St. Paul's Chapel: Byzantine Dome and Guastavino Vaulting

Why is it significant?

Gaze up at the warm red-brick and pale Indiana limestone facade of Saint Paul's Chapel, standing on the eastern terrace of the Columbia campus. Completed in 1906 and designed by architect I.N.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Gaze up at the warm red-brick and pale Indiana limestone facade of Saint Paul's Chapel, standing on the eastern terrace of the Columbia campus. Completed in 1906 and designed by architect I.N. Phelps Stokes, this exquisite building represents a masterful blend of Northern Italian Renaissance and Byzantine architecture. Stokes was a visionary alumnus who insisted that the chapel should be aesthetically unique while harmonizing with McKim's surrounding neoclassical master plan.

Step inside the sanctuary and look up into the breathtaking ninety-one-foot-high central dome. You are looking at one of the finest surviving examples of cohesive tile vaulting engineered by the legendary Spanish master Rafael Guastavino and his son. Guastavino utilized interlocking layers of lightweight terracotta tiles set in fast-drying Portland cement, creating an extraordinarily strong, fireproof, self-supporting vault that required no heavy structural iron framework. Guastavino's brilliant engineering allowed the master builders to complete the vast vaulted ceiling without wooden centering scaffolding, demonstrating the supreme acoustic and structural advantages of traditional Mediterranean cohesive tile construction.

The chapel's acoustic resonance is legendary among choral directors worldwide, providing an ethereal twelve-second reverberation that elevates vocal harmonies to celestial beauty. In 1938, the chapel installed its famous four-manual Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ, featuring nearly five thousand pipes that fill the terracotta vaults with thunderous orchestral color during campus ceremonies and weekly interfaith services.

Notice the three magnificent stained-glass chancel windows crafted by master artist John La Farge, depicting Saint Paul preaching on the Areopagus in Athens to the ancient Greek philosophers. Choral voices singing beneath the Guastavino dome seem to linger in the air, creating a sublime atmosphere of timeless sacred contemplation and peaceful solace for the campus community.

Exit the chapel and walk north across 120th Street to the red-brick gothic towers of Teachers College.