New Chapel At St John'S College

The New Chapel at St John's College in York is a college chapel designed in 1965 and built between 1966 and 1967 by architect George Gaze Pace, with assistant Ronald Sims. The structure features a reinforced concrete frame that is partly exposed and clad in pale brick, topped with monopitched roofs. It has low flat roofs at the entrances and between the three main sections, characterized by thick board-marked eaves. The central space is flanked by angled transepts, with an organ loft at the liturgical west end and a wing of offices behind. Long, narrow flat-headed windows are set between brick mullions, and there are timber doors. Attached walls and a steel gate provide access to an inner garden designed for contemplation.

Inside, the chapel showcases an exposed concrete frame, including piers and a thick ring beam at the gallery level, with brick infill. The main space features a boarded timber ceiling, while the low side aisles have board-marked ceilings. The choir gallery, which houses an organ designed by Pace, is set behind a timber lattice screen also designed by him and is accessed via a narrow spiral staircase. A ceramic piece created by Helen Batty in 1999 adorns the balcony front. Some pews were brought from the college's former chapel, which was remodeled by Pace in the 1950s. The chapel includes hanging pendant light fittings designed by Pace, along with an altar, lectern, and altar seating all crafted by him, and a pulpit designed in 1998. The windows, which originally featured clear leaded lights, now incorporate stained glass, including 'The Water of Life' by Cathy Nutkins, a 1990 graduate, located in the right-hand transept. The Chapel of Christ the Teacher, located at the rear by the foyer, was refurbished in 1994 by textile artist Helen Turner. The building is well-suited for the display of student artworks, with both temporary and permanent pieces continually being added to the collection.