The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-01

Cndp0ls at MOunLa1n GTOVe CS11i0oCAy y made possible by the legacy of $o5,- 900 left by MT. Read for the purpose of it's building, is now completed ana will be open to the public for 1nspec- ton during the month of June on Tuesdays and Fridays between the hours of 2 and in the afternoon It is located just inside the Read Me moriaI Gateway and faces the ap- proach. The Memorial Gateway was erected some years ago by both Charles B. and David F. Read in memory; of their father and moth CT.
 The chapel is generally conceded to be one of the finest edihces Of It's kind in this city, and it probably has no superior in it's type and arrange ment, in the entire country AL though of reasonable size, the char acter of it's excellent construction IS monumental to a degree. The ou1lo- ing is f1reproof and is built of solid masonry with a granite exterior. Steel is used in the floors and roof con struction. The roof is covered with slate, the porch roofs are covered with lead, gutters and leaders are or copper. The porte cochere and tower. or spire. are of limestone.
 The interior of the church is finish ed in marble, bronze and hard plaster. The only wood used in the entire
  The chapel is about eighty-two feet in length, being cruciforn in plan The width of the nave inside is tWen- ty-eight feet, but at the crossing 1t is f1fty-two feet wide. The chapel seats about 200
 The interior arrangement of the chapel provides storage rooms, boiler room and mechanical service, to- gether with the receiving vault with it's separate. entrance, all in the base ment. The receiving vault contains a mechanical catafa1que to raise and lower bodies from the chapel proper on the floor above. The main floor provides a vestibule entering directly from the porte coclere or carriage entrance, on either side of which are reception and waiting rooms. Leather covered doors separate this vestibule and waiting space from the nave. An entrance for pedestrians is arranged in connection with this veSt1bule, so they will not have to enter through cles.
 The nave is an e-yptically vau1ted room finished in hard plaster and decorated in soft gray tones. The aisles of the nave are paved with pink Tennessee marble; the floor under the pews is cork on cement; the pews themselves are of oak with leather
 
 stuffs of any kind employed anywhere in the chapel, except for the curtains at the windows.
 At the crossing directly in front of the sanctuary is a bronze mech anica1 catafaIque which can be lowered into the receiving vault below. The plat form of this life is of marble bordered with a brass frame, to match the sur rounding floor, so that when the cata- falqque is not being used, there is no indication of the presence of this de- vice in the marble floor.
 At the left of the church is place for an organ, with oak seats and screen for the choir. The choir room lies behind and abreast of the altar. To the right of the chancel is the n1ourners' room, which has it's own specially arranged entrance from outside, and adjoining is the vestry room leading directly to the chan eel.
 The interior is most impressive in it's calm and beautiful simplicity, and furnishes a dignif1ed and inspiring ex- ample of what can be done with proper knowledge and study in the care, selection and treatment of ap4 propriate building material. There are other storage rooms beneath the belfry and tower which rests upon a square base and which rises grace fully until it tapers finally to receive the crowning metal cross at the height of some ninety feet.
 The architecture of the chapel can be said to be adapted Georgian gener- ally speaking, although it is of no | particular style. Its scheme. in com | position is based on familiar forms of l Georgian and Colonial architecture. | Its broad and simple treatment, how l ever is quite modern, and it has dis tinctive and satisfying personality. The architect of the chapel is Dom Bar. Der, of New York city, whose work is well known in Connecticut, partic. ularly through the State Library and Supreme Court building, the Aetna Life and the Travellers Insurance
 buildings, Hartford National Bank
 his Mem oria1 Hall, in New Haven. ant
 many residences both country ant city, throughout the state. MT. Bar
 Der is also the architect of the Rea6
 Memorial Gateway
 Perhaps the most interesting thing about this chapel is. that it is the first
 mortuary chapel to be built in this
 country where it's use and requkrS6 services have dictated it's plans and arrangement. So-called nortuary chapelS are as a rule, merely dinninu. tive, churches. or nondescript chape1s with seldom if any, practical service arranged for. In addition to being g
 model of architectural fitness, the Read Memorial Chapel is a scientific ally designed and constructed ma chine capable of doing comfortably and easily the work it's uses will de- rnand of it. MT. David F. Read in his lifetime indicated to MT. Barber his idea of Memorial Chapel. It was that i should be a little church. The di rectors of the Mountain Grove Gene l tery association commissioned MT l Barber to carry out MT. Reads idea
 of Memorial Chapel, and MT. Bar. Der has nobly fulfilled his conn1is
 sion. The directors of the associa
 ton entrusted the detail of the con
 struction to a building committee