December 2010 photos by Mary McNally & © Mary McNally

S.256 – Polk County Science & Cosmography Building, Lakeland, Florida

Commonly called the Polk Science Building

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE SECOND FLOOR & ROOFS

Photographed in 1995, February 6, 2010, December 27, 2010, July 17, 2011 & March 21, 2012. As is well known, the college campus is the largest collection of FLW buildings anywhere. Click here for a page about the general characteristics of the buildings.

The Science Building is actually five buildings connected by walkways. Only two are marked as distinctive buildings: the Miller Planetarium at the south end, and the Physics Building at the north end. I am numbering the buildings as 1 through 5 and will be organizing photos to match those numbers:

Wright designed at least one other planetarium, but this is the only one that was actually built. The planetarium, however, is inactive. Hideous piping and vents were added to conform to various environmental and safety requirements; these were not part of the original design and, in the 1995 photos, were largely absent. They dominate the 2010 photographs, though.

Although this building features the concrete tree-like awning supports like other FLW buildings on campus, the Science Building also has aluminum tree-like columns – reportedly the first use of aluminum as a decorative item.

The building was the last of the Wright structures to be completed, in 1958.