December, i g 2 3 
45 
The chapel in Dachet House, 
home of D. Putnam Brinley, at 
New Canaan, Ct., is a small 
room inside the house, suitably 
furnished for fainily worship. 
Lord Ce Hewlett, architects. This 
and the other two sketches are by 
Louis C. Rosenberg 
THE 
DOMESTIC CHAPEL 
Once Considered a Necessary Complement to the Large Estate 
The Lome Stic Chapel is Finding a Place in American Country Houses 
HAROLD DONALDSON EBERLEIN 
T here was once a time when nearly 
every large house and, for that matter, 
many a small house too, had a chapel. In 
some instances it was incorporated within 
the body of the house, or it might appear as 
a wing. Again, it might be a separate 
structure, close to the house and readily 
accessible, put where it could be used, and 
not treated as a merely decorative detail 
like a gazebo or a dovecote. 
While unquestionably a product of the 
Age of Faith, these private chapels as they 
existed in England and on the Continent— 
and still exist in many places—were also a 
product of the economic conditions of the 
time—an outcome of the manorial system 
plus bad roads. The huge estates on which 
were employed a large staff of household 
servants, retainers and farmhands, were 
often situated far from a town or city, and 
the going on the roads was anything but 
ideal. In many instances the estate in¬ 
cluded a hamlet or village in which these 
servants clustered, being naturally grega¬ 
rious, like the rest of humans. This hamlet 
and the manor house, chateau or villa 
furnished the two centers of living, of 
contact with other people. To provide for 
the spiritual welfare of himself and his 
servants, the owner of the estate would erect 
Said to be the old¬ 
est domestic chapel 
in America, that 
at Doughoregan 
Manor, Howard 
County, Md. The 
chapel wing bal¬ 
ances an opposite 
wing of the house 
