Battell Chapel is the largest chapel of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Built in 1874–76, it was funded primarily with gifts from Joseph Battell and others of his family. Succeeding two previous chapel buildings on Yale's Old Campus, it provided space for daily chapel services, which were mandatory for Yale College students until 1926 (all-male, mostly Protestant).[1] Together with Durfee Hall and Farnam Hall, the chapel was part of a program begun in the 1870s to build up the perimeter of Old Campus and separate it from the rest of the city. These three buildings, all by the same architect, were among the first at Yale to be named for donors rather than function, location, or legislative funding.
The building is a masonry structure of New Jersey brownstone, and decorative elements are made of blue Ohio sandstone.[2] A flat coffered ceiling that covers the auditorium is constructed of wooden beams and painted blue with gold leaf. Interior wood paneling and pews are solid oak.[2]
The Battell Chapel clock, with chimes consisting of five large bells that rang at each quarter hour, was at one time the clock to which others at Yale was synchronized; however, the chimes have been silent for years.[3] The organ was the gift of Joseph Battell's sister, Irene Battell Larned.
In the twenty-first century, Battell Chapel is the setting for the Sunday services of the University Church in Yale University, conducted by a Yale Chaplain. The chapel also serves as a concert hall and is the main performance venue for the Greater New Haven Youth Ensembles of Neighborhood Music School: The Greater New Haven Youth Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, and Concert Orchestra as well as the Civic Orchestra of New Haven and the Greater New Haven Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Concert Band.
References
Patrick L. Pinnell, The Campus Guide: Yale University, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1999.
^ abcdKingsley, William L. (1879). "The Battell Chapel". In Kingsley, William L. (ed.). Yale College: A Sketch of Its History. New York: Henry Holt & Co. pp. 287–296.