Long before there were Martha Stewart and Ralph Lauren, there was Russel Wright, the industrial designer whose breezily elegant line of housewares helped define the “easy living” Modernism of the American home in the mid-20th century. Together with his wife, Mary, the business yin to his creative yang, Wright (1904-76) sold 250 million pieces of ceramic and Melmac (melamine resin plastic) dinnerware through Macy”™s and other retailers.
But the man who put the industry in industrial design also had a profound love of nature. Beginning in 1942, he transformed 75 acres in Garrison into a woodland garden, a kind of theater of nature complete with a 40-foot waterfall, a pond and sinuous paths, and ultimately, built a Modern home and studio that let the rustic indoors out and nature in ”“ all in the manner of architectural titan Frank Lloyd Wright (no relation). Russel Wright called the house and studio, built right out of the stone on the former quarry, Dragon Rock, and the site itself Manitoga, Â Alongonquin for “place of great spirit.”
Recently, Manitoga has had some of that spirit sapped, and in response to that, the World Monument Fund has placed it on the fund”™s 2012 World Monuments Watch list. The designation doesn”™t come with any money attached, says Jean-Paul Maitinsky, the new executive director of Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center, although, he adds, American Express has given the fund $5 million it can use to help 67 sites in 41 countries and territories, including Manitoga, the Royal Opera House in Mumbai, India and the Gingerbread Neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
What the designation does, Maitinsky says, “is put us on a national and international platform.”
Ironically, the nonprofit Manitoga Inc., which acquired the property in full in 2001, has already spent 10 years refurbishing the exterior and some of the interiors of Dragon Rock, which Wright created with architect David Levitt in the late 1950s-early ”™60s. This included shoring up water infiltration, replacing the many windows and doors with state-of-the-art insulated glass and restoring the green roof that was ahead of its time, with roughly $1 million in federal matching grants and individual donations.
However, Dragon Rock”™s interior, which includes numerous built-in elements and such innovations as wall finishings made of pine needles pressed into resin, is in need of a further facelift. Perhaps even more urgent is the state of the landscape, whose scores of dogwoods, laurels and particularly hemlocks have been ravaged by nature”™s effects.
The question, Maitinsky says, becomes “How do we restore the integrity of the design in the 21st century?”
Clearly, not with hemlocks, he answers. Instead, Manitoga will “audition” approximately two dozen types of trees with similar qualities over the next five years to see which are most adaptable. Maitinsky estimates it will cost $2 million-plus.
The larger renovation of Dragon Rock”™s interior and Manitoga”™s overall landscape will be a 30- to 40-year project.
It”™s a long road, particularly in harsh economic times, Maitinsky says, but one well-worth taking.
Manitoga at a glance
Full name: Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center
Address: Â 22 Old Manitou Road, Garrison
Acres: 75, including a 40-foot waterfall, pond and paths
Staff: Three full-time, two part-time
Operating budget: $500,000
History: Wright acquired the property in 1942, built the house and studio (Dragon Rock) with architect David Levitt from 1957 to 1961 and moved in during the fall 50 years ago.
Honors: Named a national historic landmark in 2006
Hours of operation: Manitoga”™s woodland paths are open year-round. Admission is by a suggested donation. Dragon Rock house and studio tours are available Fridays through Sundays, May to October. Tickets are $15; free for members.
Event information: Manitoga holds “Modernism for the Masses,” a lecture and cocktail reception beginning at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at Knoll, the modern design firm, in Manhattan. Tickets are $75.
Contact: (845) 424-3812, russelwrightcenter.org.
