Inside St. Paul’s Chapel – the historic interior
The chapel was built in 1766 as the country church for Trinity Church, located about a half a mile south on Broadway at Wall Street. Both churches were used by many of the same people and today we can walk the distance in about four minutes. So what’s going on?
Wealthy English families of that time were reproducing their luxurious London lifestyle in their new home, New York. St. Paul’s Chapel was built to look like the London country church, St. Martin in the Fields! Trinity Church (which still owns St. Paul’s today) hired a London architect who was trained by the architect of St. Martin and up went their own, St. Paul’s Chapel.
I take all of my customers into St. Paul’s on our tours and thanks to the generosity of the Vicar I am the only guide allowed to do so. I am grateful for the opportunity to share the history of one of the city’s most beautiful landmarks with my groups.
Here are pictures of their respective interiors. St. Paul’s is the first picture and St. Martin in the Field is the second.
