Historic Landmark Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. To Be Disassembled Thanks To Slow-Moving Landslide
Frank Lloyd Wright is inarguably one of the most famous and influential architects of all time, revolutionizing modern architecture with his minimalist, organic, yet eye-catching structures like Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum. His architectural legacy would pass down to his son, Frank Lloyd Wright, Jr., who also became iconic for building breathtaking structures like the Hollywood Bowl.
To disassemble a structure that either of the Wrights built would typically be akin to blasphemy. Unfortunately, in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, it's become a necessity. Thanks to a slow-moving landslide, one of Wright Jr.'s most iconic and beautiful constructions is in peril, and the only way to save it is to take it down.
Wayfarers Chapel was built by Frank Llord Wright Jr. in 1951 on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The stunning landscape that originally enhanced the breathtaking beauty of Wayfarers Chapel would eventually spell its doom. According to @latimes, the Portuguese Bend Landslide, a very slow-moving landslide on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, began far back in 1956, but at the time, its movement was almost imperceptible. Within the last year, however, the landslide has accelerated significantly, and it's already starting to take its toll on Wright Jr.'s iconic glass church.
The damage done within the past year, documented in the LA Times' video, is heartbreaking. The foundation and sidewalks are cracked in many places, and parts of the Wayfarers Chapel have already begun to warp and shatter. Though ideas to stabilize the land around the chapel were evaluated, including a plan to sink concrete into the ground, none of these ideas were considered viable. The only way to save the historic landmark was to take it apart, piece by piece.
"So many of the chapel's original materials that were part of the Lloyd Wright design cannot be replicated today: the old growth redwood glulam, the blue roof tiles, the elegant network of steel that holds the windows together," said architectural expert Katie Horak in a press release from the Wayfarers Chapel's board of directors. "With each passing day, more of this material is lost or irreparably damaged. Our team is working against the clock to document and move these building components to safety so that they can be put back together again."
Even with expert architects meticulously documenting and packing every bolt, nail, and screw of Wayfarers Chapel, rebuilding the masterpiece will be no easy feat. Before that bridge can even be crossed, however, Wayfarers Chapel needs a new home. While a definite new location hasn't yet been found, the Chapel's board of directors is searching for other places along the Palos Verdes Peninsula, ideally still connecting to its original oceanfront preserve- albeit on a sturdier plot of land.
The Legacy of Wayfarers' Chapel
Hidden away in a lush grove of redwood trees on a nature preserve south of Los Angeles, Wayfarer Chapel has presided over its cliffside home above the Pacific Ocean for over seven decades. The surrounding natural beauty is intrinsically linked to the design of the chapel itself, which is why the chapel's officials are also trying to move as many of the grove's redwoods as they can.
"The chapel's redwood laminate (glulam) framing mimics the grove of trees surrounding it, while its thin, transparent glass enclosure heightens the connection between the inside and out," reads an Instagram post about Wayfarers Chapel from the National Park Service's Historic Landmarks program. "As he described in 1974, Wright envisioned that those who sat in the sanctuary would, "perceive the grandeur out, beyond, and around them," and that the redwood grove, the blue sky, and the ocean beyond would define their experience of that space."
Throughout its history, the church has hosted thousands of weddings, memorials, baptisms, concerts, and more- and with any luck, it will again very soon in a new, safer home. Though the Wayfarers Chapel may be gone for now, the heartbreaking decision to disassemble it saved it from being lost forever.
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