaceous perennial or shrub plant material outside of the immediate environs of the Barton House. Well before any formal planting plan had been developed by Wright, this early aversion to the “hemicycle” likely comes from two fronts. First, Martin has no doubt sat with the extensive, albeit conceptual, planting-related contents of the “block plan” drawing for some time, which shows a broad arc of planting enclosing an open space around the verandah in the shape of a half circle (hemicycle). Second, by September of 1904 the grading around the site is fully taking shape, and Martin is only now realizing the topographical 78 Though clearly idealized, the often seen Wasmuth Portfolio drawing of the Martin House includes the German “blumen garten” (English: flower garden) in the terrace along the east side of the pergola. The name agrees with Wrights early description of its purpose. 79 DDM-FLW, 16 September 1904, Trans. Jack Quinan 2003, WMP-UB. The hemicycle has been written as “hemicycle” and “hemi-cycle” by both Wright and Martin. Fig. 22, previous page Perspective sketch, detail, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1904.