Church of the Holy Spirit
From KCpedia
Contents |
Conception and Development
Design and Cost
The funds for the Church of the Holy Spirit came as gift from New York City's Church of the Ascension to its former rector Gregory Thurston Bedell. The incentive to build the church came after the Civil War when leaders at Kenyon College wanted to build a new church. The cornerstone for the Church was laid in June 1869 and the church was completed and consecrated on May 18, 1871. The Right Reverend Charles Pettit McIlvaine served as the consecrator. The main material for construction was olive shale stone quarreid two miles northeast of the college. The contract price of the building was $32,000 while the furnishings were an extra $10,000. The Canterbury Chimes for which the Church is famous were not installed until 1879 under the supervision of the Bishop and Mrs. Bedell--the cost a total of $500. The clock was made by E. Howard & Co. in Boston, Massachuesetts and cost $600. The ivy growing on the original stucture was trasnplanted from Melrose Abbey. The original length of the Church inside the nave and chapel was 90 feet while the length in each transept was 80 feet. It was heated in 1921 by two warm air gas furnaces and central heat was installed in 1923. Electricity was installed in 1921 using old gas fixtures that were rewired and a new lighting system was installed in 1935 by Holpphane Co. at the cost of $525. The basement was excavated and refinished for a choir room and dressing rooms in 1925 by H.L. Ransom. The chancel was refloored and redecorated in 1935. The original carpet by Sloan of New York dated back to 1896 and was replaced by Glenn Murphy of Columbus, Ohio in September of 1926 at the cost of $1400. Sanitary equipment, including one closet, one urinal, and one lavatory, was added in February of 1937. The tower spire was repaired, painted, and the cross painted By C.W. Metcalf in August of 1935 for $150.
Reaction
The Church serves as a prime example of Gothic Revival Design. In the 1994 edition of the Bulletin, Jerrald L. Townsend said "[The church's] style belongs to that movement which sought to revolutionize religious life in many ways by changing the environment in which people worshipped." The Church of the Holy Spirit was designed in a completely different style than Rosse Hall, which was Kenyon's original chapel: the design for Rosse Hall was a neoclassical one in which the goal was to make the church space as simple as possible so people can focus on the pulpit. "The Standard of the Cross" said in an article in 1871 that the Church was built "in the form of a Latin cross, with gothic arches, an apse chancel, and a tower of remarkable massiveness and grace." The June 19, 1874 edition of the Cleveland Herald said that the Church of the Holy Spirit was the "most beautiful church in this country."
1994 Restoration
Although the Church had stood for over one hundred years, repairs and renovations were badly needed all over the building. A committee to discuss and outline plans for restoration of the chapel was formed in the late '80s. Projects to be tackled included everything from installing hearing-impaired units in some of the pews to the replacing the clock faces on the bell tower. The entire list of suggested repairs and renovations was four pages long and estimated to cost about $750,000.
The College consulted with the Gaede, Serne, and Zofcin Arhitectural Firm in Cleveland, Ohio as well as with the Albert M. Higley Construction Company to develop a plan for restoration and preservation of the interior and exterior of the Church, plus remodeling the basement area.
The fund-raising campaign focused on getting support from both the Diocese of Ohio and the Diocese of Southern Ohio as well as individual Epsicopal Ohioans who had connections with the Church of the Holy Spirit and Kenyon College. They also campaigned for support from College alumni, parents, area residents, members of the parish community, and recent attendees of the Episcopal Summer Conference that takes place every year on campus. In addition, the College asked for support from various foundations and companies that had had previous connections with Kenyon College and/or special interest in the Episcopal Church.
Memorials in the Church
Brooke Memorial Windows
The Brooke Memorial Windows in the Church were given as a gift by Mr. and Mrs. T. Catesby Jones of New York in memory of Mrs. Jones's grandfather, father, and brother: all graduates of Kenyon College. The windows were designed by D'Ascenzo Studios in Philadelphia, the same company that designed windows for the Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge and the clerestory windows of St. Thomas Church in New York City. The windows were unveiled at Commencement in 1931.
The lancet window to the left is in memory of the Rev. John Thompson Brooke, Mrs. Jones's grandfather, rector of Christ Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. He taught at Kenyon as a professor of rhetoric, logic, and moral philosophy in 1847-49 and 1851-53. His window shows, in six medallions, the unbroken forest, the raftsman on the Ohio River, the felling of the trees, the log cabin in the forest, the sowing of the seed in the cleared field, and the church of colonial architecture.
The lancet window to the right is in memory of Francis Key Brooke, Mrs. Jones's father. He was born in Gambier in 1852 and graduated from Kenyon in 1874. He became the first Missionary Bishop of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory. He died in 1918 and is buried in the Rosse Hall graveyard. The medallions in his window depict the Indian praying to the Great Spirit, the covered waon of the pioneers, the cowboys of the plains, the tent city of the early settlers, the oil wells of a later time, and the altar where the pioneer bishop served his Lord and the people of his state.
The rose window in the middle is in memory of Bishop Brooke's only son, John Thompson Brooke II, Mrs. Jones's brother. He graduated from Kenyon Military Academy in 1903 and from Kenyon College in 1907. He was a member of the Kenyon chapter of Alpha Delta Phi. He left to teach English at St. Matthew's School but drowned off the coast of California trying to save Clarence Dell, a St. Matthew's cadet, the day of his arrival. His body was brought back to Gambier where he was buried in the Rosse Hall graveyard. His window depicts a youth running along a rocky beach toward the setting sun, and above it is the Cross and below it is the Holy Grail. On one side are the arms of the Brooke family and on the other those of Kenyon College.
The windows were designed by D'Ascenzo Studios after sketches presented by Mr. Jones. The windows were unveiled by Miss Frances Key Brooke Jones, the great grand-daughter, grand-daughter, and niece of the three men honored by the memorial.
World War II Memorial
During World War II forty-one Kenyon graduates and students were killed. In order to remember the sacrifice these men made for their country, three of the fathers who lost their sons--Floyd E. Bliven, Carl A. Weiant, and Robert B. Brown--proposed a memorial in two parts. One part was the establishment of The War Memorial Scholarship Fund of Kenyon College, a full-tution scholarship of $20,000 awarded to four prospective male students who were judged by the College's Scholarship Committee to "most nearly meet the standard set by the men in whose memory the scholarship is founded."
The other part of the memorial can be found in the Church of the Holy Spirit: a simple bronze plaque listing the names of the forty-one Kenyon men whose lives were lost in the war. The plaque was designed to comform with the already existing plaque for those Kenyon men who were killed in World War I. The actual plaque itself was given by Mrs. Harry Whiting Brown in memory of her grandson Lieutenant Robert Bowen Brown, Jr..
The plaque reads "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" and includes the forty-one names of Kenyon alumni from the Class of 1918 to the Class of 1948.
Resources in the Kenyon College Archives
- Church of the Holy Spirit -- Collected materials
