1. Unitarian Meeting House
2. Monona Terrace
3.Spring Trail Park

Unitarian Meeting House
900 University Bay Dr.

Open to public. Guided tours offered.

Frank Lloyd Wright's father was one of the original members of Madison's First Unitarian Society, which was organized in 1879. The original church of the Society was built in 1886, but by the mid -1940s, the congregation needed a larger church.

Wright had been a member of the congregation since 1938, and was the first choice to design a new meeting house. After some searching, the congregation purchased a 4-acre plot on a hill in the Village of Shorewood Hills, three miles west of downtown Madison.

Wright's first drawings followed the instructions of pastor Kenneth Patton to produce a design with multi-purpose rooms, a church that would be used throughout the week. The plans required a kitchen, nursery, and classrooms, as well as the minister's residence to be attached to the church.

Construction of the church began in August, 1949. To save money, members of the congregation spent fall, winter, and spring weekends hauling a 1,000 tons of limestone from a quarry 30 miles west of Madison. The church was a huge strain on the members of its congregation, as well as Marshall Erdman, the local builder that took on the job, and even Wright himself because it was such an enormous task to complete at the final cost of nearly $214,000. Wright had given up more than $11,000 in fees, and Erdman lost $30,000 on the project.

The church contains many elements Wright had used in the Usonian houses. It is built on a concrete pad, and embedded in which are the pipes for the radiant heating system. The main entrance is beneath a sheltering overhang at the southeast corner of the building. From the lobby, one enters the hearth room where one wall has a large limestone fireplace. Wright inscribed the names of notable Unitarians, including his uncle, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, on a hexagonal wood band at the base of the domed ceiling in the center of the hearth room. A change in ceiling height separates the hearth room from the auditorium.

Monona Terrace
1 John Nolen Dr.

Open to public. Convention center.

Monona Terrace was first designed by Wright in 1938. Since Wright had been a resident of the Madison area for much of his life, he was very interested in having a significant structure of his built on this prestigious site in his hometown. Over the next 21 years Wright did three basic designs and five revisions of his design. Despite his efforts, the building was not built in his lifetime. In February, 1995, 36 years after Wright died, and 57 years after the original proposal, the city of Madison proceeded with the construction of Monona Terrace, a visionary civic complex on the shore of Lake Monona. The building was finally built and opened in 1997. The final plans of the building were adapted from Wright's last design by Tony Puttman of the Taliesin Associated Architects.

Wright designed the 44 acre complex in 1938 but it was stalled by a series of financial and political setbacks. A rendering of Monona Terrace, done in the 1950s, shows a glass-walled pavilion set between solid towers with low arches and spiral parking ramps. It has the potential to be one of Wright's greatest works, with a play between enclosing and expressing space in the juxtaposition of its glass and solid towers.

The building's lasting contribution, like much of Wright's designs, may be the harmony it appears to project with its chosen site. The wave-like arches of the glass wall merges the interior with the beautiful lakefront. The Monona Terrace is a wonderful example of how Wright was able to make site and structure, nature and architecture come together as one.

Spring Trail Park Stonework
3700 block of Nakoma Rd.

In University of Wisconsin Arboretum. Open daily.

In the mid-1920s, Madison Realty Company, developers of the new Nakoma subdivision on what was then the west edge of Madison, intended to develop a carefully planned and landscaped community. A small part of their plan involved creation of a park area surrounding two small flowing springs adjacent to Nakoma Road near the main entrance to the subdivision. They enlarged the small pond, set aside several acres for a park around the pond, and called it Spring Trail Park.

At the same time, the company hired Wright to design two large outdoor sculptures at the main entry to the subdivision. The statutes were to stand at the intersection of Nakoma Road, Manitou Way, Huron Hill, and Cherokee Drive. Wright's design for the statues and reflecting pools proved to be too expensive, and his designs were never used.

Though no solid documentary evidence of Wright's work has been found, it is believed that Wright did in fact design and perhaps help build the retaining wall along Nakoma Road, the stairs and decorative stone work for Spring Trail Park.

Madison Realty promotional literature confirms that Philip Volk, a stonemason who worked extensively with Wright, did most of the stonework for the subdivision, and more specifically, the stonework at Spring Trail Park. It is not unbelievable, for the stonework looks much like a Wright design. The sandstone is laid in irregular layers in the same manner as how the stone was laid at Taliesin. Although there are many theories as to how Wright would have come to design the wall, there is no solid evidence that shows Wright did indeed design the wall.