martinhouseclr

59 2 // SITE HISTORY & EVOLUTION miscellaneous details nearing completion, the Martins prepared to move into 125 Jewett Parkway in November of 1905. 142 On November 2 nd , Frank Lloyd Wright sends a note to Martin regarding the planting of the hemi-cycle, which has been the subject of unease since it was installed in May: I will come Monday night – bringing planting plan of “floricycle” with me, schedule for light fixtures and bids on same. 143 This is the first written occurrence of the term Floricycle among the known Martin House historic materials. Wright’s use of the term, without much context, suggests that he and Martin had previously discussed the planting prior and they had used the term in conversation. The term itself is an invented word used to describe the concept behind the planting – that being a planting arrangement with similar shape as the hemi-cycle (“half-circle”) yet structured in such a way to display a sequential cycle of blooming and specific horticultural interest from March to November. It is not known who created the term--Wright, Walter Burley Griffin or even Darwin or Isabelle. What is clear from Wright’s letter is that the concept for the unique seasonal planting arrangement was in development by October of 1905. 144 Meanwhile, Walter Burley Griffin left 142 DDM, Memorandum, 21 November 1905, MFP-UB. 143 FLW-DDM, 2 November 1905, Trans. Zakery Steele 2014, WMP-UB. 144 Regarding the adaptation of the Latin “hemicycle” to the conceptual term “Floricycle,” Wright scholar Jack Quinan notes Wright’s office sometime in the fall of 1905 due, in no small part, to a dispute regarding Wright’s inability to pay him, except in Japanese prints. 145 As Wright’s office was engaged by Martin to rework the hemi-cycle arrangement for the better part of the summer, it is logical to assume that Griffin had a central role in the development of the concept, if not the detailed design of plan itself. Indeed, no one left in Wright’s studio at the time had any developed horticultural knowledge. 146 Predictably, the “Floricycle” plan referred to by Wright in early November did not likely arrive with Wright during his stated visit to Buffalo. Or, if it did, it was reviewed, perhaps discussed, and not mentioned again in written correspondence until January 1906. Through the remainder of 1905 Wright and Martin corresponded on two notable landscape-related features. Wright notified Martin that the revised designs for the Gardener’s Cottage were complete on 5 December. 147 On 9 December comes the first written reference to “clothes poles” – a series of stylistic laundry poles, with eyelets for detachable laundry lines, the cap design of which harmonized with the both the overall horizontality and the wood detailing of the house. Wright notes in his letter that he cannot find “a plat of the garden space that is realizable as to size,” and counsels Martin that Wright was schooled in the Froebel Kindergarten method as a child, which was grounded in geometry. 145 Christopher Vernon, e-mail message to author, 29 May 2014. 146 Ibid., 29 May 2014. 147 FLW-DDM, 5 December 1905, WMP-UB. to determine on his own the quantity required and to set them symmetrically within the peony beds in the courtyard garden. 148 Imitating the unpunctuality of prior planting plans, Martin requests the Floricycle plan from Wright on 15 January 1906: Dear Sir:-- Is the floricycle plan complete ready? It is the ides of January and there is only sufficient time between now and planting date for me to 1 st . Pry the plan away from you, 2 nd . Digest it, 3 rd . Decide about the disposition of stock now planted on the hemicycle. 4 th . Shop for the stock, 5 th . Place the order. If you want to see this thing go through this Spring, now is the time to deliver. 149 One month later, on 15 February 1906, Martin sends a detailed list of questions to Wright concerning only the Floricycle: 150 148 FLW-DDM, 9 December 1905, WMP-UB 149 DDM-FLW, 15 January 1906, Trans. Jack Quinan 2003, WMP-UB. 150 Much confusion exists in prior analysis on the Martin House plantings, which at least partly can be attributed to the remarkable coincidence that the most significant piece of correspondence regarding the Floricycle falls on the same