© Mark Hertzberg (2024)
The brilliant blue dome roof of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin shines again. First, let us dismiss the old saw or canard about Wright’s roofs. Yes, many have leaked, but so have the roofs of countless buildings that Frank Lloyd Wright did not design. The church, which Wright designed in 1956, and which was completed in 1961, two years after he died, is in the midst of a major repair project. The roof has been repaired (no, it had not been leaking, but it had been deteriorating) and the front steps and entry way are being rebuilt. The front steps are integral to the foundation of the building.
The roof was originally covered in thousands of blue tiles. The tiles started popping off in the extremes of Wisconsin’s weather. and the roof was covered in a blue polyurethane coating. Today, the only remaining tiles are on the arched canopy above the front doors:
I photographed the roof work in mid-October:
The church on Saturday December 7:
The general contractor for the repair work is CG Schmidt, the roofing contractor was F.J.A. Christensen Roofing Company.
While many people think of the church solely as an architectural landmark, it is, of course, primarily a church. In May 2013 I was given the privilege of photographing Good Friday services there. This is a link to those photos:
https://wrightinracine.net/2013/05/04/good-friday-at-annunciation-greek-orthodox-church/
I had been given free rein to photograph the interior of the church a few weeks earlier:
https://wrightinracine.net/2013/04/12/annunciation-greek-orthodox-church-2/ of the
Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church website:
https://www.annunciationwi.org =
John Gurda’s book is the definitive history of the church:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21443265-new-world-odyssey
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Wright in Racine 
It’s hard to get enthused about this building because alterations have compromised its design. The original wood entrance doors replaced by tacky aluminum doors; the altar screen ornaments by Masselink removed and replaced by traditional icons; traditional glass installed rather than the art glass Masselink had designed. ‘Unforced errors’. The church could successfully fundraise for needed repairs and maintenace costs if it would commit to the original design.
I am enthused about it, nevertheless. Successfully fundraising is easier said than done. They have been struggling for years to raise money to address structural issues. Masselink’s icons are on site, near the lower level chapel. This brings to mind a conversation I once had with an architect who opined (facetiously) that the SCJ Administration Building should be demolished because it is out of context. The building turned inward because Wright detested the busy commercial neighborhood it was in and tried to get Johnson to abandon that site and start over. The company has bought and demolished most of the surround buildings so the campus has lost the context that made the building turn inward. What percent of originality do you fell a Wright building needs to have you be enthusiastic about it?
The current doors and glass are ‘right in your face’ at the entrance. Both of those greatly detract from the experience of the building as it had been intended. The icons are probably a minor issue, but it was an unnecessary change.
I have heard many talks about the church’s history from docents (I have led 18 Road Scholar tours there as part of a long Wright itinerary). The building was intended as a church, not as an architectural landmark. They came close to using another architect when board member Judge Christ Seraphim got involved and brought Wright into the discussion. There was not enough money at the outset to have anything other than clear glass windows on the balcony level. For many, many years they did not even allow architectural tourism. Until just a few years ago the only way to see the interior was to attend a service or to come on the weekend of their Greek Festival. My feeling is that we should enjoy what was built, the overwhelming majority of it as intended and as designed by Wright, and not focus on the changes. If it serves its membership, then it works as intended. While as architectural “purists” we prefer the Masselink-designed iconography, but we have to respect the congregation or board’s decision that more traditional iconography fits their needs better. Otherwise we get into that back-and-forth about to what extent Wright dictated to the client (which is not something I buy into as much as others do).
Hello Mark,
I really appreciate your wonderful photographs.
live very near this amazing church and have taken one tour of it (‘Milwaukee traces and spaces’).
Thanks for all the beautiful close-ups of this most awesome bejeweled spaceship!
Beth
Thank you!