Dissertation

The Steeple of Light: From Frank Lloyd Wright’s Architectural Proposal to Dale Eldred and Roberta Lord’s Light Sculpture

Freeman, Stephanie S

2024

Overview

This study offers a historiography of the Steeple of Light which rises more than a mile into the night sky, constituting one of Kansas City’s most iconic landmarks. Powerful Xenon lamps installed on the roof of the Community Christian Church create four light lines that converge in the distance to render a breathtaking spire of light. The Steeple of Light’s development from concept to final implementation took several decades and entailed significant obstacles. In 1940, Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to design a new church at 46th Street and Main Street, which he named a “church of the future.” His plan featured a low-lying building with light projections beaming from its rooftop. However, due to wartime shortages and insufficient technology, the steeple made of searchlights was not built at that time. It was not until fifty years later, in 1990, that sculptor Dale Eldred was hired to fulfill the vision for the Steeple of Light. A significant agent in the completion of the project was also Roberta Lord, Eldred’s wife and collaborator on many projects. This collaborative effort between Eldred and Lord did much more than fulfill Wright’s vision. I argue that although the name remained same, through Eldred and Lord’s artistic and technical expertise, the project substantially changed in both form and meaning. By changing the orientation of the lights from shining out in all directions as Wright initially designed, to shining straight up and converging in the distance, Eldred and Lord introduced a different focality to the Steeple of Light, one with far greater spatial and temporal scale. I draw on contextual evidence derived from biographical and historical information as well as concepts of space, place and time to trace diversions of meaning between the plans of the key players who contributed to the development of the Steeple of Light. Using a semiotic approach, I explore the ways in which historical narrative, church discourse, and shifting social contexts have influenced the interpretation and embodied experience of the Steeple. This thesis examines the multilayered meaning of the Steeple of Light by investigating the differences and points of intersection between these two distinct visions for the Steeple, first as Wright’s architectural concept and then as Eldred and Lord’s phenomenal light sculpture, to elucidate its affective role in the church community and in the broader Kansas City community.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: American history / Architecture / Art history / Fine arts / Religious history
• ISBN: 9798302176226