A History of Battell Chapel

The First Chapel 1763-1893 "The Atheneum"

By the middle of the eighteenth century, the student population at Yale College had increased to such numbers, that it became inconvenient to use the College Hall for the various purposes of a dining room and place for religious and scholastic exercises. As part of his lasting impression of the growth of Yale College, President Clap proposed the building of a chapel with a library room over it. The building, completed in June 1763, was built of brick, fifty feet long, and forty feet wide, with galleries for orations and disputations and a library housed in the third floor. The chapel was the most fitting testimony to the labors of Clap, and stood, above all, as a symbol of the long struggle of students for the living faith to be preached by a living minister within the confines of the College walls.
 
After 1824, and the building of the second chapel, the Atheneum was renovated for recitation and dormitory rooms. The original spire was replaced by an octagonal tower to house a telescope.

The Second Chapel 1824-1896

Like the first chapel, the second meeting house, built in 1824, served many functions. Due to the depressed financial condition of the college, the chapel housed the books of the college in the top floor, and rooms were provided for students in theology. The inside reflected the typical New England meeting house. Three aisles separated pews which could accommodate four persons. The central pulpit towered above the audience and was situated between double boxes which provided a commanding view by the faculty. Prayers were attended twice daily, at five or six in the morning, depending on the season, and at the same times in the afternoon. The college pastors to preach here included: President Day, E. Fitch, G. P. Fisher, Clarke and Daggett.

Battell Chapel

Fifty years after the completion of the second chapel, the need arose for a new chapel, large enough to house daily chapel and serve as a memorial to those fallen in the Civil War. In 1863, Joseph Battell had given the college $30,000 for use in the construction.

When designs were submitted in 1866, Frederick Withers was awarded the deal.  However, as this was a time of growth on the old campus, particularly with an expansive building phase around the perimeter of the central green, lack of funds delayed the construction of a chapel. The Withers proposal consisted of a single tower between two small chapels with a long nave adjacent to it.

When, in 1874, the momentum was renewed for a chapel, a new proposal was accepted by Russell Sturgis, perhaps due to his close association with other building programs on the Old Campus (Durfee and Farnam were completed in 1871 and 1869, respectively). Sturgis proposed the Victorian Gothic building that stands today. Originally the interior ceiling was to be vaulted, but due to lack of funds, it was changed to a flat ceiling. The magnificent light fixtures were designed by Carrère and Hastings.

In 1893, an expansion to the south aisle was necessary for the growing student population and to relieve crowding in daily chapel services. The firm of Smith, Sperry and Treat executed a design by J. C. Cady and Co. of NY at a cost of $22,730. This expansion required the relocation of the four clerestory windows on the south wall, three being moved to the lower arcade and one to the north wall.

In 1927, at the time of McKee's appointment as the new chaplain, Dean Everett V. Meeks of the School of Fine Arts drew up plans for a redecorated chancel in the chapel. The organ was relocated to the north transept and rebuilt by the Campkin Organ Company of West Haven, CT. The walls were covered with a gray, imitation ashlar and a new screen was designed to fill the polygonal shape of the apse. A new pulpit was moved to the north side of the chancel, and a lectern in the design of an eagle was provided for by Gorham Company. The interior remained virtually unchanged, with the exception of the installation of a new organ in 1951, until renovations were complete in 1984.