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Amasa Stone Chapel

10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, on the campus of Case Western Reserve University; built 1910-1911, dedicated 1911. English Gothic.

Exterior: The exterior is clad with Indiana limestone (Salem Limestone) quarried in South Central Indiana. Indiana limestone is composed almost entirely of small fossils of marine organisms. The fossils can be seen in this and other buildings made of Indiana limestone with close inspection (a magnifying lens is useful). The stone for this chapel is finished with fine drove work and is laid down in courses of somewhat varying heights.

Interior: Interior stonework, including entranceways, window frames, columns, piers, and arches, are fashioned from Indiana limestone. The statue "Philanthropy" in the south of the church is fashioned from a fine-grained, white true marble, probably (since it is white, fine-grained, and was carved in Rome) Carrara marble. It has a base made of a mottled yellow-orange, yellow-brown, cream, and white marble, probably Siena marble.

Remarks: The name of the chapel has nothing to do with its being constructed of stone; the name is in honor of Amasa Stone, whose carved sandstone likeness (salvaged from the 1866 Union Depot) is mounted above the exterior of the southeast entrance to the chapel. The rather stark interior of this chapel reflects a nineteenth-century view of English Gothic churches, whose structures have been stripped of colorful statuary since the Reformation.

 

References: Armstrong, Klein, and Armstrong, 1992.

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From the Center for Sacred Landmarks monograph: Guide To Stones Used for Houses of Worship in Northeastern Ohio (December, 1999) by . Joseph T. Hannibal. Published by the Sacred Landmarks Partnership of Northeast Ohio


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