emiliaorbita's blog: Hope Waddell Training Institue Chapel, Calabar

Hope Waddell Training Institute Chapel, is a Presbyterian denomination. It was consecrated on the 22nd November 1927.
The Chapel is located inside Hope Waddell Training Institue, on Hope Waddell Avenue, Diamond Hill Road, Calabar Municipality, Cross-River State.

the approach view

North View

The Chapel style of Architecture is the Gothic Architecture, but also has little features of the Romanesque Architecture. The Romanesques Architecture style is seen on the plan and the wall.

Chapel Floor Plan

The Chapel is a bungalow, that has horizontal emphasis. The plan of the Chapel has the Romanesque Architecture style. The Chapel does not have an aisle. It has a tower attached to the building. The Nave accommodates most of the congregation. It has a west Transept and east Transept. ( A transept is a cross-shaped church, either of the two parts forming the arms of the cross-shape, projecting at right angles from the Nave). After the Transept is the Chancel, then the alter.

Buttress on the wall

The Romanesque style of architecture is the Buttress.
The Tower is capped with Eight Pinnacles, it has on three sides one window. On the Approach view the Tower has three openings which serves as entrance porche into the Chapel.

Fig 1

The main entrance into the Chapel has two large doors, made from steel and frosted glass as seen in fig1. The lintel on the main entrance doors are made from wood. It has a pointed carved arch made from wood, that has colourful glasses embedded in it.

fig2

fig 3

The ceiling at the tower section is made from steel and a man hole was created, to allow entrance up the tower via an iron ladder and cast on the wall in fig 2 and 3.
The windows are pointed, large and stained. The windows are casement, with some having steel frames and others wooden frame.

windows with wooden frame profiles

windows with steel frame profile

The windows found around the alter are long and rectangular. At the top of the Chancel area, It has a small round window. The Chapel does not have any Clerestory windows, because the structure does not have an Aisle and its not double volume in height. The Transept has one door each as an exit, the door is made from wood and protected with a wrought Iron gate.

rectangular window and small round window

transept exit door

The walls around the alter is not a perfect semi-circle, rather half of a hexagonal shape. the walls are thick masonry stone blocks, laid in a regular course except for the buttress and its made from stones, lime and mortar. the walls are left undressed showing beautiful craftsmanship of block laying.

patterns design on the buttress

walls

The material use to cover the roof is long span aluminum roofing sheets and the style of roof construction adopted was gable and hip style. The ceiling eaves were finished with well polish wooden batten.
Ceramic floor tiles were used for the floor finishing. A long stretch of pattern colour rug was place in the middle of the building, was use to create and aisle, and give a sense of focus and direction to the alter. The interior walls are painted with two bright cool colours.

congregation area

The ceiling is finished with well laid beautiful wooden batten and painted with white colour. On the east Transept, it has pointed arches and supported by a pillar, and on the west Transept has no pillar just one opening that accommodates the Pipe Organs. ( A Pipe Organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through organ pipes selected via keyboard). These pipes are made from steel pipes and cased in a wooden compartment.

ceiling finishing with painted wooden batten

east transept with pointed arches and a pillar

Pipe organ

Pipe Organ

The design and construction of furniture shows level of hierarchy in the Chapel. The congregation seats on a long simple bench made from wood with to strip wood used and the back rest and painted with light brown colour. The next bench is made from wood and has full back rest and polish with dark coffee colour and its for elders and staffs. The chair on the alter are stylish carved and polish wooden chairs.

stylish carved chairs at the alter

chairs found around the chancel

congregation bench

An interesting feature in this Chapel are the lights. During the period or time the Chapel was built and used, there was no form of electricity. Oil lanterns , and drop light pendant were used. These lighting fixtures were made from metals. The ceiling pendant were attached to the ceiling with a chain at a certain length to aid visibility.