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• history
• the architect
• design
• interior furnishings
• stained glass

st. paul's chapel
interior furnishings


Stokes carefully chose the chapel's furniture. He preferred moveable chairs to pews, and commissioned the intricately inlaid pulpit, choir stalls, and other chancel and apse furnishings from the Florentine craftsmen Mariano and Figli Coppedé. The bronze chandelier, lighting fixtures, and railings were supplied by Edward F. Caldwell & Company, one of America's leading manufacturers of custom-designed lighting and metalwork. Around the walls are memorial tablets, also designed by Stokes. The tablets commemorate important figures in Columbia's history, including presidents Seth Low and Nicholas Murray Butler.

St. Paul's Chapel also contains one of New York City's finest organs, a 94 rank Edward M. Skinner instrument that replaced the smaller original organ in 1938. The organ has 5,348 pipes located in chambers in the choir and below the dome. Organ builder Robert M. Turner constructed the organ console. It matches the shade and style of the existing Italian inlaid woodwork of the choir. The chapel has extraordinary acoustics that highlight the majestic sound of this historic organ. St. Paul’s also has a beautifully voiced bronze bell, donated in 1918 by the Class of 1893. The bell, still rung manually, calls the University community to many of its most significant gatherings. Cast by Meneely and Company of Troy, New York, the bell bears the inscription “To Ring Out Through The Ages For Truth Justice and Liberty.”

The most significant modern addition to the chapel is the Nakashima Peace Altar, in the south transept. The altar, a gift of Professor and Mrs. Wm. Theodore deBary, commemorates Columbians who died in the service of their country. It is the work of master woodmaker George Nakashima, an advocate of peace and east-west rapprochement in religion and art.