Wayfarers Chapel: Landslide forces closure of Southern California chapel

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (AP) — A decades-old landslide that’s quickly accelerating has pressured the dismantling of Wayfarers Chapel, an iconic Southern California church that was designed by one in every of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s sons and constructed amongst hovering redwoods and sweeping Pacific Ocean views.

The earth beneath the chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes is shifting an unprecedented 2 toes (61 centimeters) or extra every month. Meant to have fun the pure world, the chapel is as an alternative being destroyed by it.

“It’s truly harmful to even stroll on the grounds now as a result of all the things is breaking,” the Rev. Dan Burchett, the chapel’s government director, informed The Related Press on Thursday. “Nature, in a single sense, is exhibiting her energy.”

The chapel was designed by the son, often known as Lloyd Wright, who additionally labored on the Hollywood Bowl in 1927. “The Glass Church” and its grounds opened to the general public in 1951 and epitomizes “natural structure” that seeks to place buildings in concord with the character round them.

“The transparency of the glass would usher you into a spot of nature that the construction would disappear in,” mentioned Burchett, who has additionally been a chapel officiant since 2000.

A beautiful location for motion pictures and weddings, the cliffside spot on the Palos Verdes Peninsula has additionally contributed to its downfall. The chapel was designated as a Nationwide Historic Landmark in December 2023 however closed simply two months later, in accordance with the chapel’s web site, from the worsening results of the 1956 Portuguese Bend landslide, half of a bigger historical landslide advanced within the space.

The injury features a lengthy crack within the 1949 cornerstone, a buckling asphalt car parking zone and fractured 15-foot- (4.6-meter-) tall glass panels, in addition to torqued metallic framing within the chapel’s ceiling and partitions.

Crews raced to disassemble the chapel this week so the unique supplies — lots of which can’t be replicated — could be preserved and used to rebuild, both on the present website if it may be stabilized or elsewhere close by.

Reconstruction is predicted to take 4 years and value at the least $20 million — a price ticket that doesn’t embrace a brand new plot of land in a really costly space. The church had began elevating cash towards a $10 million restoration slated for 2025, however has been pressured to pivot and double its efforts.

“These are exhausting days; these are days to grieve, little question,” Burchett mentioned. “However we are going to have fun once more, we’re positive of that.”

A part of the Swedenborgian denomination, the church’s followers share in 18th century Swedish scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg’s “quest for a faith that interconnects all of life, and for a system that permits reasoned questioning of life’s deepest spiritual points,” the chapel’s web site says.

The chapel additionally served as a nationwide monument to Swedenborg, and hosted common worship companies for wayfarers — “all who come, irrespective of their religion or standing” — till the landslide pressured them to relocate to a close-by Episcopal church earlier this yr.

“We don’t exclude anybody, even when the particular person says they’re an atheist they usually don’t consider in God however they wish to be a part of with nature and have some religious expertise, they’re welcome to do this with the chapel,” Burchett mentioned.

Some 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Hollywood, the chapel has been featured in motion pictures, TV exhibits and music movies, akin to “Beverly Hills 90210,” “The O.C.,” “True Detective” and 1987 sci-fi comedy “Innerspace.”

It’s additionally hosted many real-life superstar weddings. Brian Wilson, the Seashore Boys founder who composed hit tune “Good Vibrations,” married his spouse, Melinda, there in 1995.

“The vibrations in that chapel have been so great,” Wilson reportedly mentioned.

Nancy and Randy Erwin exchanged their vows there in 1987. Now they stay in Oregon however visited Southern California household this week. They stopped Thursday for one final look on their approach again north.

“It’s a landmark in our lives,” Randy Erwin mentioned.