Frank Lloyd Wright's Annie Pfeiffer Chapel for Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida was completed in 1941. The concrete block walls are perforated by abstract designs within which are set colored glass, admitting light in subtle tones through the walls of the ground floor of the interior. Above this lower level in subdued light, the eye is drawn to the glowing lantern tower directly overhead, rising above the congregation to bring in daylight in light-pattern. Thus, the interior, quiet and conducive to contemplation at ground level, is lofty and illuminated above; and multiple angles and forms compose the whole. Where one looks up into the lantern tower, expecting to find weight and support, the soft light filters in through translucent skylights enhanced by flowers and vines planted in great angular bowls suspended within the tower. All emphasis is directed toward the sky, the source of ever-changing light and shadow."

While the chapel retained the spiritual nature of a traditional church, it was conceived as a modern alternative to the neo-gothic prevalence of the time. The plan of the building is a rotated square, or a diamond, overlaid on a rectangle. The ends of the rectangle extend to either side of the sanctuary. The initial diamond, in the center, is stretched into a hexagon with points projecting out the front and back of the chapel. At the 4 corners where the hexagon meets the rectangle, Wright located large 6 by 6 foot columns which support the mezzanine, the roof and the superstructure of the bell tower above. Next to these columns Wright located the entry doors and the stairs.
There are no traditional windows in the enclosing walls, so the congregation would focus their eyes skyward through the skylight extending down the center of the auditorium. This skylight steps near the front and back to draw one’s attention to the large concrete bowtie forms hanging above. The supporting structure is not revealed. Instead, where you would expect columns there are 4 large skylights extending over to the corners of the building, hiding another ingenious marvel of the engineering for which Wright has come to be known. The original sketch showed a stack of 5 bowties at each end of the tower at a proposed height of 85 feet, in the final building a stack of 3 is still imposing. An unusual achievement, this bell tower is an integral part of the interior experience, open through the middle to the sky.

In the center of the plan, Wright located the pulpit with none of the nearly 1,000 seats more than 50 feet away. With a concrete block base, the pulpit is constructed of overlapped cypress planks. The massive pulpit emphasized the importance of the sermon to the Methodist service. Large planters on each side introduced Frank Lloyd Wrights’s idea of spirituality in the garden of Florida. Chancel seating was located behind the pulpit which thrust into the congregation like the prow of a ship. There were individual seats, not long continuous pews, made in the shops of the college. Above this stage Wright designed a 90 foot long concrete block sculpted screen perforated with hexagons that resonate the chapel’s plan.

The chapel balances horizontal and vertical elements in an elegant whole. Three horizontal layers rise from the ground, first textile blocks pierced by their multitude of colored glass insets wrap the main floor, second a smooth plastered band followed again by textile blocks surrounding the mezzanine seating with balconies and hovering trellises projecting to each side of the upper seating. In contrast, the bell tower rises vertically above that. While hard to perceive, the tower is two large walls rising to a height of 65 feet, running above the skylights from the front to the back of the auditorium. These walls are held apart by 3 stacked concrete bowties at each end, housing bells whose tones are amplified by reverberating between these walls. Rising between these walls from the skylight below are iron trellis, crowning the structure with intricate fretwork cresting and flower boxes so vines can embellish the structure with the garden image Wright associated so much with Florida.
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