archie
Sign in Get the app

Unity Temple

Architect
Frank Lloyd Wright
Style
modern
City
Chicago, IL
Collection
wright’s chicago
Unity Temple
Photo: IvoShandor, CC BY 2.5
See it on the map

Unity Temple, at 875 Lake Street in Oak Park, is the reinforced-concrete Unitarian Universalist church Frank Lloyd Wright designed after the congregation's original Gothic Revival building burned down in 1905. Wright's plans were approved in 1906 after considerable debate, and the finished building — cited as an early example of modern architecture — is now a National Historic Landmark and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

the building

Two boxes and a link. Wright split the program into two concrete volumes: an auditorium to the north for worship, and Unity House to the south for the congregation's social and educational functions, joined by a low entrance pavilion between them.

Built in raw concrete. The church is built of reinforced concrete, a material rarely used for religious architecture at the time. Construction began May 15, 1906; Unity House opened in September 1907, and the auditorium was finished in October 1908.

the style

Unity Temple is a Prairie style building cited as one of the earliest examples of modern architecture — an early instance of a religious building conceived in the same reinforced-concrete, geometrically organized language Wright was developing for houses.

the architect

Frank Lloyd Wright designed Unity Temple for the Unity Church of Oak Park congregation after their original building burned down in 1905; the commission followed considerable debate before the board approved his plans in 1906.

More on Frank Lloyd Wright

significance

Unity Temple is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been named to America's Most Endangered Historic Places, and it is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

more by Frank Lloyd Wright

nearby

All 382 buildings in Chicago