For decades, industrial desinger Russel Wright (1904-1976) helped define what modern living in American would be. His most famous contribution was his organic and sculptural American Modern dinnerware, a collection that sold over 200 million pieces from 1939 to 1959. Unlike any industrial designer before him, Wright became a household name by pressing his signature into the underside of every product he crafted. Wright was also the first to extend his reach from products to culture: in 1950 he and his wife Mary Small Einstein authored Guide to Easier Living, a lifestyle book that adovcated a new informal, relaxed, and well-designed approach suburban living. For example, the Guide described how the modern American home should feature a large living, dining, and kitchen area where hosts and guests seamlessly moved from entertaining to cooking to eating and drinking.

However, less well known is his other masterpiece: Manitoga, a house and surrounding landscape that Wright crafted over his lifetime. The Wrights acquired the 75 acres of land (including a large abandoned granite quarry) in Garrison, New York, in 1942. Wright worked with architect David L. Leavitt to design a piece of organic modernist architecture that would meld with its landscape while embodying their idea of modern living. He insisted on numerous eccentric features, such as a foundation without pylons (the house sits directly on the earth) as well as fireplace of stacked stones meant to resemble a natural formation. On the interior, he experimented with different wall and ceiling treatments while directly exposing some rooms to the living rock. The house - named Dragon Rock - includes a main building and a separate live/work studio for Wright. He also worked to craft several "rooms" within the natural landscape, each consisting of an open volume shaped by surrounding rocks and foliage.

The property is a National Historic Landmark and the Manitoga / Russel Wright Design Center hosts tours. The Center also offers an artist's residency that culminates with an arts installation on the property.

Also Appears In

The Remarkable Home of Modernist Designer Russel Wright