St. Paul’s Chapel

A Photo-Essay on The Little Chapel That Stood

St. Paul’s Chapel is on Broadway between Vesey and Fulton Streets in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City.

Built in 1766, St. Paul’s Chapel is the oldest and only colonial-era extant church edifice in Manhattan, as well as the oldest continuously-used public edifice in New York City. Situated on land originally granted by Queen Anne, it is part of the Parish of Trinity Church Wall Street, which is just six blocks from the Chapel and a traditional high church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York. The Chapel was built as a “chapel-of-ease” for parishioners who did not want to traverse the unpaved streets to the mother church.

The Chapel as seen from the southeast across Broadway. The eastern facade is technically rear of the edifice, but has long been used as the principal entrance. The structure consists of Manhattan mica-schist with brownstone quoins. At the left is One World Trade Center and at the right, with the green crown, is the Woolworth Building.

Left: The southern facade as seen from across Fulton Street. The obelisk is a monument to the Honorable Thomas Addis Emmet, who is buried at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery. Emmet was an Irish immigrant who was New York State Attorney General during 1812–3. Right: The steeple in detail, with two bells within. The first bell was by Thomas Mears of London, manufactured in 1797 and installed in 1834. The second bell was by Meneely, manufactured in 1866 to commemorate the Chapel’s 100th anniversary.

The Chapel was the tallest edifice in New York City upon its completion, modeled after the Late Georgian Classic-Revival style of London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields. Built by master craftsman Andrew Gautier, the Chapel’s design had been attributed to architect Thomas McBean for many years, but a historical reassessment eventually led the Parish to declare the architect as unknown. The Chapel survived the Great New York City Fire of 1776 due to a bucket brigade successfully dousing it with water, but the Fire consumed the original edifice of its mother church.

The upper portion of the eastern facade in detail. The Tympanum features a resin statue of St. Paul, which is a 2016 replica of the original oak statue relocated inside the Sanctuary.

Left: The interior of the Portico. Right: The Major General Richard Montgomery Monument above his tomb at the center of the Portico. Montgomery was the first officer to die in the American Revolution during the 1775 Battle of Quebec. The Monument, sculpted by Frenchman Jean-Jacques Caffieri, is believed to be the first monument commissioned by the Continental Congress and the only one completed.

After George Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. President at nearby Federal Hall on April 30, 1789, he attended services at the Chapel and remained a parishioner while New York City was the federal capital until 1790. In 1889, Presidents Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Grover Cleveland attended the centennial celebration of Washington’s inauguration held in the Chapel. In 1954, Eleanor Roosevelt spoke in the Chapel during a special “Service of Dedication to the Ideals and Aims of the United Nations.”

A wide perspective on the Sanctuary, with the main entrance from Broadway to the right of the Chancel. All of the woodwork, carvings, and door hinges are handmade.

Left & Right: The northern and southern halves of the Sanctuary, featuring a total of fourteen cut-glass chandeliers from 1802. The chandeliers originally held candles before being removed in 1857 when gas was installed. They were later returned and refitted for electricity in 1925.

The second half of the 19th Century saw an expansion of the Parish’s outreach ministry for immigrants and the poor under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix. This included a vocational school for girls, a home for aging women, nutrition and cooking classes for immigrant women, communal care societies, as well as a downtown relief association for the sick and unemployed. However, in the popular memory, the Chapel has been most notable for its pivotal role after the 9/11 attacks.

Left: The Pulpit, believed to be original though there is no direct evidence, featuring a canopy with a coronet of six feathers. It was originally situated in front of the Altar. Center: The Altar and Glory Reredos. The latter was designed by Frenchman Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the architect who masterplanned Washington, D.C. Executed by a woodcarver, its design represents God’s Glory on Mount Sinai, where, per Exodus 24, the Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites. The cloud crowning the Reredos features the Hebrew Tetragrammaton of YHWH (Yahweh/Jehovah). Right: The fixture crowning the Chancel, mirroring the Reredos in featuring the Tetragrammaton.

Left: The Great Seal of the United States, depicting the official Seal adopted by the Congress in 1782. The painting was commissioned by the Trinity Church Vestry in 1785 and is one of the earliest known depictions of the Seal. Right: The New York State Coat of Arms, featuring the official motto of Excelsior, which is Latin for “Ever Upward.” The Coat of Arms was adopted in 1777 and the painting is from the late 1700s.

Miraculously, despite its proximity to the World Trade Center, the Chapel survived the devastation of 9/11 without even a broken window. In the aftermath of the attacks, it served as a makeshift memorial and hosted a spontaneous all-volunteer ministry to Ground Zero recovery workers, featuring a national range of helpers from clergy to psychologists and massage therapists. The Chapel gained a new nickname after the 2003 publication of The Little Chapel That Stood, a picture book often used to discuss 9/11 with children.

Left: The original oak statue of St. Paul from 1790 at the northwestern corner of the Gallery, formerly situated in the Tympanum of the eastern facade. Its crafter is unknown. Due to its deteriorating wood, it underwent a year-long restoration and was returned to the Chapel in 2016. Right: The century-old Ark (Aron HaKodesh) at the southeastern corner of the Sanctuary, which belongs to the congregation of Tamid (Eternal), also known as the The Downtown Synagogue. The Ark was recovered in 25 pieces from the Meseritz Shul in April 2013 and restored by Sergio Freitas, a Catholic Brazilian artist based in New York. It was rededicated at the start of Rosh Hashanah in 2014.

The Organ at the western terminus of the Gallery. The case was brought from England in 1802, since housing five organs and modified for the present one installed by Noack Organ Company in 2017. The present Organ was originally built by Noack in 1989 for the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

A reverse perspective on the Sanctuary. The central portal leads to the Churchyard.

To commemorate its 250th anniversary in 2016, the Chapel began various renovations in 2013 that included surface restorations, a digital system for the steeple clock, air conditioning installation, landscaping refurbishments of the Churchyard, and the construction of a media room for webcasting. As the Nave of Trinity Church is currently undergoing rejuvenation until 2020, the Chapel presently hosts three Holy Eucharists and Compline on Sunday. Since 2012, the Chapel has been shared during Jewish Shabbat and High Holidays with Tamid, a congregation of Positive Judaism, which is a new movement developed by Tamid Rabbi Darren Levine.

A wide perspective on the Churchyard and its burial ground as seen from the Chapel, with the Oculus and One World Trade Center in the distance. The Churchyard includes many notable burials, including those of Revolutionary War Surgeon-General Dr. Philip Turner and John Bailey, who forged George Washington’s Battle Sword while the Continental Army was encamped in Fishkill, New York. The large oak tree just left of center was planted in memory of Washington in 1937.

Left: The Bell of Hope rung annually on 9/11, cast at London’s Whitechapel Bell Foundry that also cast the Liberty Bell and Big Ben. The Bell was gifted to New York City by the Lord Mayor of the City of London in solidarity on the first anniversary of 9/11. The pedestal was manufactured locally from eastern brownstone, featuring a brass footprint of the Twin Towers below the Bell. Right: The western facade of the Chapel, originally intended to be its principal facade.

The Chapel and its Churchyard embody the full arc of human birth, life, and death, an arc painfully yet meaningfully illustrated in the Chapel’s history. The story of St. Paul’s Chapel is inseparable from the story of New York City, for The Little Chapel That Stood is a humble emblem for The City That Stood. New Yorkers witnessed the unthinkable destruction and endured the immeasurable grief wrought by 9/11, but the evil acts of that day only conjured, locally and beyond, the hope, grace, and love found in the better angels of human nature.

A wide perspective on the Chapel lot as seen from its western terminus.

These photos were taken on a single day utilizing both a wide angle lens and a standard zoom lens. Some of the exterior photos were taken just after sunrise to avoid traffic and roadwork obstructions, while the interior photos were taken swiftly right after 10am opening time to minimize the capturing of staff, contractors, and other visitors. The Chapel of Remembrance was not featured as it is temporarily being used for storage. Acknowledgment and gratitude go to the Parish of Trinity Church Wall Street for sharing this photo-essay via Twitter and Facebook.