Fontana Boat House

The Fontana Boat House (1905) is the only surviving boat house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright — a small but exquisite Prairie work on the Buffalo waterfront. Wright designed it for the Fontana family as a private boat house on the Niagara River. The building is a masterful exercise in Prairie principles at a small scale: strong horizontal lines, overhanging eaves, and a composition that hugs the water's edge. It was restored and is now open to the public as part of the Buffalo waterfront. Rick McNees photographed the building extensively for the Wright-Site archive.