Frank Lloyd Wright’s Larkin Administration Building

Frank Lloyd Wright began designing the Larkin Company’s administration building in 1903 after company officers William R. Heath and Darwin D. Martin urged owner John D. Larkin Sr. to engage him. The building housed the offices of the large mail order company, which had begun as a soap manufacturer and grew into a more diversified enterprise. Considered one of the most significant structures ever built in North America, it became a model for modern architecture and the age of the machine. Its design articulated various functions in a way that expressed the building’s internal organization, including corner stairs and high nostril-like air intakes. By placing these service functions on the outside walls, the design allowed a central skylight to flood the workspaces with natural light. The structure was mostly demolished in 1950 after the company’s failed attempts to shift from mail order business to retail establishments popularized by automobile-driven consumers.

Buffalo, New York · United States