{"id":22446,"date":"2011-07-06T09:26:31","date_gmt":"2011-07-06T13:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/?p=22446"},"modified":"2020-12-19T01:30:45","modified_gmt":"2020-12-19T05:30:45","slug":"russel-wright-design-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/22446\/russel-wright-design-center\/","title":{"rendered":"The Russel Wright Design Center in the Hudson Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Just a little north of Manhattan, Manitoga beckons those looking for art off of Museum Mile and a refreshing walk in the woods outside the park. The final home\u2014and landscape\u2014of industrial design legend Russel Wright, Manitoga is an eco-architectural marvel and a living memorial to the modern design mastermind.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Man<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/RW-in-studio.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-37793 aligncenter lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/RW-in-studio.jpg\" alt=\"Russel Wright\" width=\"329\" height=\"263\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-37793 aligncenter lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/RW-in-studio.jpg\" alt=\"Russel Wright\" width=\"329\" height=\"263\" srcset=\"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/RW-in-studio.jpg 500w, https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/RW-in-studio-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/RW-in-studio-31x25.jpg 31w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 329px) 100vw, 329px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Though Russel Wright may no longer be the household name he was in the 1940s and 50s, a look at Wright\u2019s Modern \u201cdesigns for living,\u201d most famously his ceramic dinnerware, will likely evoke a sense of \u201cHaven\u2019t I seen that?\u201d Wright was, as they say, ahead of his time; the first designer to sell lifestyle-marketed products, paving the way for the Martha Stewarts of today. He pioneered the Ikea idea that beautiful design should be accessible, practical and for everyone. For Wright, life centered on the dinner table, and his designs emanated from there into other living spaces and landscape.<\/p>\n<p>Wright was both fascinated by manmade materials, like the easy-to-use and hard-to-break melamine resin plastic, and reverent of nature. Dragon Rock and Manitoga, Wright\u2019s Hudson Valley home and the carefully carved woodlands around it, are perhaps the ultimate manifestation of this duality: a manmade structure incorporating natural and synthetic elements, designed to blend into its \u201cecologically designed\u201d landscape.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The House<\/strong> <strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter lazyload\" title=\"Russel Wright's home\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/5898649929_7910f5d305.jpeg\" alt=\"Russel Wright's home\" width=\"331\" height=\"208\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter lazyload\" title=\"Russel Wright's home\" src=\"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/5898649929_7910f5d305.jpeg\" alt=\"Russel Wright's home\" width=\"331\" height=\"208\" \/><\/noscript><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Wright called his \u201cbungalow\u201d home and pergola-connected studio Dragon Rock, named so for the nearby boulder his daughter Ann thought resembled a dragon. With grey wooden frames, green roofs and floor-to-ceiling windows, the structures sink into their surroundings, while the surroundings literally become part of Dragon Rock. Pine needles are embedded in the ceiling; stones from the adjacent quarry become doorknobs; a cedar tree trunk acts as the home\u2019s principle column and anchor to a winding staircase; a boulder glides through the window to become a \u201csitting cave\u201d of granite; butterflies and fern are captured between fiberglass in translucent panels; the colors of cabinetry and curtains alternate with the season.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout Dragon Rock, Wright\u2014who coauthored \u201cGuide to Easier Living\u201d with his wife\u2014ensured his designs were livable and, in New York style, space efficient. The house\u2019s two-way drawers and cabinets facilitated entertainment and cleaning; an adjustable lamp moved overhead in all directions. Wright was equally New York in his cunning sense of drama. He brought in his theater set designer past by creating a continual sense of surprise for his visitors. Summer vines covered the pergola to block the waterfall and quarry from immediate view.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/1654100_763441357045635_3607561176074595632_n.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-48956 aligncenter lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/1654100_763441357045635_3607561176074595632_n.jpg\" alt=\"russel wright center\" width=\"353\" height=\"248\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-48956 aligncenter lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/1654100_763441357045635_3607561176074595632_n.jpg\" alt=\"russel wright center\" width=\"353\" height=\"248\" srcset=\"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/1654100_763441357045635_3607561176074595632_n.jpg 960w, https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/1654100_763441357045635_3607561176074595632_n-300x211.jpg 300w, https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/1654100_763441357045635_3607561176074595632_n-35x25.jpg 35w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 353px) 100vw, 353px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>The Walk<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Manitoga\u2019s four miles of woodland trails maintain this sense of drama. Wright thought out every bit of landscape, carefully revealing the quarry through disparate gaps in the woodlands along the Quarry Pond Path. Wright intended this to be a sort of \u201cbest of\u201d nature walk for busy urbanites, composing mountain laurel, mossy areas, ferns and clearings into a fifteen minute circle. While Wright created an ideal landscape out of what was once just a plot of forest and an abandoned quarry (he moved boulders to divert the stream, creating Manitoga\u2019s pleasant-sounding waterfall and lake below), he made great efforts to follow the environment\u2019s patterns, designing his paths around natural counters and animal tracks.<\/p>\n<p>The Quarry Pond Path, Manitoga\u2019s shortest, and most picturesque, path is accessible to only those on a Manitgoa\/Dragon Rock tour. The rest are open to the public. For those looking to do a longer walk in the woods, one of the paths hooks up to the Appalachian Trail.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Tour<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Tours of the house, studio and landscape run from May through November 10, Friday-Monday. Times are limited, so check the schedule and buy your tickets ($20\/adults, $15\/seniors, $10\/kids) in advance.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/172197_179891498717091_113025502070358_405544_1065044_o.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22462 aligncenter lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/172197_179891498717091_113025502070358_405544_1065044_o.jpg\" alt=\"garrison market\" width=\"301\" height=\"224\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22462 aligncenter lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/172197_179891498717091_113025502070358_405544_1065044_o.jpg\" alt=\"garrison market\" width=\"301\" height=\"224\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>Eating <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Aside from a water bubbler in the main office, you won\u2019t find any sustenance at the Russel Wright Design Center. Pack snacks or walk (about fifteen minutes) to the <em>Garrison Cafe (closed)<\/em>, home to \u201cHudson Valley\u2019s best pies\u201d for local produce and of course, pie.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How to get there: <\/strong><em>Directions are on Russel Wright Design Center site: Take Metro-North railroad Hudson Line to Garrison Station (visit the <a href=\"http:\/\/as0.mta.info\/mnr\/schedules\/sched_form.cfm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MTA<\/a> for schedules). Taxi service from RR station to Manitoga by prior reservation, call 845.265.8294. Shuttles are also available from the Cold Spring station, Saturdays and Sundays June-November for 11 AM tours.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Photos: Courtesy of the author<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>KPICASA_GALLERY(ExploringManitoga)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just a little north of Manhattan, Manitoga beckons those looking for art off of Museum Mile and a refreshing walk in the woods outside the park. The final home\u2014and landscape\u2014of industrial design legend Russel Wright, Manitoga is an eco-architectural marvel and a living memorial to the modern design mastermind. The Man Though Russel Wright may [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":26563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[315,831,224,829,328],"tags":[73,40,212,48,36,462],"class_list":{"0":"post-22446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-day-trips","8":"category-architecture-culture-2","9":"category-arts","10":"category-culture-2","11":"category-hudson-valley-new-york-destination","12":"tag-architecture","13":"tag-art","14":"tag-hiking","15":"tag-historical-site","16":"tag-metro-north","17":"tag-nature"},"acf":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":26563,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/6726558033_db2243de1d_z-300x200.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offmetro.com\/ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}