The Unitarian Meeting House is located in eastern Shorewood Hills and recognized as one of the most innovative examples of church architecture. The building is situated on a knoll (Wright would prefer “as part of the knoll”) located at the western edge of the University of Wisconsin: 900 University Bay Drive on what had once been agricultural fields.
Truth and Meaning
According to Wikipedia “Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion characterized by a free and responsible search for truth and meaning”; and “The First Unitarian Society of Madison (FUS) is a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin.” If part of the abovementioned phrase (“…search for truth and meaning”) sounds somewhat familiar, it should: etched into a panel above Frank Lloyd Wright’s sunrise fireplace in his original Oak Park, Illinois home (1889-1909) is a quote, part of which are the words “Truth is Life”.
And so, it is absolutely appropriate – and poetic – that the Society should be housed in a building that was designed by none other than Frank Lloyd Wright, whose parents were actually among the earliest of Society founding members, and who himself had been a member since 1938. Wright got the commission in 1946 for what he called his “country church”; the building was started in 1949 and finished in 1951.
Construction and Additions
The original budget for the church was about $60,000. However, even with the help of congregation members – who hauled more than 1,000 tons of dolomite limestone from a quarry 30-miles distant and also helped to construct furnishings and finish the interior – the completed structure still came in at almost four times over budget.
The original, single-level Unitarian Meeting House has, as its main construction elements, copper (the roof is seamed copper), glass, wood and native limestone that supports a forty-foot tall prow-like roof with an innovative truss roof system that allows for an interior span of some sixty-four feet. Two later additions, the Religious Education Wing (1964) and the Lower Meeting House (1990) were designed by Taliesin Associated Architects. A more recent, third addition, was completed (2008) that includes a 500-seat auditorium, plus office and meeting space, kitchen, fellowship, and music rehearsal space. The new 20,000 square foot addition is topped by a 7,000-square-foot green roof.
A .pdf file from the National Historic Landmark Nomination indicates:
“There is no poured or block foundation beneath the church but rather a shallow trench filled with rubble on which the stone walls were constructed. The unusual construction technique, which Wright often used for sites with well-draining soil and sub-drain piping, was not his own invention but one he learned from David Timothy, a Welsh stone mason he had known in Spring Green, who told the architect that frost without water has no power. Consequently, the well-drained site did not require the 42-inch foundation typical of other area buildings.”
Tours
Public tours of the Meeting House are available and can be reserved online at unitarianmeetinghouse.org.
Location
900 University Bay Drive, Madison, WI
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