Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in

Wauwatosa, Wisconsin Wauwatosa (; known informally as Tosa; originally Wau-wau-too-sa or Hart's Mill) is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 48,387 at the 2020 census. Wauwatosa is located immediately west of Milwaukee, and is a p ...

, United States, was designed by architect

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

in 1956, and completed in 1961. It is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. The church is one of Wright's last works; construction was completed after his death. The design is informed by traditional Byzantine architectural forms, reinterpreted by Wright to suit the modern context. The church's shallow scalloped dome echoes his

Marin County Civic Center The Marin County Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is located in San Rafael, California, United States. Groundbreaking for the Civic Center Administration Building took place in 1960, after Wright's death and under the watch of Wrig ...

Design

According to Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer (Wright scholar and original archivist of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives), "When he received a commission for a church for the Milwaukee Hellenic Community, Wright consulted his wife, who was brought up in the

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

faith, about the predominant symbols of the church. 'The

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a s ...

and the

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

,' was her reply." These two architectural forms dominate the design. The floor plan itself is a Greek cross. Wide arches support the upper level, or balcony. The roof dome sits atop an inverted dome, or bowl. Through simplification and abstraction of the forms, Wright succeeded in artfully translating the cross and the dome from their historical

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

context to the vastly dissimilar setting of the twentieth-century American Midwest. Much of the building utilizes a gold-anodized aluminum which, at the time, was a new material that

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primar ...

established. Since its construction, there have been a few renovations due to structural problems—including the replacement of the dome's original exterior tile to a synthetic plastic resin. While Wright's design was inspired by traditional Byzantine forms and the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

in particular, the church was not meant as a purely

historicist Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely u ...

tribute; rather, it was an update and reinterpretation of architectural forms very much alive. In a letter dated September 9, 1958—when the project was well into the working drawings stages—Wright explained: "The edifice is in itself a complete work of modern art and science belonging to today but dedicated to ancient tradition—contributing to Tradition instead of living upon it."

Gallery

File:GreekAnnun 1.jpg, File:GreekAnnun 2.jpg, File:GreekAnnun 3.jpg, File:Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church; Wauwatosa, Wisconsin; June 6, 2012.JPG,

Notes

* Storrer, William Allin. ''The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion''. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, (S.399)

External links

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church website

Wright in Wisconsin

{{Authority control Frank Lloyd Wright buildings Churches in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Eastern Orthodox churches in Wisconsin Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Greek Orthodox churches in the United States Churches completed in 1962 20th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Wauwatosa, Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin

Design

Gallery

See also

Notes

External links