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80-520: Ira Allen Chapel is a secular chapel on the campus of the University of Vermont (UVM), which is located on the northeast corner of the "University Green" in Burlington, Vermont . The building was constructed during 1925–26, and dedicated on January 14, 1927. It was added to National Register of Historic Places as part of University Green Historic District on April 14, 1975. Named after

160-775: A prayer derived from religious text or doctrine, worshipping through the context of a religion, performing corporal and spiritual works of mercy , and attending a religious seminary school or monastery are examples of religious (non-secular) activities. In many cultures, there is little dichotomy between "natural" and "supernatural", "religious" and "not-religious", especially since people have beliefs in other supernatural or spiritual things irrespective of belief in God or gods. Other cultures stress practice of ritual rather than belief. Conceptions of both "secular" and "religious", while sometimes having some parallels in local cultures, were generally imported along with Western worldviews, often in

240-427: A racist tradition which had its origins at the university during the mid-1880s (or prior). The event was officially ended on 1 November 1969. The carillon was replaced in 1986. While making major repairs to the chapel in 1954, a group of workers were trapped within the tower for four hours due to high winds that prevented their climbing down. In June 1966, the outside of the chapel and bell tower were repainted and

320-547: A "sketching tour" of New England , visiting many of the key houses of Puritan leaders and early masterpieces of the colonial period. Their work began to incorporate influences from these buildings, contributing to the Colonial Revival . The H.A.C. Taylor house in Newport, Rhode Island (1882–1886) was the first of their designs to use overt quotations from colonial buildings. A less successful but daring variation of

400-403: A Spanish style tower, restaurants, and a roof garden with views both uptown and downtown from 34th Street . White's masterpiece was a testament to his creative imagination, and his taste for the pleasures of city life. The architects paved the way for many subsequent colleagues by fraternizing with the rich in a number of other settings similar to The Garden, enhancing their social status during

480-520: A Women's dormitory in 1917) was demolished to make way for construction of the chapel. In May 1926, the chapel's 2,063 lb (936 kg) bell, manufactured by the McShane Bell Foundry Company, Inc. of Baltimore, Maryland was installed in the belfry (for the total cost of $ 1,685). During the construction of the chapel's tower, rumors had been circulated that it was unstable. After some investigation engineers reported that

560-592: A combined Ira Allen–Billings Student Center. A wing was constructed abutting the south transept of the Ira Allen Chapel at the basement level. The roof of the wing serves as a patio adjoining the chapel to Billings. An additional building known as the Campus Center Theatre was constructed, which abuts part of the north transept of the Chapel. The back entrance of the theatre is accessible from

640-402: A compulsory chapel attendance rule was enacted by the university, which mandated that all students attend services at least three times per week. The rule was seen by the administration as a benefit to the school because all of the departments were regularly brought together. Further, the administration had an intention that someday daily attendance would be made possible by the fulfillment of what

720-786: A cousin of president Rutherford B. Hayes , went to Amherst College and trained with Russell Sturgis in Boston . McKim and Mean formed a partnership with William Bigelow in New York City in 1877. White was born in New York City, the son of Shakespearean scholar Richard Grant White and Alexina Black Mease (1830–1921). His father was a dandy and Anglophile with no money, but a great many connections in New York's art world, including painter John LaFarge , jeweler Louis Comfort Tiffany and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted . White had no formal architectural training; he began his career at

800-471: A cultural and artistic force through their construction of Madison Square Garden . White secured the job from the Vanderbilt family , and the other partners brought former clients into the project as investors. The extraordinary building opened its doors in 1890. What had once been a dilapidated arena for horse shows was now a multi-purpose entertainment palace, with a larger arena, a theater, apartments in

880-533: A damaged reputation with the university, having never followed up on his founding pledge of 4,000 pounds that was intended for the construction of the university's buildings. However, Wilbur's ineffable devotion to Allen over a century later suggests that compensation was made for his fiduciary lapses, at least within the context of the university's history. During the years of Wilbur's contributions, university president Guy Winfred Bailey (1876-1940) served as Wilbur's principal handler. The original organ installed in

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960-523: A formal Georgian plan was White's house for Commodore William Edgar, also in Newport (1884–86). Rather than traditional red brick or the pink pressed masonry of the Bell house, White tried a tawny, almost brown color, leaving the building neither fish nor fowl. The partners added talented designers and associates as the 1890s loomed, with Thomas Hastings , John Carrère , Henry Bacon and Joseph M. Wells on

1040-524: A gray-green slate roof. The face of the main structure was fashioned in Greek Revival style with a portico installed with six 32 ft. Ionic columns . The portico's pediment has a central traced elliptical window and flanking white swags . Barre granite steps (roughly the width of the nave) ascend to the front entrance, which consists of three large doors leading to the inner vestibule . The auditorium seats about 1,100 people, including 200 in

1120-454: A memorial chapel bearing his name..." Although this vision was never realized, it was decided that Ira Allen Chapel would be built on the same spot where for almost 40 years, president Buckham had lived and worked (i.e. Angell House). By the time of Ira Allen Chapel's design, it was intended that it serve as a meeting place to accommodate the entire student body, using reported figures from 1923 totaling 1,146 students. The building's footprint

1200-460: A new gold leaf was applied over the tower dome cupola; a project which had cost $ 6,000. During 1971, renovations were made to the interior, which included extensive acoustical remodeling, enlargement of the stage area, and the addition of new seating (at an estimated cost of $ 500,000). In 1972, the urn containing the ashes of Burlington native and world-renowned American philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey (UVM class of 1879), as well as

1280-403: A parallel language to religion, and intensifies Protestant features such as iconoclasm, skepticism towards rituals, and emphasizes beliefs. In doing so, secularism perpetuates Christian traits under a different name. Most cultures around the world do not have tension or dichotomous views of religion and secularity. Since religion and secular are both Western concepts that were formed under

1360-414: A process by which anything becomes secular is named secularization , though the term is mainly reserved for the secularization of society ; and any concept or ideology promoting the secular may be termed secularism , a term generally applied to the ideology dictating no religious influence on the public sphere . Scholars recognize that secularity is structured by Protestant models of Christianity, shares

1440-462: A speech to the university’s board of trustees on June 21, 1924. "I do all this out of respect for the memory of the one whom I consider Vermont's greatest and most neglected citizen, Ira Allen." By 1929, Wilbur had also established a $ 3 million endowment scholarship for the University (which still exists today), and donated his personal Vermontiana collection to the university, today known as

1520-413: A substantial collection of documents pertaining to Vermont history. In this time Wilbur discovered and developed keen intrigue in the historically controversial character of Ira Allen , subsequently resolving that it was "a sacred duty to undertake the writing of his life." By 1920, Wilbur's collection of "Vermontiana" assisted him to begin writing Allen's biography, which was eventually published in 1928 as

1600-505: A two-tiered keyboard located in the chapel's choir loft. In 1990, an extensive rehabilitation project of the bell tower took place, which consisted of stabilization and repainting of the tower and the belfry . During the autumn of 2018, the original 32 foot spanish cedar columns of the main facade were removed and disposed due to deterioration; and the Barre granite stairway was demolished for refurbishment. The university attempted to replace

1680-599: A two-volume work entitled: "Ira Allen: Founder of Vermont, 1751–1814" . The work has been criticized as it purportedly relied solely upon the English language correspondence that Wilbur found while undertaking his research in Paris during the 1920s; thence missing sixteen french-language documents that refute Allen's long-standing claims of his motives pertaining to the Olive Branch affair . In 1921, Wilbur first donated to

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1760-462: A weekly university convocation . The decision was reached after a legal investigation concluded that such use of university facilities was technically a violation of the 3rd amendment of the Constitution of Vermont , which held that ". . . no man ought to, or of right can be compelled to attend any religious worship, or erect or support any place of worship, or maintain any minister, contrary to

1840-560: Is 40 ft. high and has a slate roof. Extending an additional 40 ft. above the roof and from the center of the building (e.g. the intersection of the nave and the transepts) is a low octagonal dome topped with a lantern and golden cupola . The building was constructed using locally manufactured brick (from the Drury Brick and Tile Company of Essex Junction, Vermont ) laid in Flemish bond with ivory colored trim and topped with

1920-485: Is best understood not as being "anti-religious", but as being "religiously neutral" since many activities in religious bodies are secular themselves, and most versions of secularity do not lead to irreligiosity. The idea of a dichotomy between religion and the secular originated in the European Enlightenment . Furthermore, since religion and secular are both Western concepts that were formed under

2000-550: Is no longer used for religious services, the facility hosts special campus events and ceremonies and has further been visited by notable speakers. Secularity Today, anything that is not directly connected with religion may be considered secular, in other words, neutral to religion. Secularity does not mean ' anti-religious ' , but ' unrelated to religion ' . Many activities in religious bodies are secular, and though there are multiple types of secularity or secularization, most do not lead to irreligiosity. Linguistically,

2080-466: Is notable, considering that many of the technologies and strategies they employed were nascent or non-existent when they began working in the 1880s. Charles McKim was the son of a prominent Quaker abolitionist who grew up in West Orange, New Jersey . He attended Harvard College and attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, a leading training ground for Americans. William Rutherford Mead,

2160-535: Is today known as the John Dewey Lounge. Although the chapel was enlarged during the 1882–83 modernization and renovation of the Main College building, throughout the ensuing 45 years the student population continued to grow beyond its capacity. Furthermore, the inadequate heating system of the facility could not sufficiently heat the room for an "8:00 or 8:30 am service", which up to that point in time

2240-848: The Brooklyn Museum , and the main campus of Columbia University . Elsewhere in New York state and New England , the firm designed college, library, school and other buildings such as the Boston Public Library , Walker Art Building at Bowdoin College , the Garden City campus of Adelphi University , and the Rhode Island State House . In Washington, D.C. , the firm renovated the West and East Wings of

2320-582: The General Post Office Building across from Penn Station at the same time, part of which became the new Amtrak station in 2021. The original Penn Station was demolished in 1963–1964 and replaced with a newer Madison Square Garden , in spite of large opposition to the move. One of the firm's last major works in the city was the Manhattan Municipal Building (1906–1913) adjacent to City Hall, built following

2400-487: The Latin word saeculum which meant ' of a generation, belonging to an age ' or denoted a period of about one hundred years. The Christian doctrine that God exists outside time led medieval Western culture to use secular to indicate separation from specifically religious affairs and involvement in temporal ones. Secular does not necessarily imply hostility or rejection of God or religion, though some use

2480-595: The New Testament in the Vulgate translation ( c.  410 ) of the original Koine Greek phrase εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων ( eis toùs aionas ton aiṓnōn ), e.g. at Galatians 1:5 , was used in the early Christian church (and is still used today), in the doxologies , to denote the coming and going of the ages, the grant of eternal life, and the long duration of created things from their beginning to forever and ever . Secular and secularity derive from

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2560-855: The Progressive Era . McKim, Mead and White designed not only the Century Association building (1891), but also many other clubs around Manhattan: the Colony Club , the Metropolitan Club , the Harmonie Club , and the University Club of New York . Though White's subsequent life was plagued by scandals, and McKim's by depression and the loss of his second wife, the firm continued to produce magnificent and varied work in New York and abroad. They worked for

2640-724: The White House , and designed Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair and the National Museum of American History . Across the United States, the firm designed buildings in Illinois , Kentucky , Michigan , Ohio , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , Tennessee , Washington and Wisconsin . Outside of the United States, the firm developed buildings in Canada, Cuba, and Italy. The scope and breadth of their achievement

2720-543: The capitals or bases). After the issuance of a mitigation agreement with the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation to address the substantial disparity of the replacement building materials from the original materials, and the subsequent approval of the Act 250 District Coordinator, the project was completed by installing wooden sheaths around the steel pillars during the spring of 2020. Although Ira Allen Chapel

2800-543: The "Little Chapel" was constructed in the basement underneath the southern transept . It was considered to be an architectural unit complete with cathedral glass, beamed ceiling, chancel floor, and leaded windows. During 1954-55, the "Little Chapel" was renovated through the efforts of the Rev. Raymond A. Hall (a faculty member of the English department who was made the university chaplain in 1952) and with contributions from Mrs. and Mr. John E. Booth (who were primary contributors for

2880-622: The Ira Allen Chapel stands today). In 1924, Wilbur proposed an offer to UVM's board of trustees to build a chapel on conditions; that it be named the "Ira Allen Chapel", and that the chapel be sited and designed by the university's consulting architects at the time; McKim, Mead & White of New York City. Of the preliminary plans for the chapel, Wilbur had expressed pause, stating that the "plans are artistic, but I am afraid too expensive for me.” Nevertheless, after reviewing them with other university administrators (Dean Josiah Votey, Dean Walter Crocket, and Professor Frederick Tupper) who felt that

2960-483: The Ira Allen Chapel was a three-manual, electro-pneumatic Welte-Mignon Philharmonic Pipe Organ . The manual compass was CC to C4 (61 notes). The pedal compass was CCC to G (32 notes). The wind chests of the manuals featured super-octave couplers (4'), which extended the compass of the keyboards to 73 notes. There was also installed a reproducing console, which played recorded rolls in detail utilizing pedals, swells, and tempo characteristics of renown organists. During

3040-483: The University's founder, Ira Allen , construction was made possible by a $ 200,000 endowment from James Benjamin Wilbur, LL. D (1856–1929) of Manchester, Vermont in 1924. The cornerstone of the Ira Allen Chapel was installed on June 22, 1925 as part of the commencement activities that year, coincidentally occurring exactly one-hundred years after the cornerstone was laid for Old Mill by General Lafayette . The ceremony

3120-558: The Wilbur Collection, as well as a $ 100,000 provisional contribution for the construction of the Robert Hull Fleming Museum , and an additional $ 150,000 to construct the Wilbur room within the museum intended to house his collection. Up until this point in time he had become the largest private benefactor in the university's history. An ironic twist of fate lies in the fact that Ira Allen had left behind

3200-516: The age of 18 as the principal assistant to Henry Hobson Richardson , the most important American architect of the day and creator of a style recognized today as "Richardsonian Romanesque". He remained with Richardson for six years, playing a major role in the design of the William Watts Sherman House in Newport, Rhode Island , an important Shingle Style work. White joined the partnership in 1879, and quickly became known as

3280-494: The artistic leader of the firm. McKim's connections helped secure early commissions, while Mead served as the managing partner. Their work applied the principles of Beaux-Arts architecture , with its classical design traditions and training in drawing and proportion, and the related City Beautiful movement after 1893. The designers quickly found wealthy and influential clients amidst the bustle and economic vigor of metropolitan New York. The firm initially distinguished itself with

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3360-508: The balconies. The eastern facade of the building has a basement level which is five bays wide. Much of the design of the building credited to William M. Kendall , a senior partner in the firm McKim, Mead & White , which utilized a "Palladian clarity of massing" and design elements reminiscent of the University of Virginia campus at Charlottesville, augmented with a New England thematic character of an "inventive eclecticism; flattened, linear crispness; and light decorativeness." In 1945,

3440-665: The basement of the Ira Allen Chapel was converted into a production area for the Vermont Cynic newspaper, the Aerial yearbook, and the Burlington Review publication. The chapel was further outfitted with theatrical lighting, an enlarged stage area, and additional fire exits. Also during this period, a new carillon was installed, replacing the 1953 instrument. The new instrument had a range of almost four full octaves comprising 40 pitched tuning rods, which were played from

3520-526: The bells in the tower, a console with two manuals and 64 bells at the base of the tower, and four 50 watt amplifiers housed in the basement. The $ 5,000 instrument was presented to the University by the Interfraternity Council and dedicated to UVM students who had fallen in combat while in service to their country. However, the allotted funding for the carillon was obtained from proceeds of the ill-famed annual Kake Walk winter carnival event,

3600-410: The chapel's dedication ceremony of 14 January 1927, the organ was played by Dr. T. Tertius Noble , the organist of St. Thomas' Church of New York, who concluded the event with two organ recitals composed of classical pieces, and an original piece that was said to have demonstrated the capabilities of the instrument. "The work was a study in harmony and scanty use of solo stops. A few arpeggios with

3680-692: The columns with replicated steel support pillars encased in fiberglass. However, as the university's historic structures were subject to the Vermont Act 250 land use statute, the Natural Resources Board, acting as the State's enforcement agency issued a letter ordering the university to cease construction work in January 2019; after six steel columns had been erected, but installed with only the leftmost four fiberglass sheaths (without any of

3760-604: The conditions, not the prevalence, of belief, and these conditions are understood to be shared across a given society, irrespective of belief or lack thereof. Taylor's thorough account of secularity as a socio-historical condition, rather than the absence or diminished importance of religion, has been highly influential in subsequent philosophy of religion and sociology of religion , particularly as older sociological narratives about secularisation , desecularisation , and disenchantment have come under increased criticism. McKim, Mead %26 White McKim, Mead & White

3840-472: The context of colonialism . Attempts to define either the "secular" or the "religious" in non-Western societies, accompanying local modernization and Westernization processes, were often and still are fraught with tension. Due to all these factors, secular as a general term of reference was much deprecated in social sciences, and is used carefully and with qualifications. Philosopher Charles Taylor in his 2007 book A Secular Age understands and discusses

3920-601: The deaths of both White (1906) and McKim (1909) and the financial collapse of the original partnership. The firm retained its name long after the deaths of founding partners White (1906), McKim (1909), and Mead (1928). The major partners became William M. Kendall and Lawrence Grant White, Stanford's son. Among the firm's final works under the name McKim, Mead & White was the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Designed primarily by partner James Kellum Smith , it opened in 1964. Smith died in 1961, and

4000-407: The development of modern architecture worldwide. They formed a school of classically trained, technologically skilled designers who practiced well into the mid-20th century. According to Robert A. M. Stern , only Frank Lloyd Wright was more important to the identity and character of modern American architecture. The firm's New York City buildings include Manhattan's former Pennsylvania Station ,

4080-657: The dictates of his conscience. . ." Due to the fact that UVM received funds from the State of Vermont as a state university, the use of tax dollars for support of religious services could have been construed as compelling the taxpayers to support a place of worship. The trustees further concluded that the primary use of the university's facilities ought to be for educational purposes with the allowance for denominational groups to utilize available facilities for worship services on campus provided they are billed for associated costs, such as; heat, lighting, custodial services, and depreciation . On October 17, 1953, an electronic carillon

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4160-521: The fact that their values , morality , or sense of life's meaning are no longer underpinned by communally-accepted religious facts. All religious beliefs or irreligious philosophical positions are, in a secular society, held with an awareness that there are a wide range of other contradictory positions available to any individual; belief in general becomes a different type of experience when all particular beliefs are optional. A plethora of competing religious and irreligious worldviews open up, each rendering

4240-434: The four of the clocks on the tower had been displaying different times. The University commissioned Pat Boyden (UVM class of 1967) to rebuild the clock mechanism and replace the clock hands with a lighter aluminum material. Boyden further donated new hour and minute markings for the clocks. During 1984-1986, major improvements totaling 30,000 square feet were made to the Ira Allen Chapel and Billings Library building, forming

4320-424: The harp stop were most effectively used." In 1985, the pipe organ was removed due to building renovations requiring the installation of a new airshaft in place of the organ's pipes. The installation of a new pipe organ was estimated to cost in the millions of dollars, and was further anticipated to have complications due to the effect of varying temperature and humidity on the organ's intonation system. The prospect

4400-460: The influence of Christian theology, other cultures do not necessarily have words or concepts that resemble or are equivalent to them. Historically, the word secular was not related or linked to religion, but was a freestanding term in Latin that would relate to any mundane endeavour. However, the term, saecula saeculorum ( saeculōrum being the genitive plural of saeculum ) as found in

4480-436: The influence of Christian theology, other cultures do not necessarily have words or concepts that resemble or are equivalent to them. One can regard eating and bathing as examples of secular activities, because there may not be anything inherently religious about them. Nevertheless, some religious traditions see both eating and bathing as sacraments , therefore making them religious activities within those world views . Saying

4560-896: The innovative Shingle Style Newport Casino (1879-1880) and summer houses, including Victor Newcomb's house in Elberon, New Jersey (1880–1881), the Isaac Bell House in Newport, Rhode Island (1883), and Joseph Choate 's house "Naumkeag" in Lenox, Massachusetts (1885–88). Their status rose when McKim was asked to design the Boston Public Library in 1887, ensuring a new group of institutional clients following its successful completion in 1895. The firm had begun to use classical sources from Modern French, Renaissance and even Roman buildings as sources of inspiration for daring new work. In 1877, White and McKim led their partners on

4640-457: The little chapel in 1945). It was upgraded with a dossal , brass altar set, and a new lectern . The chapel was built in cruciform with stained glass windows through which artificial light was cast. With a seating capacity for about 40 people, the facility served as a worship center for numerous groups on campus. However, on October 19, 1957, UVM's board of trustees voted to discontinue weekly chapel services held each Wednesday and replaced them with

4720-425: The other more "fragile". This condition in turn entails for Taylor that even clearly religious beliefs and practices are experienced in a qualitatively different way when they occur in a secular social context. In Taylor's sense of the term, a society could in theory be highly "secular" even if nearly all of its members believed in a deity or even subscribed to a particular religious creed; secularity here has to do with

4800-481: The payroll in their expanding office. With a larger staff, each partner had a studio of designers at his disposal, similar to the organization of a modern design firm, and this increased their capacity for doing even larger projects, including the design of entire entire college campuses for Columbia University and New York University , and a massive entertainment complex at Madison Square Garden , all located in New York City. McKim, Mead and White gained prominence as

4880-405: The plans were satisfactory, President Bailey placed an advertisement in the university’s Alumni Weekly newspaper intended to generate revenue to meet the possible shortfall. Wilbur hence pledged an additional $ 150,000, contingent upon the successful sale of a commensurate stock of timber from a property he owned on Vancouver Island . Wilbur officially announced the plans for the new chapel during

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4960-482: The rear vestibule of Ira Allen Chapel. The roof of the entryway serves as an open terrace and also connects the two buildings together. It is accessible from the back of the auditorium (i.e. the first floor) of Ira Allen Chapel and from stairways from the east, and the north. The front entrance of the Campus Center Theatre faces north toward Colchester Avenue. These additions were designed by the architectural firm Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson, and Abbott . Subsequently,

5040-458: The remains of his wife, Roberta Dewey were interred at a memorial adjacent to the north side of the building. This is the only known grave site on the UVM campus. In 1981, one of the original cornices had rotted out to about 25% of its original material. It required Moose Creek Restoration a month to recreate the carved edifice in plaster and epoxy coating (weighing 200 pounds). In early 1982, each of

5120-550: The same architectural firm which designed the university's Waterman Building (built in 1941), Fleming Museum (1931), Southwick Building (1934), Slade Hall (1928), as well as Burlington City Hall (1928). The building was erected under the supervision of builder, O.S. Nichols (of Essex Junction, Vermont ). Angell Hall (or the Angell House), originally built in 1869 to serve as the President's house (and later converted into

5200-457: The secularity of Western societies less in terms of how much of a role religion plays in public life ( secularity 1 ), or how religious a society's individual members are ( secularity 2 ), than as a "backdrop" or social context in which religious belief is no longer taken as a given ( secularity 3 ). For Taylor, this third sense of secularity is the unique historical condition in which virtually all individuals – religious or not – have to contend with

5280-486: The society chronicled by Edith Wharton and Henry James . Newly-wealthy Americans were seeking the right spouses for their sons and daughters, among them idle aristocrats from European families with dwindling financial resources. When called for, the firm could also deliver a house-full of continental antiques and works of art, many acquired by Stanford White from dealers abroad. The Clarence McKay house in Roslyn, New York,

5360-749: The term this way (see " secularism ", below); Martin Luther used to speak of "secular work" as a vocation from God for most Christians. Secular has been a part of the Christian church's history, which even developed in the medieval period secular clergy , priests who were defined as the Church's geographically-delimited diocesan clergy and not a part of the diasporal monastic orders. This arrangement continues today. The Waldensians advocated for secularity by separation of church and state. According to cultural anthropologists such as Jack David Eller, secularity

5440-573: The titans of industry, transportation and banking, designing not only classical buildings (the New York Herald Building , Morgan Library , Villard Houses , and Rhode Island State Capitol ), but also planning factory towns ( Echota , near Niagara Falls, New York ; Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina ; and Naugatuck, Connecticut ), and working on university campuses (the University of Virginia , Harvard , Adelphi University and Columbia). The magnificent Low Library (1897) at Columbia

5520-634: The tower's structure was more than sufficient, explaining that the tower's interior corner wooden columns and their connecting castings over the top of the open arches were filled with reinforced concrete. James Benjamin Wilbur was a wealthy businessman and American history enthusiast who had made his fortune in ranching and banking in Colorado, and serving as president of the Royal Trust Company of Chicago until his retirement and move to Vermont in 1909. During his retirement years he had amassed

5600-555: The university a bronze statue monument of Ira Allen (sculpted by Sherry Edmundson Fry ) upon a foundation of Barre Granite that was installed on the University Green in front of the university's " Old Mill " building facing west toward College Street and Lake Champlain . The monument to General Lafayette , which was originally installed at this location in 1883 was moved to the north end of "the Green" (in proximity to where

5680-530: The west (the highest summit in the Adirondack mountains of New York State) . The length of the nave runs roughly east–west for 135 ft. at a 50 ft. width. The 46 foot wide transepts of "the cross" extend perpendicular from the nave structure (i.e. north-south) for 20' 6". Hence, the width of the main structure totals about 90 ft. The floor area of the building is 39,141 ft (gross area) and 26,532 ft (finished area). The main structure

5760-413: Was a compulsory obligation. By the early 1900s, attendance at the chapel services had become greatly reduced much to the dismay of the sitting university president of the day, Matthew Henry Buckham. Although the president was said to have hated the word "compulsory", he nevertheless felt that everyone should attend chapel services. However, this was impossible due to the chapel's limited capacity. In 1910,

5840-501: Was an American architectural firm based in New York City. The firm came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners, Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), William Rutherford Mead (1846–1928), and Stanford White (1853–1906), were giants in the architecture of their time, and remain important as innovators and leaders in

5920-511: Was constructed in the shape of a Latin cross. There is a 170 ft. high (by 20 ft) bell tower offset to the northwest corner of the nave of the main structure that is fitted with four clocks (one for each side of the tower) measuring eight feet in diameter. At night, the beams from the electric lamp on the top tier of the tower are said to be visible from Mount Mansfield to the east (the highest summit in Vermont) to Mount Marcy from

6000-437: Was dedicated in the Ira Allen Chapel. It was the first such carillon with the capability for tuning in both major and minor tonality, and which allowed for the carillonneur to vary the tonal coloring according to harmonic requirements. Up to this point, electronic carillons could only be tuned to one tonality, thus preventing their bells from sounding in tune at all times. The device consisted of eight large speakers mounted above

6080-484: Was officiated with an opening prayer by the Reverend John Lowe Fort, followed by the hymn “ Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken " . An inscription which was carved into the granite reads; "Dedicated to the service of God erected in memory of the founder of this university Ira Allen - 1925" . The building was designed by the architect William Mitchell Kendall of McKim, Mead, and White of New York;

6160-539: Was probably the most opulent of these flights of fancy. Though many are gone, some now serve new uses, such as "Florham", in Madison, New Jersey (1897–1900), now the home of Fairleigh Dickinson University . New York's City's enormous Penn Station (1906–1910) was the firm's crowning achievement, reflecting not only its commitment to new technological advances, but also to architectural history stretching back to Greek and Roman times. McKim, Mead & White also designed

6240-475: Was similar to Thomas Jefferson's at the University of Virginia, where White added an academic building on the other side of the Lawn. Some of their later, classical country houses also enhanced their reputation with wealthy oligarchs and critics alike. The Frederick Vanderbilt mansion (1895–1898) at Hyde Park, New York and White's " Rosecliff " for Tessie Oelrichs (1898–1902) in Newport were elegant venues for

6320-467: Was then viewed as "one of the university's greatest needs"; a new chapel. Soon after Buckham's passing in November 1910, it was reported in a university periodical that a memorial to Matthew Henry Buckham ought take the shape of a chapel; "It would be fitting, however, if in the coming years there shall be erected by the side of Morrill Hall , commemorating the service of a son of Vermont whom he loved,

6400-549: Was thus determined to be cost-prohibitive. However, in August 2004, a new Rogers Trillium 3 digital electronic organ was installed (costing about $ 100,000). Organ enthusiasts have argued against the authenticity of the digitally re-created pipe organ sound. Chapel services on the university's campus from the 1830s onward were held in the chapel of the Main College building underneath its formerly erected central dome, in what

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