Keble College Chapel

Designed by the Tractarian architect William Butterfield (1814-1900), this building was intended to be big enough to seat every member of Keble College. In that way, it was hoped that the chapel would help bring the community together. More than that, Butterfield believed he was building a work of theology, designed to communicate important lessons about religion. This was not unusual. Among the many contributions of the Oxford Movement to Church architecture was a renewed sense that buildings could be texts, and might communicate spiritual truths. But Butterfield’s architecture was a message that could be read at many different levels. By combining the architecture of the Gothic West and Byzantine east, he gave a vision of the unified, Catholic Church. By creating a complex scheme of stories in stained glass and mosaic, he also taught more specific lessons. Even the materials employed were intended to communicate. The frank use of brick was meant honestly to reveal how the building had been constructed as well as why.

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