Oak Hill Cemetery Chapel (Washington, D.C.)
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
A view of the chapel in 2008 ((By AgnosticPreachersKid (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons))
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
In 1848, philanthropist William Corcoran purchased a 15-acre plot of land from Lewis Washington, the great-grandson of George Washington. The purpose of this purchase was build a cemetery, and Corcoran organized a company in order to create the cemetery. In 1849, an Act of Congress declared that the Oak Hill Cemetery Company would be contracted to construct the cemetery. During the construction of the cemetery itself, architect James Renwick, Jr., was commissioned to build a small chapel for the cemetery, as well. The chapel itself was completed in 1950.
The building was particularly well-received due to its Gothic Revival architecture, which critics praised as a peak performance of the architectural style. The chapel stayed in use over the years, and on May 28th, 1967, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark. Not long after that, it was added to the national Register of Historic Places on March 16th of 1972. Today, the Oak Hill Cemetery Chapel is still in use, and remains one of James Renwick, Jr.’s most well-known works.