Friends of the Meeting House
FRIENDS OF THE MEETING HOUSE was established in 1976 to preserve the integrity of the original Frank Lloyd Wright design through restoration and enhancement of the special architectural character of the building. Membership is open to anyone interested in this purpose.
The FRIENDS, in cooperation with the First Unitarian Society, sponsor programs and activities which include:- Publications and videos related to the Meeting House
- Public lectures about the building, Frank Lloyd Wright, and related subjects
- Archives of materials related to the Meeting House and its construction
- Oral history interviews of parishioners who participated in the construction
- Restoration of the Meeting House and its original furnishings
- Occasional architectural tours to the Taliesin area and other Frank Lloyd Wright buildings
Click here for the history and photographs of the Meeting House
Join the Friends of the Meeting House
for Wright & Like!
The annual tour of Frank Lloyd Wright designs and other architecturally-significant buildings influenced by him takes place in southeast Wisconsin this year on Saturday June 5th.
Wright & Like: Poetic Spaces and Quiet Places features two of his most important works: the SC Johnson Administration Building and “Wingspread,” formerly home of Herbert F. Johnson, Jr. An elegant townhouse by Russell Barr Williamson and a mid-century Usonian, both in Kenosha, join a Prairie house in Racine's Southside Historic District and three 1950s homes by John Randal McDonald to add seven distinguished homes to the 2010 Wright & Like tour. The complete itinerary is described at www.wrightinwisconsin.org.
The Friends of the Meeting House have arranged bus transportation and member-rate tour admission. We will meet at the Dutch Mill Park & Ride Saturday, June 5, at 7:30 am and take a Kobussen bus to Racine and Kenosha, from site to site, and return by 6:30 p.m. latest. Lunch will be on your own in the up-and-coming Racine restaurant district.
The price for tour ticket & travel is $85. Are you a member of the Friends of the Meeting House? Enjoy a $10 discount with your existing or new membership and pay only $75 for the day! (Tour tickets alone are $50 for the general public.)
To purchase tickets, click here.
Guided Tours of the Meeting House
Guided tours of the Meeting House are offered. Please click here for current tour information. Visitors are welcome during working hours at other times with the caveat that they need to understand that the facility is a working church and that there may be activities which will preclude viewing of the entire facility. While we do not charge for "peeking", all visitors are encourages to make a donation to the preservation of our architecturally extraordinary home, which is also extraordinarially expensive to maintain and repair. Groups of larger than 10 persons must apply at least 2 weeks in advance by completing and submitting this form Special Tour Request Form
We invite you to join FRIENDS OF THE MEETING HOUSE. Membership entitles you to a discount on Friends-sponsored programs, publications, and architectural tours.
Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Please send a check for the membership level you wish and the following information to the address below.
FRIEND $25/yr
FAMILYFRIEND $35/yr
SUPERFRIEND $Your amount.../yr
Name ____________________________________
Address ______________________________________________________________
City _________________________________
State _____ Zip ____________
Phone _________________
Make checks payable to Friends of the Meeting House.
For further information, call or write:
- Friends of The Meeting House
- 900 University Bay Drive
- Madison, Wisconsin 53705
- (608) 233-9774, extension 110
Other Madison buildings designed by Wright and open to the public:
- The Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center
at 1 John Nolan Drive. Tours daily at 1 p.m. Call 261-4000.
Privately owned and not open to public:
- Lamp House (1903), 22 North Butler Street
- Gilmore House (1908), 120 Ely Place
- Jacobs House I (1937), 441 Toepfer Avenue
- Pew House (1940), 3650 Lake Mendota Drive
- Jacobs House II (1948), 7033 Old Sauk Road
- VanTamelen House (1957), 5817 Anchorage Road (Erdman Prefab I, designed 1955-56)
- Rudin House, 110 Marinette Trail (1959) (Erdman Prefab II, designed 1957-59)
