Downtown in Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado — The American Mountains (Southwest)

Shove Memorial Chapel

Photographed by Mark Parker, July 4, 2024

1. Shove Memorial Chapel Marker

Inscription.

This property has been placed on the
National Register of Historic Places
By the United States Department of the Interior

Erected by United States Department of the Interior.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Religion & Religious Structures.

Location. 38° 50.87′ N, 104° 49.328′ W. Marker is in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in El Paso County. It is in Downtown. It is on North Nevada Avenue (Business Interstate 25) 0.2 miles south of Uintah Street, on the right when traveling south. The marker is at the sanctuary entrance facing the main quad of the Colorado College campus. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1010 N Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs CO 80903, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Colorado’s Front Range

and in Pikes Peak Region.

It is also in the American Mountain West.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Rocky Mountains,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once

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the Comanchería.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Palmer Hall (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); tavachi : sun (about 400 feet away); Lennox House (about 500 feet away); Jackson House (about 600 feet away); Charles Leaming Tutt Jr. (about 700 feet away); Arthur House (about 700 feet away); Cutler Hall (approx. 0.2 miles away); Frederick H. Cossitt Memorial Hall (approx. 0.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Colorado Springs.

Regarding Shove Memorial Chapel. Excerpts from the Shove Memorial Chapel Nomination Form:

Shove Memorial Chapel is located at the east end of the open, landscaped, main quadrangle (Armstrong Quad) which forms the heart of the Colorado College campus. The chapel faces Cutler Hall, the school’s first permanent building (1880) and the west terminus of the quadrangle. Other large significant buildings of the campus line the quadrangle, some constructed of native stone. The chapel, whose inspiration was found in the ancient churches of England and Normandy, is a monumental scale Romanesque style building with walls

Shove Memorial Chapel Marker to the right of the sanctuary entrance image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Parker, July 4, 2024

2. Shove Memorial Chapel Marker to the right of the sanctuary entrance

faced with tooled and smooth-sawn cream- colored Bedford, Indiana, limestone ashlar; semicircular arched stained glass windows; hand-made tawny red roof tiles; and a limited amount of ornately carved stone ornament. The chapel is of traditional cruciform plan, with the main entrance on the west, a long nave, a central crossing flanked by north and south transepts, and a lavishly ornamented chancel on the east. A square 85-foot tower with turret on its northeast corner soars above the crossing, and narrow pinnacles project on either side of the main entrance.

The interior plan of Shove Memorial Chapel was carefully designed in the manner of a medieval church to provide a “gradual process governed principally by the changing requirements of ritual and the progressive expression of symbolism . . . .” The chapel was created in the traditional cruciform plan, with each part of the building having a special meaning and function. Proportion and light were utilized to express the plan and function of the parts of the building. The principal divisions were the nave, representing earthly life, and the chancel, representing the life after death.

Shove Memorial Chapel entrance image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Parker, July 4, 2024

3. Shove Memorial Chapel entrance

The inscription above the doors are quoted in the Nomination Form.

"The things which are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal."

The building was designed to accommodate more than one-thousand people at its programs...

Shove Memorial Chapel is regarded as the most important work of architect John Gray. Gray, born and educated in Scotland, had trained and worked in Chicago before moving to Colorado for his health. In Pueblo Gray became associated with the firm of Wiliiam W. Stickney, which designed the National Register-listed Colorado Springs Day Nursery. He also worked in Denver with Merrill H. and Burnham Hoyt, designing the 1928 St. Martin’s Chapel of St. John’s Cathedral. Gray was awarded the commission for Shove Memorial Chapel as the result of a national competition that included a number of Colorado’s foremost architects. The chapel was the first major building Gray designed after establishing his own practice and is the building which most fully represents his enormous talents.

Also see . . . Shove Memorial Nomination Form (pdf). Form prepared by R. Laurie Simmons and Thomas H. Simmons, historians, Front Range Research Associates, Inc., 2005 (Submitted on March 2, 2025, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina.)

Shove Memorial Chapel given to Colorado College by Eugene P. Shove A.D. 1931 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Parker, July 4, 2024

4. Shove Memorial Chapel given to Colorado College by Eugene P. Shove A.D. 1931

Shove Memorial Chapel tower and clock image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Parker, July 4, 2024

5. Shove Memorial Chapel tower and clock

Full view of Shove Memorial Chapel image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Parker, July 4, 2024

6. Full view of Shove Memorial Chapel

Credits. This page was last revised on March 3, 2025. It was originally submitted on March 2, 2025, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina. This page has been viewed 145 times since then and 24 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on March 2, 2025, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina. • J. Makali Bruton was the editor who published this page.