View allAll Photos Tagged unity
A shot taken during a wedding at a couple of angels.
Nikon D70s 1/500, f4.8, Tamron 28-75 @ 32 mm, iso 400
A 130-year-old edition of Unity, the newspaper of the Western Unitarian Conference, which had been included in the 1884 time capsule.
Photographs © 2014 Sonja L. Cohen. From Christopher L. Walton’s article “UUA holds farewell ceremony for 25 Beacon St.” (uuworld.org, 3.3.14)
(Photo is the property of the Unitarian Universalist Association.)
FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PA - Employees from the Pennsylvania National Guard and Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs gathered for Unity Day, an annual celebration of diversity, Aug. 27, 2015. Remarks on diversity and inclusion were presented by Jose Molina, executive director of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs. A variety of cultural displays, music and ethnic foods were the highlights of the event. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Ted Nichols/Released)
I think this speaks for itself.
Soon to be released as Unity Core, a command line interface distribution 115MB in size using 10MB of total memory. But will it install? We've custom written an installer in bash based on Mandriva's installer so that you can boot to a cli live disk and install it. Available at a Unity Linux website near you soon.
nrhp # 76000599- The Koreshan Unity was a communal utopia formed by Cyrus Teed, who took the name "Koresh", the original Persian form of his name Cyrus. The Koreshans followed Teed's beliefs, called Koreshanity.
The Koreshan Unity started in the 1870s in New York, where Teed started preaching his beliefs. He formed short-lived groups in New York City and Moravia. He later moved to Chicago. Teed's followers formed a commune in Chicago in 1888 called Beth-Ophra. Some followers also formed a short-lived community in San Francisco (1891-2). Small church groups existed in other towns.
Eventually, Teed took his followers to Estero, Florida, to form his "New Jerusalem" in 1894. The community was at its peak 1903–1908, when it had over 250 residents. There were apparently another 4,000 believers around the country. Teed had a vision in which he was to establish a utopian city of 10,000,000 with streets up to 400 feet (120 m) wide. Membership declined following his death in 1908.
The group built extensively, establishing a bakery, printing house (publishing their newspaper and other publications), the "World College of Life", a general store, concrete works, power plant (supplying power to the surrounding area years before it was available elsewhere in the region) and more. The colony was extensively landscaped. There has been work to document and preserve the grounds in Estero (a Florida State Park.)
In 1906, the community formed the Progressive Liberal Party to run several candidates for county government against the local Democratic Party but were never successful. This Progressive Liberal Party consisted of Koreshans, socialists, Republicans, and dissatisfied Democrats. The Koreshans had already incorporated Estero and were seeking further political power in Lee County. After Teed died in 1908 the group went into decline. Several groups split off from the Unity. One such group was the Order of Theocracy that left in 1910 and moved to nearby Ft. Myers. This group lasted until 1931. The fact the Unity was celibate did not help, although celibacy was not the real problem since there was a married status within the Unity. Celibates were the highest order. Without new members joining, the group slowly dwindled. It continued to publish the Flaming Sword until the printing press burned down in 1949. It also published the American Eagle, which began in 1906 and later became a horticultural newspaper.
The last remaining follower, Hedwig Michel, joined in 1940. She had learned of the Koreshans in Germany, and fled Nazi persecution. She ceded the main portion of the commune grounds to Florida to form a state park in 1961. The Koreshan State Park (now known as the Koreshan State Historic Site) was opened in 1967. Hedwig Michel continued to live in the building known as the "Planetary Court". She died in 1981. She is the only Koreshan buried within the park. Two other Koreshan cemeteries are nearby, one of which lies within a gated community and the other on land owned by the Audubon Society. Partly due to the Koreshan belief in a form of reincarnation, little, if anything, was done to care for these cemeteries. The only permanent grave stones were put in by family members.
from Wikipedia
May 12, 2019 - Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple located at 875 Lake Street, Oak Park, Illinois. "Commissioned by the congregation of Oak Park Unity Church in 1905, Wright’s Unity Temple is the greatest public building of the architect’s Chicago years. Wright’s family on his mother’s side were Welsh Unitarians, and his uncle Jenkin Lloyd Jones was a distinguished Unitarian preacher with a parish on Chicago’s south side where Wright and his wife Catherine were married. Wright identified with the rational humanism of Unitarianism, particularly as influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s transcendentalism, uniting all beings as one with the divine presence.
Wright’s father had been a Universalist preacher. With their emphasis on a loving God, Universalists were early advocates of abolitionism and were the first church to ordain women. In 1886 Universalist Augusta Chapin became minister of the Oak Park Unity Church, attracting new members to the congregation including Frank Lloyd Wright’s mother Anna. Unitarian Universalist minister Rodney Johonnot succeeded Chapin when she joined the Parliament of World Religions in 1893. A lawyer and graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Johonnot was known for his liberal views, even more extreme than those of Jenkin Lloyd Jones with whom he sometimes took issue.
When Unity Church burned to the ground in June 1905, Wright was awarded the commission, and in 1906 Johonnot published a booklet titled, A New Edifice for Unity Church. He wanted a modern building that would embody the principles of “unity, truth, beauty, simplicity, freedom and reason.”
Wright was a perfect match to these requirements. The design he submitted to the congregation broke with almost every existing convention for traditional Western ecclesiastic architecture. On the novel choice of construction material Wright states, “There was only one material to choose—as church funds were $45,000. Concrete was cheap.” Wright’s bold concept for the building enabled a series of concrete forms to be repeated multiple times.
In harmony with Wright’s philosophy of organic architecture, the concrete was left uncovered by plaster, brick, or stone. Wright’s sensitive handling of materials was a defining feature of his architecture from early in his career. “Bring out the nature of the materials,” Wright insisted in his seminal essay In the Cause of Architecture, “let their nature intimately into your scheme. Reveal the nature of wood, plaster, brick, or stone in your designs, they are all by nature friendly and beautiful. No treatment can be really a matter of fine art when those natural characteristics are, or their nature is, outraged or neglected.”
Unity Temple was a significant commission in Wright’s Oak Park Studio. Charles E. White, who worked as a draftsman for Wright from 1903 to 1906, details the collaborative effort of the Studio to secure the commission, “the chief thing at Wright’s is of course Unity Church, the sketches of which are at last accepted. We have all pleaded and argued with the committee, until we are well nigh worn out. All hands are working on the drawings."
In harmony with Wright’s philosophy of organic architecture, the concrete was left uncovered by plaster, brick, or stone. Wright’s sensitive handling of materials was a defining feature of his architecture from early in his career. “Bring out the nature of the materials,” Wright insisted in his seminal essay In the Cause of Architecture, “let their nature intimately into your scheme. Reveal the nature of wood, plaster, brick, or stone in your designs, they are all by nature friendly and beautiful. No treatment can be really a matter of fine art when those natural characteristics are, or their nature is, outraged or neglected.”
Unity Temple was a significant commission in Wright’s Oak Park Studio. Charles E. White, who worked as a draftsman for Wright from 1903 to 1906, details the collaborative effort of the Studio to secure the commission, “the chief thing at Wright’s is of course Unity Church, the sketches of which are at last accepted. We have all pleaded and argued with the committee, until we are well nigh worn out. All hands are working on the drawings.”
Approached from Lake Street, Unity Temple is a massive and monolithic cube of concrete, sheltered beneath an expansive flat roof. The introspective nature of the building is in part a response to its corner site situated along a busy thoroughfare. No entrance is apparent and the building appears impenetrable, save for a band of high clerestory windows recessed behind decorative piers and shadowed by overhanging eaves.
Entry to the building is via a low hall that connects Unity Temple and Unity House. Above the bank of doors leading into the hall, an inscription in bronze declares, “For the worship of God and the service of man.” The low, dimly lit hall that unites the buildings is a transitional space. To the south it opens directly onto Unity House. Designed for “the service of man,” this secular space includes a central meeting hall, flanking balconies for use as open classrooms, and other special purpose rooms for daily operation. Like Wright’s residential architecture, this congregational parish house is centered on a fireplace hearth.
Situated across the hall from Unity House is the temple. In contrast to the open entrance into Unity House, access to the sanctuary is complex. Wright masterfully manipulates the sequence of entrance; guiding the visitor through low dark passages he termed “cloisters,” before they ascend into the open, brightly lit sanctuary.
The sanctuary is the heart and anchor of the building. At once grand yet intimate, the sanctuary is a masterful composition in light and space. Its elegant articulation and warm colors stand in bold contrast to the grey concrete exterior. Devoid of overt religious iconography, its precise geometric proportions declare a harmonious whole.
The uppermost portion of the sanctuary appears light and transparent. A continuous band of clerestory windows of Wright’s signature leaded glass encircle the flat, coffered ceiling. Set in a concrete grid are twenty-five square skylights of amber tinted leaded glass The effect, Wright states, was intended “to get a sense of a happy cloudless day into the room… daylight sifting through between the intersecting concrete beams, filtering through amber glass ceiling lights. Thus managed, the light would, rain or shine, have the warmth of sunlight.”
While Wright’s innovative use of concrete was chosen for its economy, the completed building ultimately cost nearly twice the contracted price due to complications encountered during construction. In September of 1909, the new building was dedicated. Because its unique design bore little resemblance to the other churches along Lake Street, it was decided to rename it Unity Temple.
The congregation’s board of trustees issued a statement thanking Wright. “We extend to the architect, Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright, our most hearty congratulations upon the wonderful achievement embodied in the new edifice and further extend to him our most sincere thanks for the great service which, through the building, he has rendered to the parish and to the community. We believe the building will long endure as a monument to his artistic genius and that, so long as it endures, it will stand forth as a masterpiece of art and architecture.” Their words were prophetic."
Previous text from the following website: flwright.org/researchexplore/unitytemple
Candle that was lit during the ceremony.
Photo may be used for blogs, Squidoo lenses, etc. with a link back.
Thanks!
Just sharing. Made this for a very good friend. Cupcake stamp is from Unity. Sentiment is from Hero Arts. I used a upside down punched heart shape as the flame. I later added some Stickles on the top part of the cupcake to simulate "icing."
The Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois, is one of Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural masterpieces, showcasing his modernist approach. Commissioned by the congregation of Oak Park Unity Church in 1905, this building stands out for its use of reinforced concrete, which was a novel choice at the time.
Wright's design philosophy of organic architecture is evident in the temple's structure, where he emphasized the natural characteristics of materials. The Unity Temple is not only a place of worship but also a symbol of the unity between humanity and the divine, reflecting Wright's own Unitarian background and the progressive views of the congregation.
Unity Attained:
Who dares to equal him
Who falls into neither being nor non-being!
All men want to leave
The current of ordinary life,
But he, after all, comes back
To sit among the coals and ashes.
The Master's verse-comment says:
How many times has Tokuun, the idle old gimlet,
Not come down from the Marvelous Peak!
He hires foolish wise men to bring snow,
And he and they together fill up the well.
May 12, 2019 - Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple located at 875 Lake Street, Oak Park, Illinois. "Commissioned by the congregation of Oak Park Unity Church in 1905, Wright’s Unity Temple is the greatest public building of the architect’s Chicago years. Wright’s family on his mother’s side were Welsh Unitarians, and his uncle Jenkin Lloyd Jones was a distinguished Unitarian preacher with a parish on Chicago’s south side where Wright and his wife Catherine were married. Wright identified with the rational humanism of Unitarianism, particularly as influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s transcendentalism, uniting all beings as one with the divine presence.
Wright’s father had been a Universalist preacher. With their emphasis on a loving God, Universalists were early advocates of abolitionism and were the first church to ordain women. In 1886 Universalist Augusta Chapin became minister of the Oak Park Unity Church, attracting new members to the congregation including Frank Lloyd Wright’s mother Anna. Unitarian Universalist minister Rodney Johonnot succeeded Chapin when she joined the Parliament of World Religions in 1893. A lawyer and graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Johonnot was known for his liberal views, even more extreme than those of Jenkin Lloyd Jones with whom he sometimes took issue.
When Unity Church burned to the ground in June 1905, Wright was awarded the commission, and in 1906 Johonnot published a booklet titled, A New Edifice for Unity Church. He wanted a modern building that would embody the principles of “unity, truth, beauty, simplicity, freedom and reason.”
Wright was a perfect match to these requirements. The design he submitted to the congregation broke with almost every existing convention for traditional Western ecclesiastic architecture. On the novel choice of construction material Wright states, “There was only one material to choose—as church funds were $45,000. Concrete was cheap.” Wright’s bold concept for the building enabled a series of concrete forms to be repeated multiple times.
In harmony with Wright’s philosophy of organic architecture, the concrete was left uncovered by plaster, brick, or stone. Wright’s sensitive handling of materials was a defining feature of his architecture from early in his career. “Bring out the nature of the materials,” Wright insisted in his seminal essay In the Cause of Architecture, “let their nature intimately into your scheme. Reveal the nature of wood, plaster, brick, or stone in your designs, they are all by nature friendly and beautiful. No treatment can be really a matter of fine art when those natural characteristics are, or their nature is, outraged or neglected.”
Unity Temple was a significant commission in Wright’s Oak Park Studio. Charles E. White, who worked as a draftsman for Wright from 1903 to 1906, details the collaborative effort of the Studio to secure the commission, “the chief thing at Wright’s is of course Unity Church, the sketches of which are at last accepted. We have all pleaded and argued with the committee, until we are well nigh worn out. All hands are working on the drawings."
In harmony with Wright’s philosophy of organic architecture, the concrete was left uncovered by plaster, brick, or stone. Wright’s sensitive handling of materials was a defining feature of his architecture from early in his career. “Bring out the nature of the materials,” Wright insisted in his seminal essay In the Cause of Architecture, “let their nature intimately into your scheme. Reveal the nature of wood, plaster, brick, or stone in your designs, they are all by nature friendly and beautiful. No treatment can be really a matter of fine art when those natural characteristics are, or their nature is, outraged or neglected.”
Unity Temple was a significant commission in Wright’s Oak Park Studio. Charles E. White, who worked as a draftsman for Wright from 1903 to 1906, details the collaborative effort of the Studio to secure the commission, “the chief thing at Wright’s is of course Unity Church, the sketches of which are at last accepted. We have all pleaded and argued with the committee, until we are well nigh worn out. All hands are working on the drawings.”
Approached from Lake Street, Unity Temple is a massive and monolithic cube of concrete, sheltered beneath an expansive flat roof. The introspective nature of the building is in part a response to its corner site situated along a busy thoroughfare. No entrance is apparent and the building appears impenetrable, save for a band of high clerestory windows recessed behind decorative piers and shadowed by overhanging eaves.
Entry to the building is via a low hall that connects Unity Temple and Unity House. Above the bank of doors leading into the hall, an inscription in bronze declares, “For the worship of God and the service of man.” The low, dimly lit hall that unites the buildings is a transitional space. To the south it opens directly onto Unity House. Designed for “the service of man,” this secular space includes a central meeting hall, flanking balconies for use as open classrooms, and other special purpose rooms for daily operation. Like Wright’s residential architecture, this congregational parish house is centered on a fireplace hearth.
Situated across the hall from Unity House is the temple. In contrast to the open entrance into Unity House, access to the sanctuary is complex. Wright masterfully manipulates the sequence of entrance; guiding the visitor through low dark passages he termed “cloisters,” before they ascend into the open, brightly lit sanctuary.
The sanctuary is the heart and anchor of the building. At once grand yet intimate, the sanctuary is a masterful composition in light and space. Its elegant articulation and warm colors stand in bold contrast to the grey concrete exterior. Devoid of overt religious iconography, its precise geometric proportions declare a harmonious whole.
The uppermost portion of the sanctuary appears light and transparent. A continuous band of clerestory windows of Wright’s signature leaded glass encircle the flat, coffered ceiling. Set in a concrete grid are twenty-five square skylights of amber tinted leaded glass The effect, Wright states, was intended “to get a sense of a happy cloudless day into the room… daylight sifting through between the intersecting concrete beams, filtering through amber glass ceiling lights. Thus managed, the light would, rain or shine, have the warmth of sunlight.”
While Wright’s innovative use of concrete was chosen for its economy, the completed building ultimately cost nearly twice the contracted price due to complications encountered during construction. In September of 1909, the new building was dedicated. Because its unique design bore little resemblance to the other churches along Lake Street, it was decided to rename it Unity Temple.
The congregation’s board of trustees issued a statement thanking Wright. “We extend to the architect, Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright, our most hearty congratulations upon the wonderful achievement embodied in the new edifice and further extend to him our most sincere thanks for the great service which, through the building, he has rendered to the parish and to the community. We believe the building will long endure as a monument to his artistic genius and that, so long as it endures, it will stand forth as a masterpiece of art and architecture.” Their words were prophetic."
Previous text from the following website: flwright.org/researchexplore/unitytemple
FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PA - Employees from the Pennsylvania National Guard and Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs gathered for Unity Day, an annual celebration of diversity, Sept. 5, 2013. The event had a variety of cultural demonstrations, displays and food. (Photo by Tom Cherry/Released)
Unity windows take advantage of most of the special effects provided by Compiz and other window managers on Linux. This is an example of the Windows XP control panel being all wobbly while moving.
May 12, 2019 - Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple located at 875 Lake Street, Oak Park, Illinois. "Commissioned by the congregation of Oak Park Unity Church in 1905, Wright’s Unity Temple is the greatest public building of the architect’s Chicago years. Wright’s family on his mother’s side were Welsh Unitarians, and his uncle Jenkin Lloyd Jones was a distinguished Unitarian preacher with a parish on Chicago’s south side where Wright and his wife Catherine were married. Wright identified with the rational humanism of Unitarianism, particularly as influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s transcendentalism, uniting all beings as one with the divine presence.
Wright’s father had been a Universalist preacher. With their emphasis on a loving God, Universalists were early advocates of abolitionism and were the first church to ordain women. In 1886 Universalist Augusta Chapin became minister of the Oak Park Unity Church, attracting new members to the congregation including Frank Lloyd Wright’s mother Anna. Unitarian Universalist minister Rodney Johonnot succeeded Chapin when she joined the Parliament of World Religions in 1893. A lawyer and graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Johonnot was known for his liberal views, even more extreme than those of Jenkin Lloyd Jones with whom he sometimes took issue.
When Unity Church burned to the ground in June 1905, Wright was awarded the commission, and in 1906 Johonnot published a booklet titled, A New Edifice for Unity Church. He wanted a modern building that would embody the principles of “unity, truth, beauty, simplicity, freedom and reason.”
Wright was a perfect match to these requirements. The design he submitted to the congregation broke with almost every existing convention for traditional Western ecclesiastic architecture. On the novel choice of construction material Wright states, “There was only one material to choose—as church funds were $45,000. Concrete was cheap.” Wright’s bold concept for the building enabled a series of concrete forms to be repeated multiple times.
In harmony with Wright’s philosophy of organic architecture, the concrete was left uncovered by plaster, brick, or stone. Wright’s sensitive handling of materials was a defining feature of his architecture from early in his career. “Bring out the nature of the materials,” Wright insisted in his seminal essay In the Cause of Architecture, “let their nature intimately into your scheme. Reveal the nature of wood, plaster, brick, or stone in your designs, they are all by nature friendly and beautiful. No treatment can be really a matter of fine art when those natural characteristics are, or their nature is, outraged or neglected.”
Unity Temple was a significant commission in Wright’s Oak Park Studio. Charles E. White, who worked as a draftsman for Wright from 1903 to 1906, details the collaborative effort of the Studio to secure the commission, “the chief thing at Wright’s is of course Unity Church, the sketches of which are at last accepted. We have all pleaded and argued with the committee, until we are well nigh worn out. All hands are working on the drawings."
In harmony with Wright’s philosophy of organic architecture, the concrete was left uncovered by plaster, brick, or stone. Wright’s sensitive handling of materials was a defining feature of his architecture from early in his career. “Bring out the nature of the materials,” Wright insisted in his seminal essay In the Cause of Architecture, “let their nature intimately into your scheme. Reveal the nature of wood, plaster, brick, or stone in your designs, they are all by nature friendly and beautiful. No treatment can be really a matter of fine art when those natural characteristics are, or their nature is, outraged or neglected.”
Unity Temple was a significant commission in Wright’s Oak Park Studio. Charles E. White, who worked as a draftsman for Wright from 1903 to 1906, details the collaborative effort of the Studio to secure the commission, “the chief thing at Wright’s is of course Unity Church, the sketches of which are at last accepted. We have all pleaded and argued with the committee, until we are well nigh worn out. All hands are working on the drawings.”
Approached from Lake Street, Unity Temple is a massive and monolithic cube of concrete, sheltered beneath an expansive flat roof. The introspective nature of the building is in part a response to its corner site situated along a busy thoroughfare. No entrance is apparent and the building appears impenetrable, save for a band of high clerestory windows recessed behind decorative piers and shadowed by overhanging eaves.
Entry to the building is via a low hall that connects Unity Temple and Unity House. Above the bank of doors leading into the hall, an inscription in bronze declares, “For the worship of God and the service of man.” The low, dimly lit hall that unites the buildings is a transitional space. To the south it opens directly onto Unity House. Designed for “the service of man,” this secular space includes a central meeting hall, flanking balconies for use as open classrooms, and other special purpose rooms for daily operation. Like Wright’s residential architecture, this congregational parish house is centered on a fireplace hearth.
Situated across the hall from Unity House is the temple. In contrast to the open entrance into Unity House, access to the sanctuary is complex. Wright masterfully manipulates the sequence of entrance; guiding the visitor through low dark passages he termed “cloisters,” before they ascend into the open, brightly lit sanctuary.
The sanctuary is the heart and anchor of the building. At once grand yet intimate, the sanctuary is a masterful composition in light and space. Its elegant articulation and warm colors stand in bold contrast to the grey concrete exterior. Devoid of overt religious iconography, its precise geometric proportions declare a harmonious whole.
The uppermost portion of the sanctuary appears light and transparent. A continuous band of clerestory windows of Wright’s signature leaded glass encircle the flat, coffered ceiling. Set in a concrete grid are twenty-five square skylights of amber tinted leaded glass The effect, Wright states, was intended “to get a sense of a happy cloudless day into the room… daylight sifting through between the intersecting concrete beams, filtering through amber glass ceiling lights. Thus managed, the light would, rain or shine, have the warmth of sunlight.”
While Wright’s innovative use of concrete was chosen for its economy, the completed building ultimately cost nearly twice the contracted price due to complications encountered during construction. In September of 1909, the new building was dedicated. Because its unique design bore little resemblance to the other churches along Lake Street, it was decided to rename it Unity Temple.
The congregation’s board of trustees issued a statement thanking Wright. “We extend to the architect, Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright, our most hearty congratulations upon the wonderful achievement embodied in the new edifice and further extend to him our most sincere thanks for the great service which, through the building, he has rendered to the parish and to the community. We believe the building will long endure as a monument to his artistic genius and that, so long as it endures, it will stand forth as a masterpiece of art and architecture.” Their words were prophetic."
Previous text from the following website: flwright.org/researchexplore/unitytemple
The cemetery surrounding the architecturely significant Unity Chapel is the resting place of the extended family of Richard and Mary Long, who built the chapel.Frank Lolyd Wright's grave is just to the right of this photo,and his daughter is also buried here.
More info here:
May 12, 2019 - Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple located at 875 Lake Street, Oak Park, Illinois. "Commissioned by the congregation of Oak Park Unity Church in 1905, Wright’s Unity Temple is the greatest public building of the architect’s Chicago years. Wright’s family on his mother’s side were Welsh Unitarians, and his uncle Jenkin Lloyd Jones was a distinguished Unitarian preacher with a parish on Chicago’s south side where Wright and his wife Catherine were married. Wright identified with the rational humanism of Unitarianism, particularly as influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s transcendentalism, uniting all beings as one with the divine presence.
Wright’s father had been a Universalist preacher. With their emphasis on a loving God, Universalists were early advocates of abolitionism and were the first church to ordain women. In 1886 Universalist Augusta Chapin became minister of the Oak Park Unity Church, attracting new members to the congregation including Frank Lloyd Wright’s mother Anna. Unitarian Universalist minister Rodney Johonnot succeeded Chapin when she joined the Parliament of World Religions in 1893. A lawyer and graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Johonnot was known for his liberal views, even more extreme than those of Jenkin Lloyd Jones with whom he sometimes took issue.
When Unity Church burned to the ground in June 1905, Wright was awarded the commission, and in 1906 Johonnot published a booklet titled, A New Edifice for Unity Church. He wanted a modern building that would embody the principles of “unity, truth, beauty, simplicity, freedom and reason.”
Wright was a perfect match to these requirements. The design he submitted to the congregation broke with almost every existing convention for traditional Western ecclesiastic architecture. On the novel choice of construction material Wright states, “There was only one material to choose—as church funds were $45,000. Concrete was cheap.” Wright’s bold concept for the building enabled a series of concrete forms to be repeated multiple times.
In harmony with Wright’s philosophy of organic architecture, the concrete was left uncovered by plaster, brick, or stone. Wright’s sensitive handling of materials was a defining feature of his architecture from early in his career. “Bring out the nature of the materials,” Wright insisted in his seminal essay In the Cause of Architecture, “let their nature intimately into your scheme. Reveal the nature of wood, plaster, brick, or stone in your designs, they are all by nature friendly and beautiful. No treatment can be really a matter of fine art when those natural characteristics are, or their nature is, outraged or neglected.”
Unity Temple was a significant commission in Wright’s Oak Park Studio. Charles E. White, who worked as a draftsman for Wright from 1903 to 1906, details the collaborative effort of the Studio to secure the commission, “the chief thing at Wright’s is of course Unity Church, the sketches of which are at last accepted. We have all pleaded and argued with the committee, until we are well nigh worn out. All hands are working on the drawings."
In harmony with Wright’s philosophy of organic architecture, the concrete was left uncovered by plaster, brick, or stone. Wright’s sensitive handling of materials was a defining feature of his architecture from early in his career. “Bring out the nature of the materials,” Wright insisted in his seminal essay In the Cause of Architecture, “let their nature intimately into your scheme. Reveal the nature of wood, plaster, brick, or stone in your designs, they are all by nature friendly and beautiful. No treatment can be really a matter of fine art when those natural characteristics are, or their nature is, outraged or neglected.”
Unity Temple was a significant commission in Wright’s Oak Park Studio. Charles E. White, who worked as a draftsman for Wright from 1903 to 1906, details the collaborative effort of the Studio to secure the commission, “the chief thing at Wright’s is of course Unity Church, the sketches of which are at last accepted. We have all pleaded and argued with the committee, until we are well nigh worn out. All hands are working on the drawings.”
Approached from Lake Street, Unity Temple is a massive and monolithic cube of concrete, sheltered beneath an expansive flat roof. The introspective nature of the building is in part a response to its corner site situated along a busy thoroughfare. No entrance is apparent and the building appears impenetrable, save for a band of high clerestory windows recessed behind decorative piers and shadowed by overhanging eaves.
Entry to the building is via a low hall that connects Unity Temple and Unity House. Above the bank of doors leading into the hall, an inscription in bronze declares, “For the worship of God and the service of man.” The low, dimly lit hall that unites the buildings is a transitional space. To the south it opens directly onto Unity House. Designed for “the service of man,” this secular space includes a central meeting hall, flanking balconies for use as open classrooms, and other special purpose rooms for daily operation. Like Wright’s residential architecture, this congregational parish house is centered on a fireplace hearth.
Situated across the hall from Unity House is the temple. In contrast to the open entrance into Unity House, access to the sanctuary is complex. Wright masterfully manipulates the sequence of entrance; guiding the visitor through low dark passages he termed “cloisters,” before they ascend into the open, brightly lit sanctuary.
The sanctuary is the heart and anchor of the building. At once grand yet intimate, the sanctuary is a masterful composition in light and space. Its elegant articulation and warm colors stand in bold contrast to the grey concrete exterior. Devoid of overt religious iconography, its precise geometric proportions declare a harmonious whole.
The uppermost portion of the sanctuary appears light and transparent. A continuous band of clerestory windows of Wright’s signature leaded glass encircle the flat, coffered ceiling. Set in a concrete grid are twenty-five square skylights of amber tinted leaded glass The effect, Wright states, was intended “to get a sense of a happy cloudless day into the room… daylight sifting through between the intersecting concrete beams, filtering through amber glass ceiling lights. Thus managed, the light would, rain or shine, have the warmth of sunlight.”
While Wright’s innovative use of concrete was chosen for its economy, the completed building ultimately cost nearly twice the contracted price due to complications encountered during construction. In September of 1909, the new building was dedicated. Because its unique design bore little resemblance to the other churches along Lake Street, it was decided to rename it Unity Temple.
The congregation’s board of trustees issued a statement thanking Wright. “We extend to the architect, Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright, our most hearty congratulations upon the wonderful achievement embodied in the new edifice and further extend to him our most sincere thanks for the great service which, through the building, he has rendered to the parish and to the community. We believe the building will long endure as a monument to his artistic genius and that, so long as it endures, it will stand forth as a masterpiece of art and architecture.” Their words were prophetic."
Previous text from the following website: flwright.org/researchexplore/unitytemple
Tall Ships, Beantown:
An Arab gentleman greeting my friend and I during the festival where boats of epic proportions docked in Boston, MA...
watching those boats all come thru via the horizon from Revere Beach was breath-taking!!
I made this amidst Operation Enduring Freedom symbolizing peace!!
FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PA - Employees from the Pennsylvania National Guard and Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs gathered for Unity Day, an annual celebration of diversity, Sept. 5, 2013. The event had a variety of cultural demonstrations, displays and food. (Photo by Tom Cherry/Released)