Frank Lloyd Wright’s Only Planetarium Reopens After Multi-Year Restoration

The only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed planetarium has reopened on Florida Southern College’s campus following a multi-year restoration effort. The historic structure, which was constructed between 1954 and 1958, first opened in April 1960.

The legendary architect designed the planetarium as part of the Polk Science Building, one of his 13 structures on Florida Southern’s campus. The building was used to support the school’s astronomy program and was open to the public before the projection system stopped functioning in 2004. With both private and public support, the MCWB Architects-led restoration efforts began in 2021.

“Florida Southern has long been entrusted with preserving Frank Lloyd Wright’s extraordinary vision for this campus, and reopening the Planetarium allows us to bring an important piece of that vision back to life,” said Dr. Jeremy P. Martin, president of Florida Southern College. “This restoration honors the history of this remarkable space while creating new opportunities for our students, visitors, and the broader community to experience it in a meaningful way.”

Current ticketed programming, which is offered at select times on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, is open to the pubic and includes an introduction to the history of Wright’s designs. “Reopening the Planetarium allows us to bring an important part of Florida Southern’s history back to life while creating new opportunities for our students and the community,” said Tory King, director of Tourism Operations and Visitor Experience at FSC. “The architectural restoration brought the space back, and the new technology now allows us to return it to active educational and public use.”

The college also offers architectural tours of Wright’s designs on campus, separate from the planetarium experience.