Not long after she retired in 2003 as director of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Diane Chrisman drove out to Graycliff, a place she had always wanted to visit but never could because overseeing the 55-branch system left little leisure time.
She came away impressed both by the summer home Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the Darwin D. Martin family on a bluff overlooking Lake Erie and by the people who were bringing it back to life.
"I fell in love with it, " Chrisman said. "Not only the sense of place, but the dedication of the volunteers."
For the Graycliff Conservancy, which was seeking new leadership, Chrisman, with her 42 years of library experience, was heaven-sent. On April 1, she began a new career as the conservancy's unpaid president. She succeeds Carol Bronnenkant, who in 1997 organized the effort to save the estate.
Together with Reine Hauser, a museum veteran hired as the conservancy's first salaried executive director, Chrisman is expected to guide the project through the final stages of a $3 million-plus restoration and into a future that has yet to be defined.
In a few months, the conservancy will begin formulating a plan that will determine whether Graycliff becomes a monument to Wright, filled with memories of the great man, or revert to what it was when the Martins moved in during the late 1920s - an unpretentious, airy structure where the family summered.
Unlike projects that Wright designed from eaves to end tables - including the Martins' landmark mansion in the Parkside neighborhood - Graycliff was an airy, unpretentious cottage that admitted lots of sunlight to accommodate the vision-impaired Isabelle Martin.
"It wasn't full of Wright furniture; it was a summer house filled with wicker," Hauser noted.
Graycliff marked a transition from the "prairie style" shown by the Martin House, to Wright's later concrete designs, including Fallingwater in Pennsylvania.
Wright-designed furniture and other relics would have to be purchased. Then expensive temperature and humidity controls would be installed. The interior would be mostly sealed off from the weather outside.
Meanwhile, Chrisman and Hauser must marshal volunteers for the tourist season, which officially opened Tuesday, and drum up financial support for the final phases of restoration.
In 2003, the last structures and plantings on the 8-acre estate that were not part of Wright's design were removed. This year's work will include renovation of the Foster House adjacent to the main house and rehabilitation of the main house roof and chimney. The last phase will be the interior restoration.
To date, the conservancy has raised $2.6 million. At least $600,000 more will likely be needed to complete the project.
Chrisman, an Orchard Park resident, and Hauser, who lives in Buffalo, bring different strengths to the organization.
As a librarian and administrator, Chrisman focused much of her energy on community education, which will be an important component of Graycliff programming. Hauser has experience in fund-raising, public relations and nonprofit management. Until recently, she was chairwoman of the Panel for Visual Arts Organizations for the New York State Council on the Arts.
After seven years as conservancy founder, president and de facto executive director, it was time to step back, said Bronnenkant, who will remain on the 21-member board.
Last year, 8,000 people toured the site between April and November, mostly by appointment. The number is expected to increase substantially this season.
Chrisman and Hauser will rely heavily on the volunteer network Bronnenkant built.
Sixty people showed up in inclement weather April 3 to perform spring cleanup duties - pulling out temporary plantings and cleaning the main house from top to bottom.
"That's the story of the conservancy," Chrisman marveled. "Those people put Graycliff ahead of their personal convenience. That kind of dedication impresses me."
Tours of the estate at 6472 Old Lake Shore Road in Derby will be available on the hour from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Saturday and from 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students. An extended two-hour architectural tour also will be offered at 1:15 p.m. each Saturday; admission is $15.
Reservations are required for all tours and may be made by calling 947-9217.