Bahá'í House of Worship

Chicago

The Baháʼí House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois is a Baháʼí temple in Wilmette, Illinois. It is the second Baháʼí House of Worship ever constructed and the oldest surviving. It is one of eight continental temples, constructed to serve all of North America. The temple was designed by French-Canadian architect Louis Bourgeois, who received design feedback from ʻAbdu'l-Bahá during a visit to Haifa in 1920. To convey the Baháʼí principle of the unity of religion, Bourgeois incorporated a variety of religious architecture and symbols. Although ʻAbdu'l-Bahá participated in a ground-breaking ceremony in 1912 that laid a cornerstone, construction began in earnest in the early 1920s and was delayed significantly through the Great Depression and World War II. Construction picked up again in 1947, and the temple was dedicated in a ceremony in 1953. Baháʼí Houses of Worship are intended to include several social, humanitarian, and educational institutions clustered around the temple, although none have been built to such an extent. The temples are not intended as a local meeting place, but are instead open to the public and used as a devotional space for people of any faith.