Works

Unity Temple

Citation Formats

General Reference

Arts and Music Atlas. "Unity Temple." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://arts.interactiveatlas.org/works/unity-temple.

APA Style

Arts and Music Atlas. (n.d.). Unity Temple. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://arts.interactiveatlas.org/works/unity-temple

BibTeX

@misc{artsandmusicatlas-unity-temple,
  author = {Arts and Music Atlas},
  title = {Unity Temple},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://arts.interactiveatlas.org/works/unity-temple},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Unity Temple, built for the Unitarian Universalist congregation of Oak Park after fire destroyed its previous building, was Frank Lloyd Wright's first significant public commission and, by his own account, the building where he first proved that architecture could be built as sculpted space rather than as applied ornament on a box. Poured in raw, unadorned reinforced concrete with a low budget that ruled out stone or brick veneer, its T-shaped plan separates a windowless, top-lit worship auditorium from a more sociable church house, joined by a shared low entrance that forces visitors to turn before they see the sanctuary itself. The building underwent a complete restoration from 2015 to 2017 after decades of concrete deterioration and failing mechanical systems.

Facts

Location

875 Lake Street, Oak Park, Illinois, United States 1

Architectural Style

Prairie style civic and religious architecture, and among the earliest major public buildings anywhere built as an unornamented block of poured concrete. 1

Structural System

Reinforced concrete poured in place using four different aggregate mixes, with embedded steel rods, arranged as a T-shaped plan joining an auditorium and a church house around a shared entrance pavilion. 1

Primary Material

Reinforced concrete 1

Building Type

Religious building (Unitarian Universalist congregation) 1

Commissioned By

Unity Church of Oak Park, a Unitarian Universalist congregation, after its previous wood-frame building burned down 1

Construction

from 1906 1

Groundbreaking May 15, 1906; the auditorium opened October 25, 1908, and the building was dedicated September 26, 1909.

UNESCO Inscription Year

2019 2

One of eight Wright buildings inscribed together as The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright; also a US National Historic Landmark since 1970.

Current Use

Active Unitarian Universalist congregation, also open for public tours, concerts and community events 1

Visitor Access

Open for guided tours and public events 1

Cross-Tradition Connections