Sage Chapel

Sage Chapel is the non-denominational chapel on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York State and serves as the final resting place of the university's founders, Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, and their wives. The building was a gift to the university of Henry William Sage and his wife.DesignDesigned by the Reverend Charles Babcock, also a Professor of Architecture at Cornell, opening services were held on June 13, 1875 with Reverend Phillips Brooks of Boston's Trinity Church presiding. Further additions in 1898 and 1904 created the apse at the end of the sanctuary as well as space for the mausoleum. The mosaic decoration of the apse was created by J&R Lamb Studios of New York; preliminary designs for this work can be found in the Lamb Studio Archive in the Library of Congress. In 1940, another expansion and renovation added more space for a new choir loft and the current pipe organ, a 3-manual Aeolian-Skinner with 69 stops and an estimated 3858 speaking pipes. The organ incorporates several ranks of pipes from previous instruments, including two of the previous organs built in the chapel. The building includes Tiffany glass windows and a stained glass memorial to three civil rights workers (one of whom was a Cornell alumnus, Michael Schwerner), murdered during Freedom Summer.