Photo: Connor McCourtney
The Oreon E. Scott Chapel will be featured in a tour hosted by the Iowa Architectural Foundation Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The chapel is one of the “Sacred Spaces” highlighted in the tour, which is “an exploration of how architecture and faith intersect,” according to the press release promoting the event. Five spaces were chosen throughout Des Moines. Each space represents unique architectural styles and faith groups.
The tour includes a presentation by Maura Lyons, associate professor of art and design at Drake and also the curator of the “Building a Modern Campus: Eliel & Ero Saarinen at Drake University” exhibit. She will discuss the style of the chapel and the effect the building has upon faith and the services held. A guided tour will follow.
The chapel was dedicated in 1955 as a “place of worship to preaching, to communion, to meditation, to searching of the soul and renewal of the spirit of those who would be spiritual guides to others” according to the press release. The space serves as a nondenominational place of worship and contemplation and was originally designed to be the chapel for Drake’s Divinity School.
For more information on this tour, or a complete list or Architecture Month Lecture series events, visit www.iowaarchfoundation.org or contact Paula Mohr at 515-783-2167.
Lyons will also co-present an upcoming historical lecture titled “Home Away From Home: Drake Student Housing Through the Decades” on the connection between Drake University and neighborhood architecture on April 14.
