St. Paul's Chapel, on the

Morningside Heights Morningside Heights is a neighborhood on the West Side of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Morningside Drive to the east, 125th Street to the north, 110th Street to the south, and Riverside Drive to the west. Morningsi ...

campus of

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, is an Episcopal church built in 1903–07 and designed by I. N. Phelps Stokes, of the firm of Howells & Stokes. The exterior is in the Northern Italian Renaissance Revival style while the interior is

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

. Although the chapel was part of their master plan, it was the first building on the campus that was not designed by

McKim, Mead & White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm based in New York City. The firm came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in ''fin de siècle'' New York. The firm's founding partners, Cha ...

.Lauber, Kate. "St. Paul's Chapel, Columbia University" in .1141 The chapel was the gift of Olivia Egleston Phelps Stokes and Caroline Phelps Stokes, the sisters of philanthropist

Anson Phelps Stokes Anson Phelps Stokes (February 22, 1838 – June 28, 1913) was a wealthy American merchant, property developer, banker, genealogist and philanthropist. Born in New York City, he was the son of James Boulter Stokes and wife Caroline (nee Phelps). ...

, in memory of their parents. Attached to their donation was the requirement that their nephew, I. N. Phelps Stokes, the author of ''The Iconography of Manhattan Island'', design the building.

Description

The chapel's exterior of red brick with

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

trim—with

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

and

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

ornamentation—fits in with the original McKim, Mead buildings on the campus. The building's dome stands above the ground, and was possibly the first self-supporting dome in an American church. The 24 windows around the drum of the dome carry the names of prominent New York families connected with the university, such as Philip Van Cortlandt,

DeWitt Clinton DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and Naturalism (philosophy), naturalist. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the sixth governor of New York. ...

and William C. Rhinelander. The

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

on the chapel's front facade is PRO ECCLESIA DEI, meaning "For the Church of God". The

wrought-iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

gates in front came from the North Reformed Dutch Church, which was located at Fulton and William streets in Manhattan, and closed in 1875. The chapel's Byzantine interior features

Guastavino tile The Guastavino tile arch system is a version of the Catalan vault introduced to the United States in 1885 by Spanish architect and builder Rafael Guastavino (1842–1908). It was patented in the United States by Guastavino in 1892. Descript ...

vaulting in intricate patterns on almost every curved surface. Three

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows by

John La Farge John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American artist whose career spanned illustration, murals, interior design, painting, and popular books on his Asian travels and other art-related topics. La Farge made stained glass ...

adorn the

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

; other windows are by D. Maitland Armstrong, Henry Wynd Young, and J. Gordon Guthrie. The chapel contains an "Altar for Peace" by

George Nakashima George Katsutoshi Nakashima ( ''Nakashima Katsutoshi'', May 24, 1905 – June 15, 1990) was an American woodworker and architect. In 1983, he accepted the Order of the Sacred Treasure, an honor bestowed by the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese ...

, a wooden table with natural edges in his signature style. The chapel has "sonorous" acoustics, which makes it an excellent venue for the long-running concert series "Music at St. Paul's", and its Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ is renowned for its fine tone. St. Paul's is referred to as "Columbia's most spectacular building" in the ''Eyewitness Guide to New York'' and as "the best of all Columbia's buildings" by the ''

AIA Guide to New York City The ''AIA Guide to New York City'' by Norval White, Elliot Willensky, and Fran Leadon is an extensive catalogue with descriptions, critique and photographs of significant and noteworthy architecture throughout the five boroughs of New York City. ...

''. It was designated a

New York City Landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and c ...

on September 20, 1966."NYCLPC Designation Report"
/ref>

Uses

Many religious groups use the chapel throughout the week for their meetings; it hosts over 600 religious services each year for a variety of faiths. Several non-religious student groups also use the chapel. The most notable of these are the student magazine '' The Blue and White'' and the Postcrypt Coffeehouse, a folk music venue featuring live music weekly. The coffeehouse has been called perhaps "the most haunting (not haunted) performance space in the City." The basement of the chapel houses the Postcrypt Art Gallery. At commencement, the university uses St. Paul's for a Baccalaureate Service to commemorate graduates' achievements. The chapel is also popular for weddings. The chapel has also been used in the past by the Barnard Columbia Ancient Drama Group to present plays in Ancient Greek or Latin.

In popular culture

*In 1969 some parts of the song "

The Boxer "The Boxer" is a song written by Paul Simon and recorded by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their fifth and final studio album, '' Bridge over Troubled Water'' (1970). Produced by the duo and Roy Halee, it was released as a stan ...

" by

Simon and Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...

were recorded in the chapel. *

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning nearly seven decades. An Academy Awards, Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Awards, Grammy Award-winning rec ...

recorded her ''a cappella'' arrangement of "

Amazing Grace "Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn written in 1772 and published in 1779 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is possibly the most sung and most recorded hymn in the world, and especially popular in the Unit ...

" in the chapel for her 1970 album '' Whales & Nightingales'', relying heavily on its acoustic

reverberation In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflection (physics), reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then de ...

effects.

References

External links

"St. Paul’s Chapel"
— Office of the University Chaplain, Columbia University
"Sacred Music at Columbia"
— Sacred Music at Columbia, a twice-weekly concert series in St. Paul's Chapel {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Paul's Chapel, Columbia University Columbia University campus Churches in Manhattan University and college chapels in the United States Churches completed in 1907 Byzantine Revival architecture in New York City New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan New York State Register of Historic Places in New York County

Description

Uses

In popular culture

See also

References

External links