Another Wright attraction is afloat
By Barry A. Muskat
Photos by Bruce T. Ridolfo
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The FLW boathouse.
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Wright’s commission was based on a request of Cudworth Beye, a student on the University of Wisconsin crew team. Beye asked his family’s friend to design a boathouse for a site on the Yahara River. Wright’s response was to design his first and only “rowing boathouse.” The plans were crafted in the height of Wright’s Prairie Period (drawn in 1905 concurrent with the construction of Buffalo’s Darwin Martin House and the Larkin Administration Building.) The University did not see merit for a second boathouse and didn’t fund the project, so Wright’s only boathouse design was never actually built.
It’s apparent that Wright really liked this design. He thought the plan important enough to include in the Wasmuth Portfolio, a 1910 publication in Germany of his early works. (The design was included, although it was the only plan in the book that had not actually been built at the time of publication.)
The boathouse design abandons the gently pitched hip roofs of Wright’s Prairie houses and incorporates a flat roof and hovering cantilevers. It predates what are now famous icons of Modernism (such as Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion and LeCorbusier’s Domino Housing). Its shape and appearance also predate Wright’s own famous Robie House. Wright would later redraw his boathouse plan and select it as one of eight projects for a major traveling exhibition of his work in the 1930s.
It’s important to note that Wright’s boathouse has been built exactly as designed. John Courtin, a founder of the Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rowing Boathouse Corporation, notes that one reason this was possible was that rowing as a sport has not really changed over the years. Although in 1905 virtually all racing shells were made of wood, while today’s boats are made of a lightweight carbon fiber composite, in other respects, the eight-oared racing shells of the 1905 era are virtually identical to the racing shells used today. Courtin notes, “The boathouse will be awash with an authenticity of use. It was built exactly as it was designed for the exact same purpose for which it was originally designed.”
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The finished product is magnificent. The east and west (land and water) elevations are identical, as are the north and south elevations. Be sure to treat yourself to the unobstructed views from the second floor balcony. See the piers and feel the power of the cantilevered roofs. Note the views of the Peace Bridge and picture the bird’s-eye view that visitors crossing the bridge have of this new structure.
Wright aficionados might recognize that the diamond-paned art glass windows used on this project are identical to those he had used on the windows for his own home in Oak Park. Here they’ve been re-created in size and proportion exactly as they had been drawn to form a beautiful highlight of the facility.
“Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rowing Boathouse will be yet another Wright masterpiece located in the Buffalo Niagara region, and a jewel on our waterfront,” says Sharon Courtin, executive director of the FLWRBC. Courtin also notes, “This project is proof that public and private entities can accomplish great things, including waterfront development, when working together toward a common goal.”
Barry A. Muskat is an active volunteer at Wright’s Darwin Martin House as well as a sailor and kayaker who welcomes the boathouse to our waterfront.
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