Frank Lloyd Wright mystery surfaces in Buffalo, NY

100-year-old photoshop mystery

I'm inspired to write about Frank Lloyd Wright for numerous reasons. As a boy I hung out at Graycliff with my dad and my cousin's husband, the late Joe Gelencser who did stone masonry renovations there in the 1960's.

How fascinating it was to watch a master stone mason from the old country do renovations on a world class property. And what a breathtaking piece of Heaven on a beautiful bluff overlooking Lake Erie, with Majestic Canada in the distance. Drinking in all that beauty can touch your soul, in places that stick to your ribs better than the finest meal, at the finest restaurant.

On an estate sale trip to a stately home on Byrd Ave. one day my son and I were fortunate enough to come across an old photo of the Larkin Administration Building. He found it, picked it up and said look. Well, after being a faithful reader of The Buffalo News my entire life it was a no brainer, oh, that's the Larkin Administration Building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Wow, he was incredulous, I'm not sure young people read the news anymore, so he was clueless, news less. He loves architecture and he has interesting stories of his time volunteering at the Darwin Martin House. It's much more than just a home, it was a complex built on the Larkin Soap empire. I personally love the Roycroft Movement which spun out of the Larkin Soap Co. through Elbert Hubbard. My son once located a Sterling Roycroft bracelet at a thrift store for $.50 cents. Of course, I bought it for him and he treasures it to this day.

Not an old period piece, but a 1970's piece done under the Roycroft banner in the old tradition. Local antique bugs would do well to learn the mark, and look for it in your estate sale travels. This photograph was studied by my son and I, along with Jerome Puma. We deduced that it may be a very early photo of the Larkin Administration Building because there are no telephone poles.

Which gives it a possible date of 1906 or so? People will have to judge for themselves by looking at other photos of it. Anything connected with it is extremely scarce, and pricey, see story of the $100,000 desk. It's so hard to break things down into dollars and cents though when history is involved. Learning holds the real value for me.

Now I learn from New Nussbaum of Buffalo Rising, that my old photo is really a 100-year-old photoshop. Which was done through air brushing back in the day, an artist had to take a negative and air brush, or paint out the changes. My son and I had it scanned at Buffalo Big Print right after we bought it. They wanted to do photoshop work on it but I just wanted a clean scan. You can see the wires, and I had no idea it was air brushed at the time.

Why would someone go to all that trouble? My son has a theory that Frank Lloyd Wright hated Telelphone poles. He didn’t want them blocking his work, so this exists because the architect hated the aesthetics of Telephone poles obstructing his creation. This would be proof of that obsession against the new invention of electricity.

Where would Frank Lloyd Wright get the idea the Telephone poles were ugly? Hmmm, perhaps he knew Nichola Tesla who was in the Buffalo area at the same time giving birth to the modern world through electricity. Tesla tried to give the world free energy, but the deep state industrialists of the day couldn’t make us PAY for that~!

In fact, Tesla drove a free energy Pierce Arrow around Buffalo in the 1930’s. I tend to believe this due to the link below, and the fact that I asked Jim Sandoro, owner of the Pierce Arrow Museum in Buffalo who called it a “myth”. Jim’s a great guy, but facts get in the way of calling things a myth. Free energy is real, denying it holds Humanity back from its true destiny to become a space Ferring race.

Andrew Zebrun IV:

I have a love for architecture through my job at a building materials plant. Volunteering at the Darwin Martin House Complex was a great learning experience. Going on tours you learn all about Frank Lloyd Wright's eccentric and unique character. He got a rep, a street reputation for showing up in the homes he designed to rearrange the furniture.

Now that is having attention to detail in your designs, on a whole new level. It is such a beautiful complex, there's no better way to connect with architecture than to experience it firsthand. You can tour anything on the internet, but there's no replacing a visit to excite the senses. I was lucky enough to purchase a piece of the Darwin Martin House gutter that was replace during a restoration. It's a prized possession along with a plastic window from the Darwin Martin House Complex I was gifted while giving tours there.

Then I was gifted three Frank Lloyd Wright blue prints from a limited production run of architectural prints of the Martin House. Looking is one thing, but having special pieces is not underrated. Think of everything you love, having pieces of all that which speaks to your soul is priceless. Collecting what you love, means you have collected a lot of love, what else is there?

The fire at Taliesin had been deliberately set, and the arsonist had slaughtered Mamah and the children with an ax before turning to six workers who were also at the home.

Larkin Administration Building - Wikipedia

Graycliff - Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

Tesla's Electric Car (waterpoweredcar.com)