the Disassembly of Wayfarer’s Chapel

Katie Horak will examine the disassembly process of Wayfarer’s Chapel by architect Lloyd Wright, son of the renowned Frank Lloyd Wright.

Tuesday, January 28

6 - 7 p.m. 

Architecture Sarasota

265 S Orange Ave

Sarasota, FL 34236

In the late 1920s, leaders of the Swedenborgian church envisioned a place of exquisite beauty on a coastal bluff where wayfarers could stop, rest, and give thanks. It would take more than twenty years for this dream to come to fruition, ultimately by the hand of architect and landscape architect, Lloyd Wright. His vision of a “tree chapel” aligned with the Swedenborgian emphasis on harmony between God’s natural world and the inner world of mind and spirit. The cornerstone was laid in 1949, the chapel completed in 1951, and the bell tower, colonnade, annex building, and designed landscape completed a few years later.

Shortly after construction, an ancient landslide was discovered, causing limited land movement beneath the chapel–just a few inches per year. In 2023, the landslide began to move at an unprecedented and alarming rate, causing the chapel’s glass and stone cladding to crack, and the earth to buckle underneath it. In May 2024, with the earth moving six to nine inches per week, a team of preservation architects, engineers, and contractors mobilized to disassemble the chapel much in the way it was assembled, one piece at a time, with each documented and labeled to ensure accurate reassembly.

Join Katie Horak, Principal at Architectural Resources Group in a discussion about the disassembly process, considerations for reconstruction, and what this project can teach us about preparation for climate-related impacts to historic buildings.

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