Memorial Chapel

Photo of altar in the Memorial Chapel.

James B. Duke died in 1925, shortly after creating the Duke Endowment and starting plans for construction of West Campus. In 1929, his friend James A. Thomas organized a drive to fund projects in memory of Duke and his family. One of these projects was to add a memorial chapel and crypt to the plans for the Chapel. The Memorial Chapel is located off the south transept. In it are the tombs of the University’s founder and chief benefactors, James B. Duke, his father Washington, and his brother Benjamin. Their likenesses are carved on the tops of Carrara marble sarcophagi. Placement of the sarcophagi in the Chapel is in keeping with the character of a Gothic church. Although no more members of the Duke family will be buried in the Memorial Chapel, marble plaques are placed on its wall to memorialize them, starting with James B. Duke’s daughter Doris.

The Memorial Chapel seats about 50 people and is ideally suited for small prayer and Eucharistic services, baptisms, and recitals. This chapel also houses a small movable Flentrop "box" organ. The Brombaugh organ was installed in 1997 in a swallows’ nest gallery in the Memorial Chapel.

The Memorial Chapel has grisaille windows, made of white glass on which an ivy pattern is painted, with accents of colored glass. A light silver stain adds a yellow effect to the glass. The wooden reredos shows Jesus, flanked by Peter and Paul.

Also located in the Memorial Chapel is the baptismal font, a gift from the Congregation at Duke Chapel. The font was designed by Eason and Farlow Design, of Chapel Hill, a nationally recognized firm specializing in design and renovation of churches and church appointments. The font’s fine wooden millwork, of quarter-sawn white oak, was built by Hiwassee Furniture Company, of Madisonville, Tennessee. Fred Wilbur, of Lovingston, Virginia, did the intricate wood carving, which incorporates several design components of Gothic architecture already represented in Duke Chapel. The silver bowl was created by Cunill Silversmiths, of Barcelona, Spain. Measuring 30 inches in diameter, the bowl is made of a single sheet of silver (from Mexico), overlaid with a silver cross.

You can learn more these parts of the Chapel by clicking on the corresponding image: