First Unitarian Church in Westport 01 - soaring sanctuary on right

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport is a large active Unitarian Universalist congregation in lower Fairfield that is a member of the

Unitarian Universalist Association Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations. It was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America, both P ...

. Its dramatic building in

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History ...

was designed by modernist architect

Victor A. Lundy Victor Alfred Lundy (born February 1, 1923) is an American architect. An exemplar of modernist architecture, he was one of the leaders of the Sarasota School of Architecture. His Warm Mineral Springs Motel, outside Warm Mineral Springs, Flori ...

and completed in 1965. It won an award from Architect magazine.Higher Power 1960 P/A Award: First Unitarian Church, Victor Lundy
ARCHITECT February 10, 2009 Past Progressives The congregation was founded in 1949 as "The First Unitarian Fellowship of Fairfield County" and changed its name to "The Unitarian Church in Westport" in 1964; in 2023 it changed it to "The Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport." The building has been compared to

E. Fay Jones Euine Fay Jones (January 31, 1921 – August 30, 2004) was an American architect and designer. An apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright during his professional career, Jones is the only one of Wright's disciples to have received the AIA Gold Medal (19 ...

Thorncrown Chapel Thorncrown Chapel is a chapel located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, designed by E. Fay Jones, and constructed in 1980. The design recalls the Prairie School of architecture popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright, with whom Jones had apprenticed. The ch ...

(1980) and to the wooden tent Lundy designed for the interior of his Unitarian Meeting House (1964) in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. It's nickname New Ship Church is a reference to the

Old Ship Church The Old Ship Church (also known as the Old Ship Meetinghouse) is a Puritan church built in 1681 in Hingham, Massachusetts. It is the only surviving 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse in America. Its congregation, gathered in 1635 and officiall ...

built in 1681 in

Hingham, Massachusetts Hingham ( ) is a town in metropolitan Greater Boston on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts in northern Plymouth County. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,284. Hingham is known for its colonial history and location on B ...

References

Churches in Fairfield County, Connecticut Buildings and structures in Westport, Connecticut 1965 establishments in Connecticut Churches completed in 1965 Unitarian Universalist churches in Connecticut {{Connecticut-church-stub

See also

References