Florida Southern sues over Dalklecks

Lakeland, Florida – Above the hills of Florida Southern's campus, the Annie Pfeiffer chapel is the cornerstone of the renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright's legacy.

“This is an example of probably the best block work in his career,” said Jeffery Baker, the local architect Jeffery.

According to Baker, the chapel, built in 1941, is proof of Wright's ability to design exceptional structures that can withstand Florida's weather. But over time, he says, parts of the building are difficult to maintain.

“One of the reasons is that he designed architecture … was a very avantized guard. It was a little different and he was constantly testing the limits of the materials,” said Baker. “As a result, quality control was not fantastic, and therefore some of these buildings are difficult to keep water out of the ground at least on the ground level, especially through these textile blocks that they see behind me.”

After Hurricanes Milton and Debby last year, water flooded from the surrounding areas to the chapel and damaged the soils. Heavy rain also had parts of the ceiling pour away. Terry Dennis, Vice President of Finance and Administration, says that the school has spent well over six figures for repairs. While the crews worked inside, the employees had to find other locations to organize planned events.

“If there was a very large event that was planned here, we probably pulled it out because the balcony had the biggest challenge to repair and repair the things that may have been plastered cosmetically, started,”, said Dennis.

Since then, Baker has been able to restore most of the chapel with modern materials, but there is more work.

“What remains down here would be the skylight. There must also be a bit of steel repair. Not structural steel, but more decorative steel around the skylight above,” he said.

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright at work on the design of the legendary Annie Pfeiffer chapel. (Florida Southern College)

As long as the repairs are properly completed, Baker is confident that the building will withstand this upcoming hurricane season – and many more will come.

In February, Florida Southern submitted a lawsuit against Tremco Construction Products Group for her role in installing the Chapel roof system in 2011. The complaint claims that Tremco had delivered the roofing materials and supervised the installation, which later led to water leaks.

School officials refused to comment on the lawsuit. In an explanation, Beaman & Brown PLLC said the company that represents Tremco CPG ,:

“Tremco provided materials for the roof in the Annie Pfeiffer chapel, which were installed by a roofer. Tremco gave the university a long-term guarantee, and Tremco intended to stand behind this guarantee, as always. We have the desire to express the desire to have the general solution and the solution for the solution.