Unity Temple
| Unity Temple | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| National Register of Historic Places | |||
| National Historic Landmark | |||
 Worship room |
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| location | Oak Park , Cook County , Illinois | ||
| Coordinates | 41 ° 53 '18.6 " N , 87 ° 47' 48.8" W | ||
| Built | 1905-08 | ||
| architect | Frank Lloyd Wright | ||
| NRHP number | 70000240 | ||
| Data | |||
| The NRHP added | April 17, 1970 | ||
| Declared as an NHL | December 30, 1970 | ||
The Unity Temple is a church of the Unitarian - universalist denomination of the UUA in Oak Park , Illinois , in the United States . The building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright .
history
After the previous building was destroyed by fire, the community commissioned the Oak Park architect Frank Lloyd Wright with the new building. The Unity Temple was built between 1905 and 1908. Both a worship room and a multi-purpose room for events were needed. The corner lot available was long but narrow. In addition, a main road runs along one side, which was also used by trams at the time . And last but not least, the budget of the municipality for the construction of 40,000 was the US dollar limited. The original church (then: "Universalist", today "Unitarian Universalist") still owns the Unity Temple today and uses it for their church. The tasks of building maintenance are entrusted to a secular institution, the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation .
Building
Frank Lloyd Wright removed the structural limitations by arranging three elements, a church service room , a low foyer and the event hall, one behind the other. Here he realized for the first time his concept of dividing a building project into two differently sized units and joining them together with a lower, connecting element. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City is another example of this. The load-bearing structures of the Unity Temple consist exclusively of reinforced concrete . To reduce outside noise, Wright did not have windows on the ground floor. The lighting takes place exclusively through stained glass windows on the upper floor and in the roof area. These were kept in green, yellow and brown, which comes very close in effect to natural light. The church service room has two levels of different heights on the ground floor. There are also two superimposed balconies . This made it possible to obtain the number of seats required for the congregation without any seat being further than 12 meters from the pulpit . This excellent use of a limited space is emphasized by decorative elements that Wright also designed. The acoustics of the room are excellent. The building was inaugurated on September 26, 1909.
meaning
The Unity Temple is now a National Monument , which is why it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 1970 . Since December 30, 1970 it has been a National Historic Landmark . It is considered one of the outstanding works of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and one of the earliest examples of modernism . He has subsequently influenced other architects such as Mies van der Rohe and Frank Gehry .
In 2008 the building was together with nine other buildings from the hand of Frank Lloyd Wright on the registration list for UNESCO World Heritage set the United States.
The Unity Temple but now has a significant need for renovation. It was listed on a list by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in April 2009 as one of the 11 Most Endangered Properties of National Importance.
literature
- Peter Blake: The Master Builders: Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright. New York 1960. ND 1976.
- Neil Levine: The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. Princeton, NJ 1993.
- Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography . 3rd edition New York 1943.
Web links
- Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation , owner and user of the building.
- Unity Temple Restoration Foundation .
- Wright on the Web: A Virtual Look at the Works of Frank Lloyd Wright .
- Historic American Buildings Survey : Photos and Drawings.
- Unity Temple on greatbuildings.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Unitarian and the universalist Church unified in 1961 and have since appeared as Unitarian Universalists (UU); they should not be confused with the Unity Church, founded in 1889 .
- ^ Homepage of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation .
- ^ Homepage of the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation .
- ^ Unity Temple in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed August 12, 2017.
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Illinois. National Park Service , accessed July 22, 2019.
- ↑ United States Registration List .
- ↑ Unity Temple on list of endangered US historic sites . In: Chicago Sun-Times v. April 28, 2009, p. 4; New York Times v. April 27, 2009 .