The beautiful, Gothic-style Kirkland Chapel, reminiscent of an English country church, is also an ideal venue for music and the arts, education and other events.
The Chapel was built in 1925 with funds from a leading New York philanthropist, Edward Stephen Harkness. The designer was James Gamble Rogers, the Harkness family architect, who trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He was best known as the architect for two Yale University buildings in New Haven, Connecticut – the memorial Quadrangle and Harkness Tower. The Chapel is named for the Rev. Dr. Bryant M. Kirkland, senior pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church from 1962 to 1987.
With its warm, intimate ambience and fine acoustics, the Chapel is a superb setting for weddings as well as small ensembles and chamber music. (The FAPC Chamber Choir and Children's Choir regularly perform here.) In addition to a fine grand piano, the Chapel houses to a small pipe organ, built in 1970 by Austin Organs, Inc. of Hartford, Connecticut.
Located on the ground level of the church house, the Chapel is accessible from the West 55th Street entrance and includes a bride's room at the back (which may also serve as a green room). The Chapel (53 ft. x 27 ft.) seats up to 250 persons in cushioned pews on the main floor and in the rear and side balconies.