The Wayfarers Chapel in Ranchos Palos Verdes, California, is set to be dismantled and stored until a new site is determined for it to be rebuilt. The church was closed to the public in February after a recent landslide caused damage to the structure.
The iconic glass chapel, declared a National Historic Landmark last year, was designed by Lloyd Wright, son of the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and was built in 1951. The area where it was sited, known as the Portuguese Bend on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, has suffered from ground movement since the 1950s, when attempts to grade land for a road triggered a landslide.
“The accelerating destruction of Wayfarers Chapel by the Portuguese Bend landslide complex is a looming tragedy felt by many. Our hearts go out to our many neighbors whose homes are threatened,” Dan Burchett, the chapel’s executive director, said in a statement.
“Wayfarers is committed to preserving our iconic chapel exactly as it has always been, either on the current site or a similar site close by in Rancho Palos Verdes. We are taking immediate action to carefully disassemble the chapel’s historic materials as a necessary step in the preservation of the chapel for generations to come.”