Unity Temple

Eleven members of the Union Church—a liberal Protestant congregation in Oak Park, a village in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois—met on January 25, 1871, to discuss the formation of a new congregation. E. W. Hoard hosted a meeting to raise money for a church building, collecting more than $5,000. It is unknown who designed the original church, which was built in the Gothic Revival style. The original church was a rectangle topped by a spire. Inside was a ground-level parish hall with an auditorium above it; a Chicago Tribune article from 1872 described the church as having a stone foundation and wood frame. After going through six pastors in fifteen years, During Chapin's tenure, Anna Jones Wright, the mother of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, joined the congregation. Chapin left the congregation in December 1891, During Johonnot's first four years, the congregation grew to 225 members. A church organ was installed in 1897. Johonnot felt that the existing building could not accommodate all of the congregation's activities. By then, numerous churches were being built in Oak Park, In December 1904, the board of trustees again asked the congregation for donations for a new temple. Following a meeting in May 1905, a committee was appointed to discuss plans for the new building. == Temple development ==

The original Unity Church was destroyed on June 4, 1905, when a lightning strike started a blaze; firefighters were unable to extinguish the flames because of low water pressure. Within one week, the congregation had appointed four committees to oversee fundraising, site selection, design, and construction. In the meantime, the congregation temporarily met at Nakama Hall. The nearby First Baptist Church also hosted some of the congregation's events. The fundraising committee requested donations from various sources, while the site selection committee recommended that the new temple be built "in some place more central". The committee considered several locations throughout the village. In early August 1905, the congregation paid Gale $10,000 or $11,000. On August 30, the planning committee met with nine architects, selecting four finalists: Frank Lloyd Wright, Dwight H. Perkins, William Augustus Otis, and Normand Smith Patton. At their September meeting, Unity Church's board of trustees voted to allow the planning committee to select an architect. Wright had been selected by mid-September. The engineer Charles E. Roberts, who led the church's building committee, had influenced the church's decision to select Wright. According to Wright, the board had considered hosting an architectural design competition (which he would have refused to join), but the historian Joseph Siry writes that there is no evidence that the board ever considered such a competition. Construction News reported that the temple would cost $35,000 and would be a one-story, brick-and-stone edifice. Though Wright may have considered using brick, this was never recorded in his plans. Wright instead proposed using concrete to save money, since, at the time, the church had only $45,000 on hand. The temple was the first public building that Wright designed by himself. Design Original plans The trustees mandated that the new house of worship include a sanctuary for worship, a meeting room for secular events, and a classroom for the Sunday school. Furthermore, as Lake Street was a major street, Wright had to design a monumental building that would also fit the church's budget. Wright wrote that Johonnot had wanted a Mission-style building, and he avoided traditional church architecture, instead proposing to the planning committee a "temple to man ... in which to study man himself for his God's sake". In the early plans, the temple's northern wall was aligned with the house to the east (which was set back from Lake Street), and the north–south axis was aligned with the house to the south. He also produced a plaster model of the temple, which he presented to the planning committee. The entrance to the main sanctuary, known as the auditorium, was intentionally positioned away from the streetcar lines on Lake Street. Wright did not want to put the meeting room and Sunday school in the auditorium, as he felt that it would "spoil the simplicity of the room". Accordingly, these rooms were instead placed in a separate church house called Unity House, Having decided upon the site layout, Wright next designed the cube-shaped auditorium. Some preliminary drawings for the auditorium still exist. These include Scheme A, which called for 388 seats facing a pulpit on the south wall, and the rejected Scheme B, which called for 478 seats facing the north wall. Design changes In December 1905, the planning committee received Wright's plans and recommended that the board of trustees approve them. By the beginning of 1906, the site of the original building had been sold for $6,500. Thomas Skillin, who led the board of trustees, reported that the temple was to cost $40,000 but that there was only $31,000 available. The trustees considered modifying the plans, splitting work into two phases, or borrowing money. Skillin objected that the auditorium was too small and dark. Subsequently, Wright revised the auditorium's design, and he invited 75 members of the congregation to see the drawings and models for Unity Temple at his studio. The board approved Wright's revisions on February 7, and a brochure describing the final plan was published on March 4. Wright's assistant Charles E. White Jr. said the planning process had been marked by "endless fighting". Wright continued refining the design details even after the final plans were accepted and (in some cases) partially completed. Despite initial objections to Wright's design, Oak Park residents eventually came to like it. Most of the bids that church officials did receive were significantly over budget, probably because of the unconventional nature of the concrete design, which drove many contractors away. was ultimately selected as the contractor. Wright and Mueller began discussing the temple in January 1906, The board also approved a $1,243.23 builder's fee for Wright. A groundbreaking ceremony took place on May 15, 1906. One of Wright's draftsmen, Isabel Roberts, acted as a liaison to church officials, while Arthur Tobin coordinated the construction schedules. The first part of the temple to be constructed was Unity House. Work on the foundation progressed slowly, and the building committee had to allocate another $645.60 for the foundations due to cost overruns. The contractors acquired large amounts of wood to create the formwork, into which the temple's concrete slabs were to be poured. The wooden forms were constructed to uniform dimensions of , allowing them to be reused; each timber form was made of several 2-by-4 boards. Rectangular blocks of wood were used to cast the facade's concrete columns, which had to be cast in multiple pieces because they were too large. The various pieces of each column were bound together using grout. Wright contemplated embedding red granite or another material into the outer walls. Twenty samples of concrete, embedded with red granite or gravel, were presented to the board of trustees for review. Church officials decided not to use red granite due to the expense involved; The concrete walls were poured at a rate of no more than every 24 hours. The walls were constructed one by one, and the wooden forms had to be disassembled and rebuilt after each wall was completed, which caused further delays. In addition, concrete could not be poured during the wintertime. Although Mueller's contract mandated that the temple be completed by November 1906, Furthermore, Wright frequently modified the plans while construction was underway, then tried to force the trustees to pay for the increased costs, to which they refused. and eventually went bankrupt. Delays and completion The heating system was installed in February 1907. Amid increasing expenses and decreasing revenue, the congregation's general fund had dwindled to $11.31 by March, and many former members had departed. By then, Wright wrote that Unity House would be finished in May and the auditorium in September. The eastern wall and parts of the auditorium's stair towers had been completed by May, but the roofs had not been constructed. Church officials had resorted to borrowing money, despite a concerted attempt to obtain donations and other fees from the congregation. Unity House began hosting services on September 15, 1907, and the church's Ladies Social Union purchased some furniture the same week. The auditorium's roof had been completed, but the terraces and entrance pavilion were still under construction, and landscaping work was still ongoing. Congregants had to enter Unity House through the back door. Wright and the contractors continued to fine-tune the building's heating system, The project was paused in late 1907, and Ehrman requested that Wright provide a timetable for Unity Temple's completion, which the architect did in January 1908. That February, Wright invited artists and musicians to attend a "Symposium of Art" at Unity House. Wright wrote to the congregation the next month, requesting that Mueller be paid $11,000. which allowed the trustees to finally reimburse Mueller. The temple's mechanical contractor Foster & Glidden were completing the building's electrical systems by August, and the pews were under construction by that September. All of the art glass had also been installed by then. The auditorium's opening, scheduled for October 11, 1908, was postponed due to delays in manufacturing the pews. though Wright did not attend. The church did not hire a manufacturer until September 1908, when officials paid Coburn & Taylor $3,500 to install an organ in two months. The heating system was also ineffective, and the boiler burst shortly after the auditorium opened, forcing the congregation to vacate the auditorium until February 1909. Construction issues notwithstanding, congregants quickly came to like the new temple. By 1909, the congregation's membership consisted of more than 140 families. During that year, church officials largely resolved their remaining disputes with contractors, and the decorations inside were finished. Johonnot resigned that June, expressing frustration that he had received little encouragement from the congregation during his tenure. Church members refused to accept his resignation, as he was still popular among members of the congregation. Johonnot ultimately agreed to remain Unity Church's pastor for one more year. The temple was officially dedicated on September 26, 1909, and the congregation published a brochure for the occasion. The temple had cost $60,344.55, and the congregation borrowed some $14,500 to pay for the cost overruns. Members pledged two-thirds, or nearly $32,200, of the remaining cost, though it took them several years to raise funds for construction. == Temple usage ==

Early and mid-20th century After Unity Temple opened, the building's architecture attracted visitors from across the U.S. Johonnot ultimately resigned at the end of June 1910. William J. Taylor became Unity Temple's pastor in November 1913 and began giving sermons there the next month. During Taylor's tenure, the congregation paid back its remaining debt of $6,000, and Gale donated a parsonage. and he was succeeded by James W. Vallentyne. Vallentyne resigned as Unity Church's pastor in 1924, though he remained in Oak Park for several months. D. T. Denman, who had served various congregations in Oak Park for two decades, Denman served until 1932 and was replaced that year with Frank D. Adams. In 1935, the congregation of the Church of the Redeemer in Chicago also merged with Unity Church's congregation. The congregation had 200 members by the mid-1940s, who met every Sunday from September to June; by then, the church was called the Unity Universalist Church. John Q. Parkhurst was elected as the church's pastor in early 1945, just after Adams resigned. The next year, Unity House was lent to a local youth club, and its interior was redecorated to resemble a ship's lounge; the club operated there for three months. At the time, the congregation's membership included many of Oak Park's longtime families, in addition to congregants from neighboring towns and villages. though local residents largely ignored it. Parkhurst left the congregation in 1952, and Robert M. Rice became the church's new minister. By then, the congregation had 325 members who met every Sunday except in August, and the church's youth fellowship met every other Sunday. The church was known simply as the Universalist Church by the late 1950s. The temple also hosted visiting architects, including Wright himself, as well as several groups of students each year. Late 20th century 1960s By the 1960s, the concrete had begun to spall and leak; the congregation ruled out the idea of using stucco to patch the facade, and there were discussions about potentially demolishing the temple. which was completed in 1961 for $22,000. Workers patched the cracks by sandblasting the concrete, placing a cement aggregate into the cracks, and applying another mixture to wear away the facade's topmost layer. The building still attracted international visitors, while the congregation had become known as the Unitarian Universalist Church. John Michiels renovated the temple's lower level in 1966 for $20,000, though these modifications did not follow Wright's original design. That May, the congregation decided to open the temple for public tours five days a week to raise money for the renovations. after Edgar Kaufmann Jr., a former Wright acolyte, heard about the initiative. Bill Fyfe and Michiels jointly designed a restoration plan. he was replaced by Gerald Krick the following March. which was prioritized after a fire had damaged Unity House in January 1971. A local firm, Sturr-Young Associates, was hired to repaint the auditorium in its original colors, restore the skylights, and redecorate the interior, while Frank's son Lloyd Wright was retained as a consultant. The Unity Temple Restoration Corporation was formed the next year as a secular entity, separate from the congregation. The restoration group raised $500 per month from small donors and tour revenue, and it received additional funding from large donors, the federal and local governments, and the congregation. A restoration of the facade commenced in 1973 and ultimately cost $200,000. Workers removed the cladding that had been added in the 1960s, The temple could also receive federal restoration funds because it was on the National Register of Historic Places, so the Illinois Department of Conservation requested $114,850 for interior restoration in late 1973. The temple began hosting concerts later that year, and it launched a concert series that helped raise money for the renovation. To raise further money, the church sponsored field trips to Taliesin, Wright's studio in Wisconsin. By 1975, church officials had spent more than $250,000 over the preceding eight years, but the project needed at least another $250,000. In addition, the Restoration Foundation had gone into debt. The next year, the Kaufmann Foundation offered another $50,000 matching grant. Work on the foyer's renovation began in May 1979 The foyer was restored to its original appearance, and later modifications, such as ceiling tiles and shelves, were removed. The Restoration Foundation also planned to repair the leaky roof, The next year, the Restoration Foundation established a subcommittee to organize events at the temple. By then, the temple received 10,000 to 15,000 annual visitors, and the Restoration Foundation was planning to spend $500,000 on the interior. The temple received a $20,000 matching grant from Domino's cofounder Thomas Monaghan in 1987, which was to be used to restore the temple's skylights. By then, the predicted cost of the renovation had increased to $750,000. The council received a preservation easement that limited changes to the temple. The auditorium's skylights were repaired that year, Despite large donations from Kaufmann, Domino's, and Steelcase, officials at the Restoration Foundation reported decreasing revenue in the 1980s. Foundation officials commissioned a report in 1989, which found that the roof was in very poor condition; foundation officials estimated that the roof would cost $280,000 to repair. Though the foundation wanted to dismantle part of the roof for inspection, congregation members disputed the report's findings During the 1990s, the temple continued to host tours for a fee, along with services every Sunday. Shirley Ann Ranck was named as Unity Temple's interim minister in 1991, becoming the first woman to lead the congregation in a century. F. Jay Deacon became the permanent minister of the congregation in 1993, and the clerestory windows were repaired that year. The congregation merged with the Beacon Unitarian Church in 1994, becoming the Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation. That year, the Restoration Foundation established a volunteer program to raise further money; it sought to raise $600,000 over seven years. The Oak Park village government allocated $32,500 in 1999 for a study of the temple's exterior. By then, $1.5 million had been spent on restoration. Simultaneously, the Restoration Foundation was raising $1.5 million in advance of the temple's centennial. although it subsequently began distributing such loans. State representative Angelo Saviano negotiated to secure state funding for Unity Temple after seeing the poor condition of the exterior. 21st century 2000s Unity Temple still had serious mechanical and structural issues in the 21st century. The building had no air-conditioning system, leading to significant temperature fluctuations; The temple's roof sagged significantly, while the interiors were damaged by carbon-dioxide buildups and humidity. The art glass, which had cracked due to repeated freezing and thawing over the years, needed to be repaired. After the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois labeled the building among Illinois's most endangered structures that March, the state government gave Unity Temple $1 million for restoration. This work was part of a larger, three-phase project which would cost up to $5 million. Holes were cut into the facade, and the underlying rebar was replaced. Fern C. Stanley was appointed as interim pastor in August 2002. After her death in May 2003, Alan Taylor became Unity Temple's pastor the same year. though Taylor helped double the congregation's size during his 18-year tenure. The Landmarks Preservation Council provided $100,000 for a geothermal heating upgrade in 2004, which was part of the first phase of a $12–15 million renovation. The Restoration Foundation planned to patch the concrete The third and final phase would entail restoration of the interior. By the mid-2000s, the temple attracted 25–30 thousand annual visitors, many of them from outside the U.S. Because parts of the temple were still being used as offices and classrooms, they could not be renovated until the congregation obtained additional space. Part of the ceiling collapsed around 2008; the water damage was attributed to the lack of expansion joints and a flat roof. A huge piece of the left wall had cracked open, Unity Temple received a $200,000 matching funds grant in December 2008 through the Save America's Treasures program, contingent on the congregation raising an equivalent amount for the temple's restoration. and the temple received more than $82,000 for visitor services such as tours and brochures. By then, the renovation was scheduled to cost $20–25 million, and the Restoration Foundation hoped to raise more money for restoration if the building were designated as a World Heritage Site. 2010s to present Most of the letters from the sign above Unity Temple's main entrance were stolen in 2010, shortly after the roof was replaced for $500,000. After the congregation raised $3,000 to replace the letters, a local preservation firm installed a new sign above the entrance. The Alphawood Foundation pledged $10 million toward the temple's restoration in 2013. The congregation also considered transferring ownership of the temple to Alphawood so that organization could help maintain the building. By early 2015, the Restoration Foundation had about $11.5 million or $12.5 million on hand. Restorers drew up detailed plans to repaint the building, restore the original architectural features, and repair mechanical systems; the plans needed approval from three agencies before renovations could start. at which point the project was to cost $23 million The project was supposed to be completed in late 2016 The congregation bought the nearby Oak Park Billiards building on South Boulevard in 2016, which was also renovated. Following a preview event in May 2017 to mark the renovation's completion, and tours resumed that July. About half of the construction cost had been raised at the time. After a developer proposed a 28-story tower nearby in 2018, the church's board of trustees expressed concerns that the tower would cast shadows on the temple; the tower was eventually canceled. Alan Taylor resigned as Unity Temple's senior minister in 2021. Roger Bertschausen became the senior minister in 2023, and the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation was dissolved that year. ==Building==

Unity Temple is located at 875 Lake Street in Oak Park, Illinois, United States. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the Prairie style, or long from north to south. Unity Temple is one of 24 as well as Wright's only significant remaining Prairie-style structure that was designed as a public building. and he described the building as a "temple" because its simple motifs resembled those of old temples. Unity Temple is arranged around a grid of cubic "units" measuring on each side. The building is made of four types of concrete, Several elements of the design are shared with the now-demolished Larkin Building, which was completed shortly before Unity Temple was. a layout also used in Wright's Oak Park studio. The Larkin Building and Unity Temple were both centered on a large communal room; in both structures, visitors had to make several turns to access the room, and there were balconies around the space itself. for instance, both Unity Temple and Wright's Prairie-style houses have windows with geometric patterns. Exterior The temple is composed of two main structures—the auditorium to the north and Unity House to the south—connected by a low, central entrance hall. The exterior of the auditorium section is a square measuring across and high, while Unity House measures about across. The two-story entrance building measures across. The wooden formwork created markings, which remained in place after the concrete had been poured. Joseph Siry described Unity Temple's exterior as a predecessor to the béton brut ("raw concrete") facades that became popular in the 1960s. There are stair towers at each corner of the auditorium building, which measure high and across. On each elevation of the facade, narrow slit windows separate the central portions of the facade from the staircase towers. The base of the facade, directly above the foundation walls, is thicker than the rest of the facade and is decorated with square and rectangular moldings. The words "For the worship of God and the service of man" are inscribed in bronze letters above the entrance pavilion's doors. Next to the Kenilworth Avenue facade, there is a pier with colonnades and rectangular flower boxes. The centers of all four elevations of the auditorium are decorated with clerestory windows, which are recessed and measure across. Each set of clerestory windows is flanked by six exterior columns. All of the columns were designed by Richard Bock The lowest 7 feet of each column is unornamented and was cast in one piece, while the ornate upper sections were cast in four pieces. At the time of construction, church spires were increasingly outdated and were vulnerable to lightning strikes. The temple is instead topped by 14, overhanging the adjacent lawns and paths. The edges of each roof are twice as thick as the rest of the roof, creating a low parapet wall, The interiors are also decorated with wooden boards, which not only articulate (or stylize) the interiors, Joseph Siry described the decorations as "a poetic invention that sprang from Wright's own imagination", Wright also included high ceilings "for the contemplation for the soul", as Oak Leaves described it. Entrance pavilion An entrance pavilion, measuring across, an example of the compression-and-release principle that Wright espoused. The foyer measures about wide as Wright wanted visitors to go on a "path of discovery" to reach the auditorium. Auditorium Layout Wright wrote that he had "let the room inside be the architecture outside" by designing the rest of the temple around the auditorium. The auditorium at the north end of the temple has either 380 or 400 seats. It is shaped like a Greek cross, with a freestanding pier at each corner. This contrasted with other churches in Oak Park, which had naves that were significantly longer than their width. and he wanted the piers to draw visitors' attention inward. The bases of the piers contain small anterooms, At the center of the cross is a square measuring on each side, with a pulpit at the center. The southern wall contains a choir loft directly above the auditorium's entrance, which extends to the balcony level. The screen protrudes from the south wall, providing space for the organ pipes behind it. they are raked, sloping down toward the pulpit. The layout also allows audience members to face each other. Exits from either side of the pulpit lead directly to the entrance pavilion. This eliminated the need for congregants to turn away from the pulpit to leave, as was customary in older churches, and it allowed congregants to mingle with the pastor or other speakers at the pulpit. The auditorium also has several hardwood chairs, built in 2003 to replace the original Wright–designed chairs. The center of the ceiling is topped by amber skylights, Inset within this grid of beams are 25 square skylight panels. A New York Times article likened the skylights' designs to Piet Mondrian's artwork. and the perimeter of the ceiling is made of oak boards. The balconies and the spaces beneath them were originally used as classrooms. On the northern wall, there are three casement windows facing the pastor's study. The ducts proved ineffective at carrying air, which consists of nine wells on the lawn just north of the church. This system includes ice-storage space and a set of geothermal wells. == Clergy, services, and programs ==

Clergy , Roger Bertschausen is the senior minister at Unity Temple, having joined as a "developmental minister" in 2023. The church hosts services every Sunday at 9:00 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. In addition, it has hosted an annual meeting every May. such as tours provided by the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation (later the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust). Unity Temple is also part of the annual "Wright Plus" walking tour, which includes visits to several buildings designed by Wright. By 2017, the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust hosted tours of Unity Temple six days a week, in addition to more detailed tours once a week. Since 2018, Unity Temple has been part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail, a collection of 13 buildings designed by Wright in Illinois. The church began hosting concerts in late 1973. The temple also hosted theatrical, ballet, and opera performances. Over the years, Unity Temple has hosted meetings for the local community, conventions of the National Young People's Christian Union, and dinners. The church has also invited guest speakers, such as in 1964 when four liberal pastors gave speeches there. Other programs at the church have included "Constructive Kids", an architectural program for primary-school children. Over the years, Unity Temple has hosted public exhibits, such as a 1963 exhibit about Wright's architecture == Impact ==

When Unity Temple was completed, it differed significantly from other local churches' designs. and it was among the first major reinforced-concrete buildings constructed in the U.S. The temple is also an early example of a building with an exposed-concrete facade, with Wright citing it as his first modern-style building. According to Wright's wife Olgivanna, after the temple was finished, foreign architects copied elements of its design. Unity Temple's design has been credited with having helped inspire the European architects Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Peter Behrens. In addition, Unity Temple has inspired the design of structures such as the Maisonneuve Fire Station in Montreal, the Emerson Unitarian Church in Houston, and the Kunstmuseum Den Haag building in The Hague. The emphasis on materials and light in Unity Temple's design helped inspire later buildings such as Notre-Dame du Haut and the First Unitarian Church of Rochester. Reception Upon the temple's completion, images of the auditorium were published in Inland Architect and News Record magazine. Architectural Record praised the acoustics as "not sonorous and [...] only slightly reverberant". Conversely, Winthrop Kendall regarded the building as unattractive, "without a vine or a tree to relieve its massive monotony", and disappointed congregants likened the temple to a Mayan handball court. In 1928, a writer for The Baltimore Sun described Unity Temple as one of a few buildings that expressed Wright's "idea of the thing—made to sing to heaven", while the Wausau Daily Herald said the design "gave rise to the cubical monolith". A writer for the Manchester Guardian, in 1939, described Unity Temple as one of Wright's "pedigree buildings". The architectural historian Vincent Scully called it "small, yet large" and one of the nation's most beautiful buildings. The architectural critic Paul Goldberger perceived Unity Temple as representing "a kind of symbolic gathering and communal presence, monumental dignity in a public place", calling it one of "the greatest religious structures" of the 20th century. A writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education in 1996 contrasted Unity Temple's "blocky" massing with the low-roofed design of Robie House on Chicago's South Side. A 1991 poll in Architectural Record magazine ranked Unity Temple as one of the 10 most significant buildings in the United States from the previous century. the World Monuments Fund's Modernism Prize, the Urban Land Institute's Vision Award, and the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation's Preservation Award. Media Wright's building has been the subject of several books. Unity Temple was detailed in Ernst Wasmuth's 1910 Wasmuth Portfolio. The historian Joseph Siry wrote a book about the church's architecture in 1996, while Robert McCarter published another book the following year with photographs of the temple. Patrick F. Cannon published a book about the temple through the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation in 2009, which received an accolade from the Independent Publisher Book Awards in 2023. The Library of Congress acquired photographs and documents about Unity Temple in 1967. Additionally, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York displayed images of the temple in 1965 and 1988. Local photographer Redd Griffin created a slideshow with images of Unity Temple in the 1970s, and drawings of the temple have also been displayed at the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona and at the Oak Park Library. The temple was detailed in the Scottish filmmaker Murray Grigor's 1982 documentary about Wright's Oak Park buildings. In addition, the 2020 documentary ''Unity Temple: Frank Lloyd Wright's Modern Masterpiece'', produced by Lauren Levine and narrated by Brad Pitt, details the temple's renovation. Landmark designations Unity Temple was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in April 1970; such a designation allowed properties to receive federal funds for restoration. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 30, 1970, and was re-added to the NRHP at that time. A plaque commemorating the National Historic Landmark designation was installed in June 1971. Oak Park officials considered including Unity Temple as part of a municipal historic district in 1971. When the district was created the next year, however, it excluded the temple. The United States Department of the Interior nominated Unity Temple and nine other Wright–designed buildings to the World Heritage List in 2015; the buildings had previously been nominated in 2008. UNESCO added eight properties, including Unity Temple, to the World Heritage List in July 2019 under the title "The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright". == See also ==