Description
The chapel's Collegiate Gothic design evokes an English church of the Middle Ages, although several aspects of it, including the vault and its supports, recall French churches. The chapel is cruciform and is built on the scale of a large parish church or a small cathedral. The only precedent for a university chapel of this size was King's College Chapel, and only a small part of that chapel was used regularly. Stillwell cites Exeter Cathedral and the Octagon tower of Ely Cathedral as precedents for the architectural detail, but notes that the Princeton chapel's detail nonetheless differs significantly from these.
The foundation is made of poured concrete. When the chapel was built, the rest of the structure above the grade level was masonry, and the only metal reinforcement was some structural steel in the framing of the roof. During the 2000-02 restoration, some pinnacles were reset with stainless steel anchors. The arches of the crossing were designed to support the addition of a central tower, but this option has not been exercised: in Bush and Kemeny's words, "Cram felt that Princeton already had enough towers."
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