After studying the site over many years, Russel Wright hired architect David Leavitt (1918-2013) to help him realize Dragon Rock, the name given to the House, Studio, and immediate quarry landscape. Leavitt, who had worked in Japan with architect Antonin Raymond, shared Wright’s appreciation of Japanese architecture and landscape design, evident in the House and Studio through scale, structure, intimacy, and details.

Distinctive features of the House include large expanses of glass allowing for views of the 30 foot Waterfall, the Quarry Pool, and surrounding landscape. A large, smooth, cedar tree trunk functions as a design element and is the main structural support of house. Boulders, plantings, and stone terraces are positioned to bring the outdoors in, blending architecture and landscape. Unique built-in architectural artifacts, designed by Wright, fuse natural and man-made materials in new and unexpected ways.  Here, we see luminous butterfly wings pressed between sheets of translucent plastic, pine needles embedded in green plaster walls, and a roof covered with a lush carpet of native plants.

Wright intended Manitoga to be not only a home for himself but “an exaggerated demonstration of how individual a house can be.”  He shaped Dragon Rock into a house of high drama, a theme evident from its approach -- a vine-draped wooden pergola separating the house and studio, seductively veiling the view of the Waterfall.

Over the last decade, a series of restoration projects addressed the House windows and doors, and the installation of a new green roof, among other improvements.  With the building envelope now restored, Manitoga is poised to begin work on much-anticipated interior restoration.

Dragon Rock has been featured in numerous books and publications, including Life, The World of Interiors, Modernism, Preservation, and most recently, Don Freeman’s 2014 film Art House.

"Home & Woodland Garden" MANITOGA / The Russel Wright Design Center