Foundation Will Back Acquisition of Graycliff

Terming the campaign to save Frank Lloyd Wright's Graycliff cottage "very doable", a local foundation announced Saturday that it will underwrite the purchase of the 71-year-old lake shore landmark by the non-profit Graycliff Conservancy.

The Baird Foundation will guarantee a $450,000 mortgage loan, ennabling the all-volunteer group to buy the Lake Shore Road property in Evans from the Piarist Fathers, who have owned it since the mid-1950's. In addition, the foundation gave the conservancy $200,000 toward restoration of the Derby estate, which Wright designed for industrialist Darwin D. Martin and his wife, Isabelle, in 1926-27.

Foundation trustees "recognize that the purchase and restoration of Graycliff will benefit our entire community," said Catherine F. Schweitzer, foundation manager, who announced the aid package with Robert J.A. Irwin, senior trustee. The conservancy proposal appealed to the trustees as "very doable," Ms. Schweitzer said. "This project is bound to succeed."

The foundation's commitment "is not limited to financial support," she added. The foundation aims to remain "an ongoing resource to this exemplary grass-roots organization," and will help find other potential donors, she said. That goal "can be accomplished in a relatively short time, if there is broad community support," Ms. Schweitzer said.

The conservancy would convert Graycliff to an inn, museum, or some other self-sustaining enterprise. It is awaiting a historic-structures report from Bero Associates, a Rochester architectural firm, that will address both emergency repairs and an overall restoration plan for the 8-acre property.

Carol Bronnenkant, conservancy president, said the Baird Foundaition investment has forged "a welcome partnership."   While more help from foundations, corporations, and individuals will be needed to complete the project, "the Baird assistance allows us to complete the vital first step," she said.  Ms. Bronnenkant said the purchase should be completed by year's end.

The loan guarantee and cash award continued a run of good news for the conservancy that started earlier this year with a commitment of $172,000 in state environmental bond money to the restoration and continued last month with a $10,000 state grant toward the historic-structure report.