Form 10-300 "• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (Rev. 6-72) Wisconsin

COUNTY; NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Iowa

INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY DATE (Type all entries - complete applicable sections)

AND/OR HISTORIC: off Wl

STREET ANa NUMBER": HSpr^gT"(^^tt~3~i!i^es5^o^atpron ?7 T2*TBi'Ie- eas t ".'of-Stat e_EiTghw CITY OR TOWN: CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Spring Green vie.. Second COUNTY: ' Wisconsin Iowa iiiiiiliiiiiiiiii CATEGORY ACCESSIBLE OWNERSHIP STATUS (Check One) TO THE PUBLIC Z District [af Building Public Public Acquisition: Occupied Yes: o Restricted Site Q Structure Private f~1 In Process Unoccupied Unrestricted D Object Both ' [ | Being Considered Preservation work in progress No u PRESENT USE (Check One or Afore as Appropriate)

[~1 Agricultural Q Government D Pork. ' (~j ' Transportation | | .Commercial I | Industrial Q Private Residence •j | Educational n Military [~~l Religious

I 1 ^Entertainment .fj Museum I | Scientific r '_ t

OWNER'S NAME: William Wesley Peters LJJ STREET AND NUMBER: UJ : CITY OR TOWN: Spring Green Wisconsin 55

COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC: Register of Deeds ST_REET AND NUMBER: Iowa County Courthouse CITY OR TOWN: Dodgeville Wisconsin 55

TITLE OF SURVEY: Wisconsin's Historic Preservation Plan, Vol. 2: The Inventory DATE OF SURVEY: 1973 Federal State [~| County Local DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: State Historical Society of Wisconsin STREET AND NUMBER:

CITY OR TOWN: STATE: Madison Wisconsin 53706 55 (Check One) Excellent 31 Good D I I Deteriorated Ruins D Unexposed CONDITION (Check One) (Check One) Altered E Unaltered Moved 3 Original Site

DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (if known) PHYSICAL. APPEARANCE

Unity Chapel is a small, simple building with an "L11-shaped plan, steeply-pitched hipped roof, and small belfry en top of the roof at the intersection of the gables. A Shingle Style building, it is uniformly covered with a layer of wood shingles en both the roof and the walls, and it rests on rock-faced, rusticated stone foundation walls*

In plan, the building is a reversed-"LM with its short leg pointing due north, and its long leg pointing.east. Entry to the chapel is gained from the north through the short leg and its open entry porch covered by the extended main hipped roof resting on two square corner piers. The porch is three steps above grade* The main chapel hall occupies the east-west leg of the "L",

The chapel hall is illuminated by double-hung windows placed in rn groups of three on the north, south, and west walls. The east wall is blank* Each window has twelve lights in the upper sash, and one rn large pane of glass in the lower sash.

The unusual belfry on the chapel is square in plan with a bell-cast inflected-hipped roof and battered base. Each of the four sides has a semi-circular, arched opening behind which is the chapel's bell. i The current appearance of the chapel is not changed from the original. It is boarded up most of the year, and is open only for short periods n during the summer when its owner moves to Wisconsin with the Taliesin group. The chapel is used only by the Frank Foundation for occasional summer services. o The chapel is located in a graveyard which contains the grave of z as well as those of many of his relatives and CO associates.

REGISTERNATIONAL PERIOD (Check One or More as Appropriate) | | Pre-Columbian! I I 16th Century D 18th Century Q 20th Century . D 15th Century Q 17th Century 05 19th Century SPECIFIC DATE(S) (If Applicable and Known) 1886

Abor iginal I I Education n Political I1 Urban Planning [~1 Prehistoric I | Engineering n Religion/Phi- n Other (Specify)

Q Historic | | Industry losophy [~| Agriculture I | Invention Q Science [Xj Architecture I| Landscape Q] Sculpture

D Art Architecture Q Social/Human­

I | Commerce | | Literature itarian

| | Communications n Military Q Theater

| | Conservation D Music [~~l Transportation

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Unity Chapel is architecturally significant because of its associa­ tions with two major Midwestern architects: Joseph Lyraan Silsbee and Frank Lloyd Wright. It was designed in Silsbee»s office and built in 1886, before Wright became an actual Silsbee employe. In z spite of this Wright "looked after the interior, 11 according to Unity magazine of August 28, 1886, in his earliest-known architectural work o This is not too surprising since Silsbee's client for the chapel was , Wright's uncle, for whom Silsbee had designed All Souls Church in Chicago the previous year. Shortly after Unity u Chapel was built Wright moved to Chicago and entered the employ of Silsbee for nearly one year: his first architectural employment. Silsbee was a major Midwestern architect practicing in the Shingle Style, of which the chapel is a relatively simple example. As a t/) teacher of young draftsmen Silsbee was penultimate, as is evidenced by his substantial influence on Wright and on other major architects in his employ of the latter*s generation, including George W. Maher and . Were it not for the fact that these several LLJ young apprentices found their way into Silsbee*s office, however, LJ history might well have recorded his practice as being that of a com­ (X) petent, but not altogether brilliant, architect. His designs during the 1885 to 1889 period were characterised by increasing simplifica­ tion of the Shingle Style, which had achieved popularity in the East. Unity Chapel is simplified in the extreme, compared to preceding Shingle Style designs, and is practically devoid of ornamentation. This chapel is one of only two buildings designed by Silsbee known to remain standing in Wisconsin. Wright was strongly influenced by Silsbee, both in his developing sense of residential design and his drafting techniques. After leaving Silsbee f s office for that of Adler and Sullivan in about February, 1888, he continued designing independently in the Shingle Style for seme time; and the romantic influence of Silsbee never left his designs. So proficient had Wright become under Silsbee*s tutelage, that it is generally felt that he was given Adler and Sullivan's residential commissions for solution* The Unity Chapel stands as the only remaining Wisconsin architectural example of the significant relationship which developed between Frank Lloyd Wright and his first wteacher, M . Hasbrouck, Wilbert R. , AIA. "The Earliest Work of Frank Lloyd Wright." Review, Vol. VII, No. 4. (Palos Park, 111.: 1970). Sorrell, Susan Karr. "Silsbee: The Evolution of a Personal Architectura L Style," and "A Catalogue of Work by J.L. Silsbee.** Prairie School Review, Vol. VII, No. 4. (Palos Park, 111.: 1970). Hitchcock, Henry-Russell. In The Nature of Materials. (1Hew York, 1942) p. 4. Twombly, Robert C. Frank Lloyd Wright: An Interpretive 1Biography. (, Harper & Row: 1973) Withey, Henry E. Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceas ed). >-i, LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES LATITUDE AND LONG|T"JDE COORDINATES DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PRO D ERTY J DEFINING THt CtMTER POIN 1 OF A PROPERTY _ OF LESS THAN TEN ACRES

CORNER LATITUDE LONGITUDE LATITUDE LONGITUDE Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds ts-Tfr D NE o , „ o , . 1 43 ° 07 ' 57 " W 90° 03 ' 39 " SE ° ' ' " r o , - » SW B . . o ———————————————APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOMINATED .. ——————— PROPERTY: = —————————— leSS thdH OUG . .v^vvAlP^-"-"TT"Z»""~>^1 ^ ———————— ' |LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COOKTXyi-BOtrN Mgflj^N. STATE: CODE COUNTY" /^V^ IN ^^> . rn Nr-/\ rn ^7 f?ECEF\O r^y rn STATE: CODE COUNTY 3 ,- JAN 2 Irl M,V 11971 M C°DE STATE: CODE COUNTY KA NATIO NAL j^ CODE \^\ REGISTER /&/ STATE: . CODE COUNTY ^^-^/N^ ./^^y CODE H "T\\yX C= NAME AND TITLE: Jeffrey M. Dean, State Preservation Planner n

ORGANIZATION ' DATE State Historical Society of Wisconsin Sept. 14, 1973 STREET AND NUMBER: o 816 State Street -z.

CITY OR TOWN: STATE CODE Madison Wisconsin 537OC» 55

As the designated State Liaison Officer for the Na­ I hereby certify that this property is included in the tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law ' National Register. 89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the c-iteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service. The recommended Director, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation level of significance of this nomination is: National n State £] Local n j

Name /W#*-*<*» *' ^i/lfoC^L} 1WU\ yJajbes Norton Smith ATTEST: *

Title Director, State Historical fJrJQ / Society of Wisconsin Keeper of T$e NationaLR^feister r~"N. \ \ /' It \ (A /] tJ Date \ ACUAUA-liA Pi 1" ' » Date ^7/' (/ 9/ - 7r/ ( / \ (\ ——————— - f } * . GPO 931-894