The community obviously took to his architecture however, as he was invited to build the Unity Temple, which he built using a revolutionary concrete pour technique. As with much early technological innovation the material was inadequately understood and the lack of expansion joints is now rapidly destroying this important building, and the church needs to raise nine million dollars for a full restoration. The evidence of the scaffolding outside on my visit indicated that the process has started.
Arguments still continue about Wright's use of colour, and a long debate raged around his 1959 Guggenheim Gallery in New York, now painted white although the belief was that it was originally a buff colour (photo dates from 1976). Like his own home the Guggenheim was designed from the inside out. The visitor being invited to take the lift to the top of the building then to follow the sweeping curved floors down through the art as they spiral to deposit them at the ground floor.
The superb balance between the aesthetics and functionality of his buildings is typical of the architecture of Chicago. As Burnham embraced technology in the advances shown by his Reliance Building (now the Burnham hotel, subject of a forthcoming Review here on HotelDesigns) so Wright changed the perception of how space worked internally in the American home, leaving a legacy of graceful buildings as well as a stylistic influence still powerful today on both interior designers and architects alike.
Words and Pictures ŠPatrick Goff
