Unity Temple (Oak Park, Illinois): 1905-1908

Unity Temple (Oak Park, Illinois): 1905-1908 

   Unity Temple was built between 1905 and 1908. It is a Unitarian church in Oak Park, Illinois. It's also the home of the Unity Temple Congregation. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, who designed more than 1,000 structures. He believed in designing structures that were in harmony with its environment. He called it organic architecture. The temple is considered by many architects to be the first modern building in the world. 

   When the original Unity Church burned down, the Universalist congregation of Oak Park turned to Frank Lloyd Wright to design the new structure. The congregation needed a space of worship and a community room. There were some problems that the architect had to work with like budget issues. The budget was small for what the congregation was asking for, the budget was $40,000. Also, the building site was long, but not wide. They also wanted Wright to design not only the structure, but the furniture and stained glass for the building. Charles E. Robert, who was an engineer and inventor was a key part to making Wright's vision come to life. 

   To accommodate the needs of the congregation, Wright divided the spaces through a low, middle loggia which is a room with one or more open sides and can be approached from either side. This was an efficient use of space and kept the noise down between the two main gathering spaces. To reduce noise from the street, since the site was on a busy street, Wright eliminated street level windows in the temple. The natural light would come from stained glass windows in the roof. The stained glass was designed with green, yellow and brown tones in order to mimic the colors of nature. 

   The design of Unity Temple represented a leap forward in design for Wright. He stated that this was the first time he realized that the real heart of a building is its space, not its walls. In addition to being very accomplished with making the most out of the space he had, he also found the concept of unity very important because of how he managed to fuse together space, experience and materials. 

The building has been a national historic landmark since 1971 and was chosen in a poll as one of the 100 most significant buildings in the United States. 

   The disadvantage of the Unity Temple is it has structural problems that have emerged over time. Through the years, the Temple's concrete structure has suffered extensive water damage. Even pieces of the roof fell inside of the structure and the water eroded other parts of the exterior. There was a restoration plan that was developed from 2000 to 2006. In April 2015 a $23 million interior and exterior restoration began. The restoration focused on structural improvements, like the separate flat roofs. The restoration also addressed decorative and environmental improvements to the building. Restoration work was completed in June 2017 and reopened July 2017. 

Sources 

“Frank Lloyd Wright Trust.” Unity Temple | Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, flwright.org/researchexplore/unitytemple. 

“AD Classics: Unity Temple / Frank Lloyd Wright.” ArchDaily, 26 Feb. 2011, www.archdaily.com/112683/ad-classics-unity-temple-frank-lloyd-wright-3.  

“Unity Temple.” Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, franklloydwright.org/site/unity-temple/.  

Siry, Joseph. Unity Temple : Frank Lloyd Wright and Architecture for Liberal Religion. Cambridge [England] ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 1996., 1996