manitoga and russel wright

Last fall I spent some time in New York and on the drive back to Canada I stopped at Manitoga in Garrison, NY. Manitoga (1941-61) is a midcentury modern house designed and built by industrial designer Russel Wright and his business partner and wife Mary. Wright is most known for his mass produced ceramic dinnerware line, American Modern. The house was terraformed into a piece of land formerly used for logging and as a quarry. I love how the stone is incorporated into the home as the floor and stairs. The home studio is connected to the main house with a trellis covered in leaves. The site and relationship to the landscape is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water in Pennsylvania.

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