Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple To Be Restored

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple—the Oak Park, Illinois, landmark designed by the architect in 1905—is undergoing a much-needed renovation. Earlier this year, Unity Temple became one of 14 buildings recognized by the Getty Foundation’s Keeping It Modern initiative, a program that provides funding to restore great works of modern architecture around the world. Other 2015 recipients include Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Hill House, Erich Mendelsohn’s Einstein Tower in Potsdam Germany, and Pierre Jeanneret’s Gandhi Bhawan in Chandigarh, India.

The work done at Unity, which received the largest grant of the bunch, is aimed to set a precedent for restoring similar concrete structures. The building’s iconic façade—a concrete street-facing monolith—will be strengthened, while an internal HVAC system will be added. Construction is expected to wrap up in 2016.