Editing Unity Temple (section)

==== Original plans ====
The trustees mandated that the new house of worship include a [[sanctuary]] for worship, a meeting room for secular events, and a classroom for the Sunday school.<ref name="Siry p. 74" /><ref name="Siry pp. 81–83">{{harvnb|Siry|1996|ps=.|pages=81, 83 }}</ref> Furthermore, as Lake Street was a major street, Wright had to design a monumental building that would also fit the church's budget.<ref name="Oak Leaves 1957c" /> Many of the original drawings have been lost or destroyed,<ref name="McCarter2 p. 10" /> but Wright extensively documented his thought process in his autobiography.<ref name="McCarter2 p. 10" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hansen |first=Harry |date=April 6, 1932 |title=The First Reader |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-virginian-pilot-the-first-readerhar/164619262/ |access-date=February 3, 2025 |work=The Virginian-Pilot |pages=6 }}</ref> Wright wrote that Johonnot had wanted a "Mission"-style building,<ref>{{harvnb|Sokol|2008|ps=|page=40}}; {{harvnb|Wright|2005|ps=.|page=153 }}</ref> and he avoided traditional [[church architecture]], instead proposing to the planning committee a "temple to man ... in which to study man himself for his God's sake".<ref>{{harvnb|Siry|1996|ps=|page=74}}; {{harvnb|Sokol|2008|ps=|page=40}}; {{harvnb|Wright|2005|ps=.|pages=153–154 }}</ref><ref name="Sawyers y222">{{cite web |last=Sawyers |first=June |date=August 16, 1991 |title=The Wright Oak Park Legacy |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1991/08/16/the-wright-oak-park-legacy/ |access-date=January 31, 2025 |website=Chicago Tribune |issn=1085-6706 }}</ref> In the early plans, the temple's northern wall was aligned with the house to the east (which was set back {{Convert|40|ft}} from Lake Street), and the north–south axis was aligned with the house to the south.<ref name="Siry pp. 81–83" /> Wright created physical drawings only after extensively refining the plans mentally.<ref>{{harvnb|Wright|2005|ps=.|page=158 }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Siry|1996|ps=.|page=83 }}</ref> He also produced a plaster model of the temple, which he presented to the planning committee.<ref name="McCarter2 p. 10" /><ref>{{harvnb|Sokol|2008|ps=.|pages=41–43 }}</ref>

The entrance to the main sanctuary, known as the auditorium, was intentionally positioned away from the streetcar lines on Lake Street.<ref name="Siry pp. 81–83" /><ref name="Wright pp. 154–155" /><ref name="Oak Leaves 1957b">{{cite web |date=November 21, 1957 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright in Surprise Visit to Village |url=https://riverforest.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?i=f&d=01011955-12311959&e=universalist%20church&m=between&ord=e1&fn=forest_leaves_usa_illinois_oak_park_19571121_english_6&df=1&dt=10 |access-date=February 3, 2025 |work=Oak Leaves |page=6 |via=River Forest Public Library }}</ref> Wright did not want to put the meeting room and Sunday school in the auditorium, as he felt that it would "spoil the simplicity of the room".<ref name="Wright pp. 154–155" /><ref name="Sokol p. 59">{{harvnb|Sokol|2008|ps=.|page=59 }}</ref> Accordingly, these rooms were instead placed in a separate church house called Unity House,<ref name="Siry pp. 81–83" /><ref name="Wright pp. 154–155">{{harvnb|Wright|2005|ps=.|pages=154–155 }}</ref><ref name="Sokol p. 59" /> which was linked to the auditorium by a central entrance hall.<ref name="Siry pp. 81–83" /><ref>{{harvnb|National Park Service|1970|ps=.|page=4 }}</ref> Having decided upon the site layout, Wright next designed the cube-shaped auditorium.<ref name="Siry pp. 96–97">{{harvnb|Siry|1996|ps=.|pages=96–97 }}</ref> Some preliminary drawings for the auditorium still exist. These include Scheme A, which called for 388 seats facing a pulpit on the south wall, and the rejected Scheme B, which called for 478 seats facing the north wall.<ref>{{harvnb|Siry|1996|ps=.|pages=101–103 }}</ref>