Property Record
900 UNIVERSITY BAY DR
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | First Unitarian Society Meetinghouse |
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| Other Name: | First Unitarian Society Meetinghouse |
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| Reference Number: | 5806 |
| Location (Address): | 900 UNIVERSITY BAY DR |
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| County: | Dane |
| City: | Shorewood Hills |
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| Year Built: | 1951 |
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| Additions: | 1964 1990 2008 |
| Survey Date: | 1975 |
| Historic Use: | house of worship |
| Architectural Style: | Usonian |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Limestone |
| Architect: | Taliesin Associated Architects-1964, 1990; Frank Lloyd Wright |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | First Unitarian Society Meetinghouse |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 4/11/1973 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the State Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation. ADDITIONS DESIGNED BY TALIESIN ASSOCIATED ARCHITECTS AND BUILT IN 1965 AND 1990. PROW WINDOW PROJECTING OVER HILL SIDE. COPPER ROOF. Building was designed in 1947 and originally constructed in 1951. Became a NHL on 8/18/2004. "As the square has always signified integrity and the sphere universality, the triangle stands for aspiration," Frank Lloyd Wright wrote soon after this deservedly famous building was completed. "Here is a church where the whole edifice is in the attitude of prayer." Indeed, the building’s most dramatic feature--a glass and limestone prow soaring forty feet above the ground--suggests the image of hands pressed together in prayer. Appropriately, the prow shelters the auditorium where church members worship and engage in social activities. Lectures and concerts are often held here, as well. The auditorium is triangular in both plan and section. In plan, the triangle points northward, away from the main body of the building, and in section, the triangle sweeps from a low point at the rear of the auditorium to its forty-foot apex at the front. An oak-and-stone pulpit and a choir balcony (a pipe organ has displaced the choir) fill the front of the prow, glazed with prismatic windows. Triangles, some paired to form diamonds, recur in the scoring of the floor, the stone piers, and everywhere possible. The building’s repetitive geometry and its integration into a natural setting are typically Wrightian. So is the domed hearth room at the rear of the auditorium, with its rough limestone fireplace. Wright’s long, low lines dominate the Sunday-school classroom (now office) wing stretching west from the hearth room. Two more wings, both designed by Taliesin Associated Architects, were added in 1964 and 1990. Wright had a special interest in designing the church, since he was a member of the congregation. But construction cost more than three times his original estimate of $60,000. To save money, members of the congregation hauled one thousand tons of limestone from a quarry thirty miles away. The members helped make the movable pews and other furniture. The American Institute of Architects has designated the meetinghouse as one of Wright’s most important works. A Historic Structure Report of this building can be found in Room 312 at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Covenant/Easement: From 6/9/1978 to 6/9/2008. A 'covenant file' exists for this property. It may contain additional information such as photos, drawings and correspondence. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Wisconsin State Journal, P. 1G, 4/27/1997. Wisconsin State Journal, p. D3, 4/16/2011. Wisconsin State Journal, p. 3J, 4/16/1995. Housing Madison: Where We Live, Where We Work. Ed. Anna Vemer Andrzejewski and Arnold R. Alanen for “Nature + City: Vernacular Buildings and Landscapes of the Upper Midwest,” 2012 Meeting of the Vernacular Architecture Forum (VAF). Wright and Like Madison Walking Tour brochure, 2015. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin Heritage Tour Guide Thomas D. Brock, The Village of Shorewood Hills and Shorewood Hills Community League, Madison, Wisconsin, Historic Shorewood Hills: A Walking Tour of the Villiage, 1997. Perrin, Richard W. E., Historic Wisconsin Architecture, First Revised Edition (Milwaukee, 1976). A Celebration of Architecture: Wisconsin Society of Architects Tour of Significant Architecture, 1979. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |