Roycroft | Carl Ahrens

In 1899, Ahrens met Elbert Hubbard, the founder of the famous Roycroft artist community in East Aurora, New York. Hubbard admired Ahrens' art, and when he learned Ahrens also had experience making pottery, he asked Ahrens to join the Roycrofters and open a potter shop there. In May of 1900 Ahrens moved to East Aurora with his wife, three children (Carl, Robert and Pauline) and his cousin, fellow painter Eleanor Douglass. Hubbard, a businessman, and Ahrens, a craftsman, soon butted heads over what constituted a finished piece. Hubbard, impatient, insisted the pottery be sold unglazed and, thus, unable to hold water. People willingly bought any item bearing the Roycroft mark, but the pottery was of little value. No surviving pieces have been found.

Ahrens left the Roycroft community after only four months but remained in East Aurora for several more years. While the potter shop was considered a failure, the experience proved pivotal to Ahrens' life. It was at Roycroft that he met and fell in love with Martha Niles, a young artist and singer who illuminated books for the print shop. According to letters written by Ahrens, his marriage to Emily Carroll had been unhappy from the start. Ahrens set off for New York City alone in 1905, soon reuniting with Martha, whom he nicknamed Madonna.

Historical Family Photos From Roycroft

Carl Ahrens seated in his Roycroft studio — Carl Ahrens in his Roycroft studio in East Aurora, NY - 1900.

Carl Ahrens and Samuel Warner in the Roycroft studio — Carl Ahrens and Samuel Warner - 1900 - Sammy was Roycroft's art director. He was also Madonna's former drawing instructor, and the one who hired her to work as an illuminator in the book shop.

Carl Ahrens and Eleanor Douglass outdoors — This photo was taken at Roycroft in East Aurora, NY in 1900. Carl Ahrens is the man leaning against the tree. Beside him is his cousin, fellow artist Eleanor Douglass. This photo is used courtesy of the collection of Robert Rust/Roycroft Associates – 2/R Fine Arts

Eleanor Douglass standing beside a tree — Eleanor Douglas, Ahrens' second cousin, was an artist in her own right. She had lived with his family starting in about 1893 and followed them to East Aurora, where she assisted Ahrens in the Roycroft potter shop.

Posed portrait of Martha Niles — Martha "Madonna" Niles in 1900

Roycroft Today

Exterior of the Roycroft Chapel — This building, called the chapel, looks like a church and a castle collided. The original Roycroft Shop was housed here. Samuel Warner, the Director of Art, had his studio on the second floor of the tower. "Sammy" hired his former student, Martha Niles, as an illuminator in the book shop. Without him, Ahrens would never have met his Madonna.

Stonework and roof detail of the Roycroft Chapel — Close up of the chapel design.

Emerson Hall on the Roycroft Campus — Emerson Hall. Madonna once lived in the older part of this house.

Elbert Hubbard statue on the Roycroft Campus — Elbert Hubbard by Jerome Connor

Reception room interior at the Roycroft Campus — The lounge in the Roycroft Inn. In Ahrens' time there, this room was the original print shop.

Interior of the Roycroft Chapel — Inside the Roycroft Chapel

Welcome sign for the historic Roycroft Campus — The Roycroft Campus sign

Memorial bricks honoring Carl and Madonna Ahrens — The memorial bricks for Carl Ahrens and his Madonna (also known as Martha Niles) rest side by side on the Appian Way.

Ahrens' walk to work at Roycroft — Ahrens' walk to work

Appian Way walkway at the Roycroft Campus — The Appian Way is the path that leads from the Roycroft Inn to the Roycroft Shop. Today many of the bricks on this path are memorials to former Roycrofters.