Battell Chapel

Battell Chapel
Battell Chapel in 1879
General information
Architectural style	High Victorian Gothic
Address	400 College Street
Town or city	New Haven, Connecticut
Country	United States
Construction started	1874
Completed	1876
Renovated	1984
Client	Yale University
Design and construction
Architect	Russell Sturgis, Jr.
Renovating team
Architect	J. Cleaveland Cady (1893) Herbert S. Newman (1984)

Battell Chapel is the largest chapel of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Built in 1874–76 as a Civil War memorial, 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. 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 chapel was designed by Russell Sturgis, Jr. in High Victorian Gothic style of rough brown sandstone. It was enlarged in 1893 by architect J. Cleaveland Cady, and apse was added in 1947 and dedicated to the undergraduate deacons who died in World War II. The chapel is also the site of other memorials. The interior was restored in 1984 by Herbert S. Newman.

Battell Chapel is one of the locations on the Connecticut Freedom Trail, and an exhibition depicting the role that Yale Divinity School faculty and students played in assisting the Amistad Africans is maintained by Yale in the chapel's vestibule.

The building is a masonry structure of New Jersey brownstone, and decorative elements are made of blue Ohio sandstone. 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.