The campus of Salve Regina University is located in the heart of Newport’s renowned “summer cottage” district and includes important historic houses, including Ochre Court (Richard Morris Hunt, 1881). For more than sixty years, the University got along with a make-do chapel installed in what had been a ballroom in Ochre Court. Our new chapel, nestled into a small wood at the center of campus, has been designed as the physical representation of the university’s spiritual mission, which combines a continuing Catholic tradition with open and ecumenical outreach to people of all faiths. Our design combines local stone in the tradition of New England country churches with the cedar shingles of nearby Shingle-style buildings by Peabody & Stearns and McKim, Mead & White. The chapel establishes an axial relationship with Ochre Court, recasting the buildings of the estate into a consolidated academic campus. The south-facing entrance porch opens onto a new landscaped lawn. The sanctuary accommodates 250 worshipers; historic windows are set in an adjacent meditation room. The stair tower that links to the common room below is topped with a belfry and steeple, creating a visual landmark for the chapel bells that will gather the Salve community.

Photos by Francis Dzikowski / Esto