Based on a proposal by President Robert E. Lee to the Board of Trustees, the University Chapel was built between 1866 and 1868. The building has been renovated and re-designed several times between 1870 and 2021. This exhibit takes the visitor on a tour of the first floor of the auditorium and the 1883 addition, reviewing the changing appearance of the chapel's floor plan and stage.

At the start of Lee’s second year as President of Washington College (summer 1866), the Trustees approved his proposal to construct a free-standing chapel. Prior to that date, a classroom in Washington Hall served that purpose for several decades. Inspired by his childhood memories as a congregant at Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, Lee and his son, Custis Lee, worked with a fellow civil engineer, Thomas H. Williamson, to draw up plans for the college chapel. The 1866 sketch below (with notes in Lee’s handwriting) indicates the plan for two aisles, four sets of pews, a series of windows (indicated with "w”'s), and a raised stage with six separate window panes.

The work on the building was completed in under two years. On June 14, 1868, Washington College kicked off a four-day celebration to honor the 205 graduating seniors. Former Confederates, such as General Wade Hampton of S.C., spoke at several of the events. Because of the lack of space for the entire college community and guests in the newly completed chapel, some of the sermons and celebratory exercises were held in the nearby Lexington Presbyterian Church. Over the next few decades, the Chapel was regularly used to host commencement and convocation ceremonies, the two literary societies (the 19th century equivalent of a debating society and fraternal organization), regular church services, and the Y.M.C.A. offices and library.

In the days and weeks after Lee’s death, his widow, Mary Anna Custis Lee, played an important role. It was her decision to bury her husband in Lexington that thwarted the Richmond LMA’s efforts to bring his body to Hollywood Cemetery. And she selected Edward V. Valentine, the Richmond-based sculptor, to craft a suitable memorial. Mrs. Lee worked with Mr. Valentine to select a design for a memorial that was originally intended to be a sarcophagus for Lee’s remains. Inspired by European mortuary styles and, in particular, the tomb of the Queen of Prussia, the pair presented their selection to the Lexington LMA and the Board of Trustees. The former agreed to fund the work of art. On the left is the tomb of Queen Louise who died in 1810. Her tomb was designed by Christian Daniel Rauch and, like Valentine’s design, she is depicted sleeping, not dead.

During this time, Valentine and a team of carvers and laborers were working to acquire and chisel a 7-ton piece of Vermont marble. Valentine produced two models for approval: a maquette, a small preliminary study that Mrs. Lee signed off on and a full-scale, detailed model created by the artist that was then copied by his carvers using various measuring devices and tools to create the final version.

On April 17, 1875, the statue arrived in Lexington via a packet boat. It was stored in an unused room within the Colonnade while the LMA finalized their plans for a mausoleum. Three years later, the cornerstone for the brick annex behind the chapel was laid on November 28, 1878. The new addition was ready five years later. On June 28, 1883, John W. Daniel (known by his Confederate comrades as the “Lame Lion of Lynchburg”) read a three-hour long dedicatory speech in front of thousands of visitors.

The center-most point of honor on the stage (above the arched doorway) was reserved for one of three items. In the 1880s, a marble roundel by William Henry Rhinehart was hung high above the stage curtains. In 1901, the Lee medallion was moved to the Bradford Art Gallery in Newcomb. Next, a small, 1893 portrait of Lee was hung in the center of the stage. Around this time, a banner with one version of the W&L crest was variously hung above and within the archway. Sometime between 1904-1909, two busts of Washington and Lee were added to the stage.

Starting with the centennial of Lee’s birthday in 1907, the United Daughters of the Confederacy (U.D.C.) became increasingly involved in the maintenance and running of the university chapel. Alongside these efforts, Congress passed a resolution authorizing the Secretary of War to deliver Confederate flags to the Confederate Memorial Literary Society (CMLS). Over the next two decades the U.D.C. led the efforts to obtain some of these wartime banners to display within the chapel. In October 1930, the U.D.C. presented several Confederate flags to W&L; Mr. Charles C. Pickney donated two bronze standards to hold the flags (seen in the photograph below). The number of flags increased over the next eight decades until the original flags were removed in 1994. The originals were replaced with replicas which remained outside of the statue chamber until 2014.

As the U.D.C. became increasingly involved in the preservation and presentation of the building, the organization voted to provide funding for a “custodian” to coordinate their efforts. Prior to the hire of Mrs. C.B. Tate in 1919, this role had been informally filled by an African American custodian named John Carter (1876-1943). After 1919, the U.D.C. continued to appoint and fund white women to take the tens of thousands of annual visitors through the chapel and its basement galleries for several decades. During the 1920s, the U.D.C. (both local and national chapters) engaged in a heated debate with President Henry L. Smith about whether to increase the footprint of the chapel. In the end, the grandiose plans (such as the one depicted below on the right) were not pursued.

Aside from the 1883 addition, the first large-scale renovation occurred in 1928 and 1929. During this time, the statue chamber underwent several modifications: the original skylight was covered and the two back windows were bricked up. Outside of the chamber, the U.D.C. installed a marble floor and Mr. Henry Litchford donated a new set of iron gates.

In 1961, primarily based on its connection to Civil War history, the Chapel was designated a National Historic Landmark. Dr. Fred Cole was serving his second year as University president. Prior to becoming W&L’s 20th president he had served for one year as the program officer for education at the Ford Foundation. In 1961, he partnered with Henry Ford II, the president of the Henry Ford Motor Company Fund, to solicit a $370,000 gift to conduct much needed work on the building’s infrastructure. A new interior design accompanied large-scale structural repairs. Two “namesake” portraits replaced the art gallery, the organ was restored by Lawrence Walker of Richmond, the pews were painted white and angled for comfort, the roof was replaced, and steel beams and concrete sub-flooring were installed. 

Just after the 1961-1963 renovation, the University hired a designer from a nationally renowned liturgical company to design a backdrop for the archway in order to focus attention on speakers and the auditorium. William G. Perry designed a colorful tapestry that included the raven and crown from George Washington’s family crest and the University motto, Non incautus futuri. 

After five decades, the original two namesake portraits were replaced with images of the two men during their period of direct involvement with the school. Painted by Gilbert Stuart, his Athenaeum portrait of George Washington dates to 1796, towards the end of his second term as president when Washington decided to give the struggling frontier school, Liberty Hall Academy, a valuable gift of canal stock. Lee’s portrait was painted in 1866 by J. Reid and depicts him as president of Washington College.

On June 4, 2021 the Board of Trustees announced a series of updates to the Chapel, starting with a return to the original name, "University Chapel" (updated to reflect the 1871 transition from a college to a university). On August 26, 2021, the Board provided a second update:

In keeping with our commitment to restore the chapel auditorium's original, unadorned design, we have begun relocating portraits, plaques and artifacts. Portraits and some plaques will be moved to the Chapel Galleries located beneath the chapel auditorium, where we already present the history of the building, the university and the relationship to our namesakes ... Meanwhile, the board is in the process of selecting an architectural firm that specializes in historic restoration projects to propose a plan for separating the 1868 auditorium and 1883 annex containing the Lee memorial sculpture into two distinct spaces. We anticipate that this renovation will be completed by the beginning of the 2022-23 academic year.