n 1904 Wright built his first major public work, an administrative building
for the Larkin Mail Order Co. of Buffalo, New York. The Larkin Building was
one of two projects Wright designed that year for Darwin D. Martin, the
companys entrepreneurial owner (the other project, the Martin House, is one
of Wrights most elaborate Prairie Style designs). The Larkin embodies
Wrights vision of productive labor as a cornerstone of the social contract:
its central space is filled with an almost ecclesiastical light, and
ringed with inscriptions extolling the value of labor.
The Larkin Building was demolished in 1950.
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