First Unitarian Church of Rochester (building)
The First Unitarian Church of Rochester is a non-creedal church designed by Louis Kahn and completed in 1962. Kahn completed a major extension to the building in 1969. Another small addition was completed in 1996. It is located at 220 Winton Road South in Rochester, New York, U.S. The congregation it houses is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
First Unitarian Church of Rochester | |
U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
North facade | |
Location in New York | |
| Location | 220 S. Winton Road., Rochester, New York |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 43°08′28″N 77°33′26″W |
| Area | 8 acres |
| Built | 1962; major addition completed in 1969, small addition completed in 1996 |
| Architect | Louis I. Kahn |
| Architectural style | Modern |
| NRHP reference No. | 14000537 |
| Added to NRHP | September 2, 2014 |
The building was described in 1982 as one of "the most significant works of religious architecture of this century" by Paul Goldberger, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning architectural critic. Its exterior is characterized by deeply folded brick walls created by a series of thin, two-story light hoods that shield windows from direct sunlight. The sanctuary's complex ceiling has light towers in each corner to bring in indirect natural light.
The story of the design process that Kahn followed at First Unitarian has been described as "almost classic in architectural history and theory". Kahn began by creating what he called a Form drawing to represent the essence of what he intended to build. He drew a square to represent the sanctuary, and around the square he drew concentric circles to indicate an ambulatory, a corridor, and the church school. In the center he placed a question mark to represent his understanding that, in his words, "the form realization of Unitarian activity was bound around that which is Question. Question eternal of why anything.": 66