Chapel, Western Reserve Academy

The chapel of Western Reserve Academy was the most significant and dominant building in the original Brick Row of Western Reserve College. The building was designed by a New England architect and the plans were obtained by mail order by Simeon Porter, who built the chapel for the college. It is the only structure of its style in the Western Reserve to have classrooms on the first floor and a chapel occupying the second and third stories. The resemblance to Boylston Market in Boston, Johnson Chapel in Amherst, Massachusetts, and Center Church in New Haven, Connecticut is striking.

Built in 1836, the building is Federal/Greek Revival Transitional. It was extended 20 feet in 1940 and was thoroughly renovated in 1964. The chapel is listed in the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Historic American Building Survey, housed in the Library of Congress.