Tag Archives: #LandmarkArchitecture

Architecture for a Universal Faith: Louis Bourgeois and the Baháʼí Temple (1912-1953) in Wilmette, Illinois.

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FEATURE image: Architect Louis Bourgeois incorporated a variety of religious architecture and symbols including for Hindus, Buddhists, Native Americans, Jews, Christians and Muslims, to convey the Baháʼí principle of the unity of religion. Author’s photograph.

The Baháʼí Temple in Wilmette is one of America’s most distinctive religious monuments, where architect Louis Bourgeois fused spiritual ideals, innovative design, and intricate ornament into a landmark that took more than forty years to complete and remains a singular achievement in twentieth-century sacred architecture.

Text & Photographs by John P. Walsh.

The temple was designed by French-Canadian architect Louis Bourgeois (1856–1930). By 1906 Bourgeois and his wife joined the Baháʼí faith. Photo c. 1922. Public Domain.

The Chicago Baháʼí Temple House of Worship is the second such house of worship constructed and the oldest one that is still standing. The popular destination along Lake Michigan on Chicago’s Northshore attracts visitors from around the world today for its amazing architecture, beautiful gardens, and message of religious unity in prayer and for peace.

The temple was designed by French-Canadian architect Louis Bourgeois (1856–1930). After studying and traveling in Paris, Italy, Greece, Egypt, and Iran, Bourgeois settled in Chicago in 1896 where he worked with Louis Sullivan. Bourgeois moved to Southern California and, in 1898, designed in Hollywood a landmark Mission Revival style house for painter Paul de Longpré (1855-1911) whose architecture and gardens became a tourist attraction.

The building serves as the North American Baháʼí House of Worship. Located in Wilmette, Illinois, it has become one of Chicagoland’s most recognizable landmarks.

The nine sides of the building represent the largest single digit number which stands for the Baháʼí belief in the unity and oneness of humankind. June 2014. Author’s photograph. 6.55mb

The idea for the construction of the first Baháʼí Temple in the Western world began in Chicago in 1903. When there was a call for designs, Louis Bourgeois’ plans were the most promising. He worked on the complex design from 1909 to 1917. Before that time, Louis Bourgeois and his wife had joined the Baháʼí faith after having come into association with the Baha’i Faith through Boston’s Baháʼí community. In that time Bourgeois constructed a plaster model of his completed vision and in the 1920’s until his death in 1930 worked on the temple’s construction in Wilmette, Illinois.

While building activity was delayed though the Great Depression of the 1930’s and into World War II, temple construction began again in earnest in 1947 and the temple was dedicated in 1953.

Designed by French-Canadian architect Louis Bourgeois, its more than 40-year construction history reflects the determination of the Baháʼí community to realize Bourgeois’s ambitious vision.

Abdu’l-Bahá (1844-1921), eldest son of Baháʼu’lláh (1817-1892), the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, participated in the ground-breaking ceremony in 1912 of Baháʼí Temple. Construction began in earnest in the 1920s. It is four stories of reinforced concrete. June 2014. Author’s photograph. 4.11mb

Baháʼu’lláh (1817-1892) was an Iranian religious leader who founded the Baháʼí Faith. Public Domain.

Money for the building was raised entirely by the temple congregants as their gift to the people of the world. June 2014. Author’s photograph. 6.30mb

The temple blends influences from Gothic, Islamic, Byzantine, Renaissance, and other world architectural traditions into a unified design. Its lace-like concrete ornamentation creates one of the most elaborate exterior surfaces in American architecture.

The temple rises 191 feet from its base to its ribbed dome’s peak. The main story pylons are 45 feet high each. The building’s surfaces are teeming with carved lacelike ornamentation. June 2013. Author’s photograph. 4.50mb

The Baháʼí Temple has a highly traditional appearance whose architectural reputation—in an age of orthodox modernism and postmodernism—has grown only more positive with the years. June 2013. Author’s photograph. 4.85 mb

Interior of the auditorium inside the Baháʼí House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois. The entire surface—from the towering walls to the massive dome ceiling—is covered in highly detailed, openwork ornamental lattice patterns that filter natural light.

  • The Grand Dome: A central, monumental circular dome rises high above the space, featuring a gilded calligraphic emblem at its center. Molded seamlessly into the pillars and lace-like quartz masonry are major global religious symbols layered chronologically from bottom to top—including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism—symbolizing the fraternity and evolution of mankind.
  • Soaring Arches and Pillars: Nine main pillars and towering arched window bays flank the multi-layered walls, drawing the eye upward. The number nine is the highest single-digit number, mathematically representing oneness, perfection, and the ultimate completion of God’s revelation.
  • Concentric Seating Layout: Curved rows of rich, red velvet-cushioned wooden seating wrap around a highly polished, reflective floor that mirrors the warm lighting from above.
    PHOTO: “The forbidden temple.” by kern.justin is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

The room is strictly dedicated to prayer, quiet contemplation, and meditation.  There are no sermons, rigid ritualism, or set religious dogmas permitted here. Because the faith emphasizes that all major world religions originate from the same Creator, the devotional readings regularly feature sacred scriptures from different faiths. In alignment with Baháʼí principles, the room features no professional clergy, religious imagery, or musical instruments. Any music performed during devotionals comes strictly from a cappella choirs or soloists.

The temple occupies a unique place in American religious architecture because it is unlike any traditional church, synagogue, mosque, or cathedral.

The temple’s main prayer room seats 1,200 people. In the Baháʼí faith there are no clergy, no sermons and no rituals. Scriptures are read from many different faith traditions and music by soloists or a cappella choir. June 2013. Author’s photograph. 5.31mb

The Baha’i House of Worship Choir, under the direction of Van Gilmer, performs “This is the Day”—featuring words by Báha’u’lláh and arranged by Stanford E. Scriven—at the 17th Annual Choral Festival in Wilmette, Illinois.

“The Source of All Learning is the Knowledge of God – Exalted Be His Glory.” There are an equal number of entrances each with a quotation above it by Baháʼu’lláh  (1817-1892), founder of the Baháʼí faith. June 2013. Author’s photograph. 5.94mb

The Baháʼí temple is open year-round presenting its unique beauty through the seasons. February 2021. Author’s photograph.7.97mb

The nine-sided plan reflects Baháʼí religious symbolism and the principle of unity. The structure demonstrates how architecture can express universal spiritual ideals through light, geometry, and decoration.

The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and situated on a broad, landscaped site that looks towards Lake Michigan. PHOTO: “Wilmette, 2015” by gregorywass is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

SOURCES:

Chicago Churches and Synagogues: An Architectural Pilgrimage, George Lane, S.J., and Algimantas Kezys, Loyola University Press, Chicago, 1981, pp. 160-161.

Chicago’s Famous Buildings, Fifth Edition, Franz Schulze and Kevin Harrington, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2003, pp. 267-269.

A Guide to Chicago’s Historic Suburbs on Wheels and on Foot, Ira J. Bach, Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, 1981, p. 535.

John Augustus Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge (1869-1883): Engineering America’s Greatest Landmark of the Industrial Age.

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The Brooklyn Bridge stands as the greatest achievement of John Augustus Roebling’s engineering career, uniting innovative design, industrial ambition, and architectural beauty to create an enduring symbol of New York City and America’s rise as a modern nation.

FEATURE image: The Brooklyn Bridge. Centered perfectly is one of the bridge’s massive, Gothic-arched granite suspension towers, while flanking the right side behind the suspension cables are the skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan, including the recognizable Verizon communications building. August 2005. Author’s photograph. All rights reserved.

The Brooklyn Bridge over the East River is the oldest extant bridge in New York City—a city of bridges—and is also the city’s most architecturally famous. The opening of the hybrid cable-stayed and suspension bridge in May 1883 has been called “the Dawn of Modern New York” as it is the world’s first steel-wire suspension bridge.

The Brooklyn Bridge was conceived to connect Manhattan and Brooklyn across the East River, overcoming unprecedented engineering challenges.

Recent photo of the Brooklyn Bridge taken from the Manhattan side of the East River looking across the water toward the DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights neighborhoods. PHOTO: “Brooklyn Bridge New York City” by ugod is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, it was designed and built by a father-son team. Construction began in January 1870 after being approved by Congress in 1869 whose concern was that the bridge project would in no way impede free and open navigation. Over the next over 13 years, an estimated 27 men died during the bridge’s construction. The New York terminus rests on bedrock while the Brooklyn terminus rests on clay. Following its opening in 1883 by the end of that year more than one million passengers crossed the bridge.

Roebling’s innovative use of steel-wire cable technology made longer and stronger suspension spans possible. The bridge’s Gothic-inspired stone towers combine structural necessity with architectural grandeur.

Daily transit on the elevated pedestrian promenade of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1903, looking west toward the lower Manhattan skyline. In the foreground, a New York City policeman in a turn-of-the-century uniform and custodian helmet stands watch as pedestrians in Edwardian dress, men in long overcoats and bowler hats, make their way along the wide wooden boardwalk. The photograph captures the bridge’s intricate lattice of vertical suspenders and radiating steel stay cables. Flanking the promenade on either side are the lower iron trusses that separated pedestrians from the bridge’s busy trolley and cable car lines. Anchoring the composition at the vanishing point is one of the bridge’s immense granite towers, its signature neo-Gothic double arches perfectly framing the horizon and underscoring the monumentality of one of America’s great engineering achievements. Public Domain.

The total length of the bridge is 6,537 feet—nearly one-and-one-quarter miles. From the middle of the span, it is about 135 feet above the river with the span’s weight around 7,000 tons. The railroad on the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1888. The cables on the bridge are over one foot wide (16 inches) and took almost a year and a half (15 months) to string. Their calibration had to include calculations for variables such as wind and expansion and contraction due to temperature. The height of the Gothic-inspired towers are 159 feet above the roadway.

The Brooklyn Bridge symbolizes the industrial age, urban growth, and American ingenuity. Today it remains one of the world’s most recognizable and photographed structures.

While a classic yellow New York City taxicab and a white sedan drive ahead, the bridge’s intricate, industrial steel trusses, overhead support beams, and complex web of suspension cables that line both sides of the roadway fill out the view heading from Brooklyn into Manhattan. An average of 103,051 vehicles cross the Brooklyn Bridge every single day. August 2005. Author’s photograph. All rights reserved.

SOURCES: The Sun, New York, New York, June 11, 1891.
NYC DOT – Brooklyn Bridge – retrieved August 2, 2026.