Rockefeller foundation
Image courtesy University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
Amount John D. Rockefeller earmarked for a campus chapel in his $10 million final gift to the University in 1910:
$1.5 million
Delay between the grant and the start of construction (because of war, inflation, design changes, and the death of architect Bertram Goodhue):
15 years
Time from groundbreaking to dedication:
Three years, two months (August 28, 1925–October 28, 1928)
Dimensions, in feet, of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel:
265 x 102
Pieces of Indiana limestone in the walls:
72,000
Weight of the chapel:
32,000 tons
Glazed Guastavino tiles in the vaulted ceiling:
100,000-plus
Size, in feet, of Rockefeller’s great north window:
25 x 46
Number of university seals in the chapel:
29 (ten international, ten state schools, and nine private U.S. institutions)
“Normal capacity,” according to faculty member Edgar Goodspeed’s 1928 guide:
1,889
Number of carillon bells:
72
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