Tuesday, April 30, 2024
6:00-9:00 p.m.
Minnesota Humanities Center
Keble College Chapel: John Thomas Micklethwaite Renovates the “Holy Zebra”
Victoria Young, Keynote Speaker
This year’s annual meeting includes the announcement of the David Gebhard Awards while our keynote speaker, Victoria Young, will transport MNSAH members to England where we’ll learn about her groundbreaking research that shines new light on the 1895 completion of a side chapel in the Chapel at Keble College, Oxford University, by the Yorkshire-born John Thomas Micklethwaite, an underappreciated architect of the Gothic Revival.
The 1876 main chapel by William Butterfield is known for its exuberant High Victorian Gothic style, a harmony between exterior structural polychromy and an interior decorative program in colorful glass, mosaics, and tiles. But before the chapel had been completed, Keble College’s Council accepted from donor Martha Combe William Holman Hunt’s 1853 painting “The Light of the World” with the stipulation that it hang in Butterfield’s chapel. Butterfield vehemently disagreed and installation of the painting was delayed until 1895.
Nearly all scholars who have researched Butterfield, Keble, or Hunt concluded that a new side chapel for Hunt’s painting was added on to Butterfield’s structure. This is incorrect, however, as it was a renovation of existing space completed by Micklethwaite. Victoria’s archival research has uncovered that Micklethwaite renovated a sacristy and transept not only to house “Light” but also to provide better acoustics, additional liturgical solutions, and memorials for Mrs. Combe and a recently deceased Council member. Micklethwaite’s architectural solution not only responded to functional needs, but also successfully complemented Butterfield’s High Victorian Gothic; a style dubbed by local critics as the “holy zebra.”
Dr. Victoria M. Young, PhD., is Professor of Modern Architectural History at the University of St. Thomas. She is a past president of both MNSAH and the national SAH.
Date and Place
Tuesday, April 30, 2024, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
Minnesota Humanities Center
987 Ivy Avenue East
Saint Paul, MN 55106
6:00 p.m. Reception
6:30 p.m. Dinner
7:30 p.m. Annual Meeting & David Gebhard Awards
8:00 p.m. Keynote Presentation
9:00 p.m. Adjourn
Cost
$48.00 for MNSAH members
$58.00 for nonmembers
Registration
Registration for this event has closed.
Menu
Beef Bourguignon
or
Butternut Squash and Wild Mushroom Lasagna
Dinners will be accompanied by a salad and dessert.
Directions
From Highway 35E, exit onto Maryland Avenue, proceed east 1.7 miles to Earl Street, turn left and go four blocks to Ivy Avenue East, turn left and the Humanities Center will be on your right.
