A few years ago the Univ. of Buffalo’s graduate Art Department paid homage to John D. Larkin, Sr. and his company, the Larkin Soap Co. by hosting a major national conference in Buffalo featuring the Larkin Co. as the genesis of the arts and crafts movement in the U.S.. Its program of numerous activities, lectures and exhibits spread out over a four month period of time, and included visits to many sites in Western New York. The Larkin Center of Commerce and its museum were not only one of the sites toured by conference attendees, but also was a major sponsor of the conference.
Just about every site visited exists today because of the efforts of Robert (Bob, as he liked to be called) Kresse. Bob so loved Buffalo that he made saving and restoring, objects and programs a part of his life’s work. A number of those sites and programs were the [product of the quiet charisma of John Larkin, Sr. and his employees such as Elbert Hubbard (Roycroft campus),and Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture in Buffalo (Larkin Administration Building, Darwin Martin House, William Heath House and Walter Davison House) . JDL collaborated with the Olmsteads in planning the parks and had even begun planning a community which would have adjoined Olmstead’s Delaware Park, but the land got bought up by another developer before JDL and the Olmsteads had completed their ideas and were ready to make an offer.
