Unity Temple
Following lunch, I waited for the first tour of Wright’s 1908 Unity Temple. This is supposedly one of Wright’s lesser-known works, though I remember studying it in school. In academic circles, where people have nothing more useful to do, debate continues about whether this was the first Modern building.
I have to say that it’s not particularly impressive from the outside; a mass of grey rough-finish concrete with only a few high windows and little decoration. There were good reasons for this, however. Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to design this church after the previous building burned down in 1905. Because of their limited budget, Wright elected to use concrete, a relatively new (and inexpensive) building material at the time. Previous concrete structures were primarily industrial buildings, and to use the material for a church was unheard of. Because the lot was narrow and fairly noisy (along the main street in Oak Park), Wright used thick concrete walls and high windows, combined with a multi-level space inside, to provide privacy and sound separation.
After walking through the foyer, I passed through a dark, low space, and then walked up a few steps to the main level of the temple, where I was suddenly bathed in light from skylights in the high ceiling. This is a common Wright entry technique. The interior of the temple, particularly the main worship space, is fantastic. I had seen photographs before in books and during architectural history lectures, but as with my photos here, they fail to convey the true spatial experience.
The sense of scale is deceptive. On one hand, you feel small as you look up at two balconies and the ceiling high above. But at the same time, you would never imagine that there is ample seating for 400 people. As you move between levels, you walk up and down short flights of steps, and these along with the large corner columns break up the space into small, cozy recesses.
The lady giving the tour was top-notch; I felt like I was listening to someone’s well-researched thesis. She went far beyond the design of Unity Temple itself, discussing how Wright and other Prairie School architects made a transition between the highly-decorated, organic, and Classically-referenced Victorian and the sleek, mechanical, and ambiguous Modern.
After the tour, I rode the Green Line back to downtown Chicago, the Red Line north, and walked back to the Tremont.
Oak Park