# Unity Temple: exterior view

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486/unity-temple-exterior-view-r64e03cc17eeea4>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [WRIGHT, Frank Lloyd](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486>)
- Date: 1851-1900
- Technique: Photo

## Commentary

By the close of this first phase of his career in 1909, Wright was also widely recognized for two non-residential works, the Larkin Co. Administration Building in Buffalo, New York \(1902-06; destroyed 1950\), and Unity Temple, the Universalist-Unitarian church in Oak Park, Illinois \(1905-09\), which featured flat-roofed, exterior cubic masses that distinctly articulated different internal spaces. Unity Temple was especially innovative as a church building of monolithic concrete exposed inside and out. In harmony with Wright&#39;s philosophy of organic architecture, the concrete was left uncovered by plaster, brick, or stone. The plan of this Unitarian church is a front square \(perhaps suggestive of unity\), an entrance hallway, and a rear rectangular parish house. The whole is built of concrete, a cheap material, and a daring move for church architecture in the early twentieth century.

## Related artworks

- [Armchair](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486/armchair-rb8a9ff4e8b5265>)
- [Avery Coonley House: dining room](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486/avery-coonley-house-dining-room-rfdfd3fd80819d1>)
- [Avery Coonley House: front façade](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486/avery-coonley-house-front-faade-rd2219ddfd52840>)
- [Avery Coonley House: garden area](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486/avery-coonley-house-garden-area-r9b9e24406d36e6>)
- [Avery Coonley House: living room](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486/avery-coonley-house-living-room-r10b63c80bec019>)
- [Avery Coonley House: living room](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486/avery-coonley-house-living-room-rb3446e6430a40a>)
- [Avery Coonley House: primary bedroom](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486/avery-coonley-house-primary-bedroom-rdeee06b6aac7ae>)
- [Avery Coonley House: view from the garden](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486/avery-coonley-house-view-from-the-garden-rb29f140d6069be>)
- [Darwin D. Martin House: front](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486/darwin-d-martin-house-front-raf9f36f894d7f2>)
- [Desk](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486/desk-rf4f0feec3024ba>)
- [Dining chair](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486/dining-chair-r4d32d325c66c17>)
- [Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio: exterior view](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wright-frank-lloyd-r7ac12520a52486/frank-lloyd-wright-home-and-studio-exterior-view-r1b700b1e6f01a5>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)
