First Unitarian Church

First Unitarian Church

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1963, Harwell Hamilton Harris. 4015 Normandy Ave.

The opaque stucco-clad cube of the church’s interior shields worshippers from the traffic

noise of Preston Road. The only feature on the walls is a border of Sullivanesque ornament. Harris acknowledged the influence of Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright on his Texas work, a heavy feeling contrasting with the open woodwork of his earlier California designs influenced by Richard Neutra. The interior, however, is all space and light. The ceiling stops twelve feet away from the outer walls, with a skylight above that washes the walls with reflected light. Harris designed the wood pews and lecterns. A deep loggia, now largely filled in, connects the church with other non-Harris buildings. A small garden, now a paved driveway, screened the loggia from the street.

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