The Seven Chapels of the Tongues

In early Gothic churches, the fundamental idea of the apse with radiating chapels was Christ in the company of His Saints. The Seven Chapels of the Tongues represent the languages and nationalities most represented in New York City at the turn of the 20th Century. At that time, the majority of the population spoke a language other than English. Furthermore, Ellis Island became the federal immigration station in the United States the same year as the cornerstone was laid, 1892.

Subscriber Funded

Donor subscription and specific donations will fund the construction. The donors could choose their own architect for their chapel. Each chapel has a different style and ornamentation both in the exteriors and the interiors. If they were freestanding anywhere in the country, they would be on the must see list. Begin with a walk around the exteriors and then take in the interiors along the ambulatory. It will be a walk through several centuries of architecture and a trip through several countries and cultures.

The first of the chapels to begin construction was the Chapel of St. Saviour. The chapel is dedicated to the Eastern Orthodox population. The image above shows the completed chapel in 1905. The great eastern arch is complete as well as seven of the eight monumental columns. Construction could move independently of the main Cathedral. St. Saviour Chapel was the gift of August Belmont II. Heins & LaFarge designed this first chapel.

Chapel of St. Columba

Heins & Lafarge also designed the second of the apsidal chapels. Mary Augusta King donated the funds for the Chapel of St. Columba. The style is Norman/Romanesque with decorated cylindrical pillars that evoke Durham Cathedral. The peoples of the British Isles are the focus of the chapel.

Statues in the first two chapels

The images above are some of the many carvings or models of statues in these first two chapels. They are shown together because of the common team that worked on these two. The architects were Heins & LaFarge. The sculptor was Gutzon Borglum. The carvers were all with Barr, Thaw & Fraser. We don’t often get the names of the carvers from over a hundred years ago. Happily, the April 1911 issue of The New York Architect lists the names of the carvers who worked on these statues.

• Charles Jensen
• J.G.H. Hamilton
• C. Price
• W.T. Scott
• L. Lentelli
• O. Burdett

We are grateful to know the carvers names and wish we knew of more individuals who worked on the great Cathedral.

In the years to follow these two, five more chapels will be built. Divine Stone will highlight those in a future blog.

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• New York Public Library, Digital Collections for the photos
• The Guide to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in the City of New York, Edward Hagaman Hall, Ninth Edition, 1928
• Morningside Heights: A History of its Architecture and Development, Andrew S. Dolkart
• The Living Cathedral, A History and Guide, Howard E. Quirk
• The New York Architect, April 1911