Chapel At Wellington College With Porch Colonnade And Gateway Adjoining West End

The chapel at Wellington College, along with its adjoining porch colonnade and gateway on the west end, was built between 1861 and 1863 by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the Geometrical style. It was subsequently extended in 1886 and 1899 by Sir Arthur Blomfield. The building is constructed of red brick in English bond, with stone dressings and a slate roof with stone coping.

The plan incorporates a nave, a main apse, a north chapel apse, a west porch, and a slender spire. The exterior features a high, moulded brick and stone plinth, a string course at window sill and impost levels, and a corbelled parapet with moulded stone coping. Buttresses with pedimented tops and leaf finials are interspersed along the walls. The nave north and south aisles each have four bays, with angled buttresses at the east end. The east end has a large rose window with a semi-circular hoodmould, and a plank door with an elliptical head is reached by eight stone steps. The west end also features angled buttresses and a large rose window, flanked by stone circular niches containing groups of carved figures. The apse has three single-light windows with pointed heads. A terracotta eaves cornice is enriched with floral decoration.

The porch, colonnade, and gateway, positioned at the west end, are slate-roofed, with a pitched roof and moulded eaves. The porch has six linked windows with pointed heads and stained glass between slim colonnettes with foliage capitals. The gateway is built of brick with stone dressings, symmetrical in design with a large, central archway and a pointed head, corbelled cornice, and balustraded parapet. A colonnaded passage of four bays on the south side links to the gateway by a brick wall and adjoins the main College building to the west.

Inside, the chapel nave and aisles are of red brick, with a panelled dado having a battlemented top. The floor is of marble, with rising, amphitheatrical seating. Four-bay arcades display naturalistic foliage, and the nave is covered by a five-bay wagon roof. The sanctuary ceiling is painted with angles and musical instruments. A blank arcade of nineteen bays, each with pointed arches containing ceramic heads of apostles, runs along the nave. It features an encaustic tile floor. A memorial to the dead of the Great War, designed by Lutyens, stands in the north chapel apse and is constructed of black and white marble with a rectangular base, moulded plinth, a column on a pedestal with a moulded cornice, a laurel wreath, and a statuette of Wellington. Stained glass in the west window of the nave is the work of Lusson.

The chapel, porch, colonnade, and gateway form the south side of a large court, enclosed to the west by Wellington College Main Block, to the north by the Dining Hall and Common Rooms, and to the east by the Dormitory Block.