This is part of my series of visits to buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Frank Lloyd Wright built his Home and Studio in Oak Park, Illinois in 1889, remodeled it in 1895 and 1898, and lived there until 1909. The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust has restored the house to its 1909 appearance.

Here are some photos of the exterior

    

DSC08493-Edit-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - front exterior (note that the streetside bushes and concrete are inaccurate - I removed parked cars from the photo)

    

DSC08496-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - pillars on porch

    

DSC08499-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - sculpture near doorway

    

DSC08501-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - front detail

The living room is small and unimpressive. In fact, the fireplace is in a closet-like niche, and draperies are used instead of doors between rooms.

    

DSC08502-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - living room

    

DSC08504-HDR-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - front bay window

The dining room has the typical Frank Lloyd Wright table: a long rectangle with very high-backed chairs. This room has a false (I think) skylight, and one of the chairs is a baby's high-chair.

    

DSC08506-7-HDR-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - dining room

    

DSC08508-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - dining room ceiling skylight

    

DSC08509-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - dining room baby highchair

The second story of the house has two small bedrooms and a family room.

    

DSC08511-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - bedroom

    

DSC08513-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - bedroom

    

DSC08515-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - family room

    

DSC08517-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - family room bookcase

    

DSC08518-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - family room

    

DSC08519-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - family room skylight

    

DSC08520-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - family room skylight

The attached studio was much more interesting to me than the house, being more spacious.

    

DSC08521-3-Pano-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - studio drafting room

    

DSC08524-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - ceiling of the studio drafting room

    

DSC08525-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - desk in studio drafting room

    

DSC08526-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - studio drafting room

    

DSC08527-31-Pano-20180703: Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, Oak Park, Illinois - studio octagon room

Unity Temple is only a few blocks away from the Home and Studio in Oak Park, Illinois. It's a Unitarian Universalist church designed by Wright and built between 1905 and 1908 to replace a church on this site which burned down. It's located on a busy street, but due to its design is very quiet and peaceful inside. The innovative design and extensive use of reinforced concrete make Unity Temple considered by many to be the world's first modern building.

The exterior of the build is monolithic; a concrete box with decorations not indicative of a church, and fairly plain (for a church) upper-story windows. Compare this to the more conventional First United Church, right across the street!

    

DSC08560-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - exterior

    

DSC08559-20180703: First United Church of Oak Park, across the street from Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois

    

DSC08532Copy 2-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - exterior

    

DSC08535-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - above the entryway

    

DSC08533-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - entryway

The entrance doors are shown in the final photo above. They're in a small courtyard at the side of the building, hidden from street view in typical Frank Lloyd Wright fashion behind a concrete wall. Your only clue that this is an entry is a small plain concrete stairway leading through the concrete wall from the sidewalk.

Once inside you'll find yourself in a low-ceilinged unpretentious lobby, with a large single-room Community Center on the right and the Temple space on the left. The Community Center is shown below:

    

DSC08541-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - community space

    

DSC08542-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - skylight ceiling of community space

You enter into the Temple space through small and low-ceilinged hallways, then find yourself entering the large open Temple space (compression and release).

    

DSC08550-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space from first balcony

    

DSC08543-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space

    

DSC08544-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space

    

DSC08545-9-Pano-Edit-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space

Views from the balcony and from behind the altar are shown below:

    

DSC08551-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space from second balcony

    

DSC08557-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space

    

DSC08568-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space from behind altar

Photos of some church details are shown below:

    

DSC08552-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space altar

    

DSC08565-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space pews

    

DSC08567-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space organ behind altar

I quite liked the hanging lights Frank Lloyd Wright designed for this church, and the skylight over the Temple space.

    

DSC08555-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space light fixture

    

DSC08556-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space light fixture

    

DSC08569-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space light fixtures and skylight ceiling

    

DSC08571-20180703: Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois - temple space light fixtures and skylight ceiling

I revisited the temple on April 25 2019 and posted these additional photos.