Darwin D. Martin House Complex

The Darwin D. Martin House Complex is the supreme achievement of Wright's Prairie period — a commission so large and so complete that it consumed Wright's office for years. Darwin Martin was a senior executive at the Larkin Company, and he gave Wright an extraordinary brief: design not just a house but an entire domestic world. The result was six interconnected structures on a single lot at 125 Jewett Parkway: the main house, a pergola, a conservatory, a carriage house, a gardener's cottage, and the George Barton House (built for Martin's sister and brother-in-law at the corner of the lot). Wright designed every element — furniture, art glass, light fixtures, and landscape — as a unified whole. The complex fell into severe neglect after the 1950s; the conservatory, pergola, and carriage house were demolished. A decades-long restoration effort, led by the Martin House Restoration Corporation, has rebuilt the lost structures and returned the complex to its 1907 appearance. It is now a National Historic Landmark open for guided tours.