This stunning, naturalistic chapel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. is being taken apart so it can be saved

Wayfarers Chapel, a picturesque chapel and National Historic Landmark in the town of Rancho Palos Verdes on the California coast, is at risk of being permanently damaged because of a landslide. To save it, it’s being taken apart.



The Wayfarers Chapel was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright Jr., the son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright , and built in 1951. The atrium of the chapel is encased in large glass windows that bring a view of the outdoors inside, and because the chapel is surrounded by redwood trees, it gives the space an organic blend of architecture and nature. 73 years later, though, the structure is at risk due to the reactivated Portuguese Bend landslide , the largest and fastest-moving landslide in the U.S.



“Something catastrophic is imminent,” Rancho Palos Verdes city planner Ara Mihranian told the LA Times over a year ago of the potential consequences of the landslide on the city. “Doing nothing is not an option.”



An aerial image shows vehicles driving on a damaged section of road past the Wayfarers Chapel in a landslide prone area following its closure due to land movement after heavy rains in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, on February 16, 2024. [Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images]



The landslide started just five years after the chapel was built, but it’s grown increasingly disruptive in recent years. GPS surveys by the city of Rancho Palos Verdes found that the earth under the chapel property and surrounding area is moving at a rate of two feet or more a month, according to the chapel.



It shows. Inside the Wayfarers chapel, glass panels have fractured, metal framing started to bend, and the cornerstone, laid in 1949, has cracked, as has the floor. Some doors, as well as the electricity, water, sewer, and gas utilities stopped working. The chapel describes its work as a race against time to save precious pieces, including redwood arches, before they’re ruined.



[Photo: Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images]



The chapel, which closed in February, says it consulted with geotechnical engineers to look into whether alternative means of preserving the structure would work. One such alternative would be using shear pins, which are concrete pillars drilled into bedrock, but they found their only option was to move it entirely. They’re working with Architectural Resources Group, a West Coast architecture and planning firm with a speciality in historic preservation, and following National Park Service guidance.



Deconstruction began last month. The process involves taking the building apart piece by piece, with each component labeled, photographed, and cataloged in hopes of reassembling it, though the chapel doesn’t yet have a definitive location or timeline.



It’s a massive undertaking and it won’t come cheap. It’s estimated to cost between $300,000 and $500,000 for deconstruction alone, then an additional $20 million to rebuild it in another location.



A GoFundMe for the Wayfarers chapel has raised nearly $75,000, and the chapel says it has $5 million in funds saved from past wedding services to go toward rebuilding. It will also hold community-based fundraising efforts starting this year.