Petit Memorial Chapel

The Pettit Chapel is located in the Belvidere Cemetery in Belvidere, Illinois, United States, which is in Boone County. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 1, 1978. The chapel is an early example of Frank Lloyd Wright's famed Prairie style. It is the only work of the specific type, a structure meant for a cemetery setting, Wright ever created. Emma Pettit commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design the Pettit Chapel as a memorial to her deceased husband, Dr. William H. Pettit. The building was built in 1907 for US$3,000 and stands next to the grave of Mr. Pettit in Belvidere Cemetery. Doctor William H. Pettit was a beloved physician and humanitarian who had the largest private medical practice in northern Iowa. His sudden passing in 1899 was mourned across the state of Iowa and newspaper accounts from the time indicate that perhaps only the governor of Iowa was more well-liked. After Pettit's death his wife, Emma, deliberated over a suitable memorial to her late husband. She chose a site in Belvidere, Illinois, William Pettit's hometown, and selected a chapel as the memorial. Emma Pettit was led to Frank Lloyd Wright by her brother, William A. Glasner, whose 1905 home in Glencoe, Illinois was designed by Wright.