Iconic American architect Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to build a unique residential complex for Buffalo, New York, businessman Darwin D. Martin and his family between 1903 and 1905. Scholars consider the complex of six interconnected buildings as one of Wright’s finest achievements, but the history of the house has been a rocky one. Over the decades, the complex was abandoned, buildings were sold or demolished, and the house suffered damage. Reconstruction and restoration efforts began in 1997 and are ongoing, with a new visitor center added in 2009.
About 15 years ago, members of the Martin House Restoration Corporation determined that security was needed, particularly for life safety and fire detection. However, by 2016, there were three different alarm companies that were servicing the Darwin Martin House, and the staff was having difficulty keeping up with the high number of false alarms. Some sensors were incorrectly configured or placed in the wrong areas, smoke detectors were mislabeled and some equipment wasn’t programmed into the system at all.