With this solution, Babbs was faced with the issue of merging the high reaching, gothic walls into a flat ceiling. The vaulted ceiling remained only in the apse. Babbs cleverly cut down the verticality of the lancet windows and pilasters by developing a linear design with bands running around the entire interior, through the window tracery, pilasters and arches. This design was anchored by a solid diaper pattern above the wainscot that also ran through the base of the pilasters and triumphant arch.
In the 1920s, Yale University redecorated the Chapel. The interior was painted to simulate ashlar block (see image to the right) to keep up with James Gamble Rogers’s new master plan for the campus in Collegiate Gothic Style. This decorative treatment covered the original stenciled decoration on the walls with gray stone. The only part that was not overpainted were the Greek cross and the symbols of the Trinity at the triumphal arch. |