Completely renovated in 2009 on the chapel’s 100th anniversary, the Hotchkiss Chapel at Bellefontaine Cemetery is a gem amongst many other shiny jewels looking out over the Mississippi River.
Built according to plans by Eames and Young, the chapel and accompanying storage space originally served as a location for caskets in the winter before the graves could be dug in the spring. Backhoes and other mechanical digging equipment precluded its former use, so the old storage space is now a columbarium.
The building is so well restored that I had originally believed the building had been built in the last ten years. Its attention to detail, such as this stucco work, is superb.
I enjoyed your website. I wanted to point out that the Greek Revival Wade Chapel in Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland Ohio is near identical to our St Louis Hotchkiss Chapel from the front view. Wade was designed by the firm of Hubbell and Benes in 1901: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade_Memorial_Chapel I believe Eames and Young must have been influenced by the design for their front entrance with the wide gap between the porch columns. The other difference is one chapel was designed with Ionic columns and the other with Doric. The interiors appear different as the updated Hotchkiss in 2009 does not have the same look as the interior of Wade Chapel with the Tiffany window in the rear and VOYAGE OF LIFE mosaics on the walls. Hubbell and Benes also designed the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland West Side Market and the Ohio Bell Telephone Building. Since your website covers Patina, take a look at the Bell Telephone Building with a beautiful Green Patina roof. It is a year older and at 365 feet shorted than the St Louis SWB Telephone Building but has the same Art Deco style Thanks for all the effort you put into your webpage.
Interesting connections, Don. Thanks!