+ Langdon Chapel + LET us move now into the west aisle chapel. This was built with the Parish House in 1910, but it was not until 1927 that it became the beautiful chapel it is today. The furnishings were donated by and in memory of the Langdon Family (a carved wooden panel to the left of the altar records this). Of note is the paneling, the three-sided screen around the altar, the three-sided altar rail with kneeling angels at the ends, and the carved screen with tracery above.
Visitors usually find that the five painted panels of the reredos are the most interesting part of the chapel. Like the reredos in the east aisle chapel, this is the work of the first rector's wife, Julia Addison, whose memorial inscription you saw on a column near the Beacon Street entrance.
On the extreme left is St. Alban of Vernlam, a Roman soldier in ancient Britain who, at the cost of his life and to save another, declared himself a Christian. Here he bears a sword and a palm, symbol of martyrdom. Next to St. Alban is St. Barbara, who was incarcerated by her fa-ther for her faith. Prison towers stand symbolically in her hand. In the central panel an angel administers the Communion Chalice to a congregation of the saints. Continuing to the right is St. Elizabeth of Hungary who, according to legend, transformed bread into roses. On the extreme right is St. Augustine of Canterbury (not the St. Augustine seen at the high altar), here entering Canterbury with his banner.
Above the reredos you will see the organ chamber. The first organ at All Saints was given by "thirty men of the Parish" in January 1900, and electrified in 1926. The current instrument is a Casavant pipe organ donated in March of 1961 memorializing two founding members of the Parish, John Avery and Elizabeth Holmes Baldwin.
The Langdon Chapel and the OrganTurn now to face the center of the nave. Upon the occasion of the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of All Saints Parish, in 1969, it was decided to install a nave altar. The purpose was to bring the clergy and the congregation closer together. The hanging cross, the communion rail and the altar were all designed by John Doran of Hoyle, Doran & Berry of Boston. The brass lectern is the original lectern used in the Langdon Chapel.
Click Here to view a 1937 design for the Cross
+ West Aisle Chapel + THREE windows are located in the west wall of the west aisle chapel. The two on the left are the Champlin Windows. George and Julia Champlin not only donated these two historic windows, but, in their wills, left instructions to pay the remaining $50,000 mortgage on the original church and build the present rectory.
The left-hand window is in Mr. Champlin's memory and is Charles Connick's "first representative window." It led to numerous other commissions.
The theme of this 1910 window is Four Great Christians of the First Century.
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George Hobron Champlin Memorial WindowConnick visited and studied in Chartres Cathedral, and some of what he learned is visible in the central window -- the 1912 Julia Champlin Memorial Window. You can easily discern the change in the size of glass pieces and intense colors utilized. One critic called this window the "finest example of European antique glaziery in this country."
Two fathers of the Greek Church and two Virgin Martyrs are represented in this window.
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Julia M. Champlin Memorial WindowTHE third of this trio of west aisle chapel windows is the Saltonstall Window. The famous anecdote associated with this window is that Mrs. Charles K. B. Nevin, the donor, wanted the theme of the window to be Four Women of the Bible; however, she found that she was "hard-pressed to find four women she approved of." The results of the Connick Associates' search are seen in the window.
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Saltonstall Memorial WindowTURNING to the right, on the back wall of the Langdon Chapel, you can see the newest window in All Saints Parish and the last window produced by Connick Associates. The Pepper Memorial Window was dedicated on September 14, 1986, at a service in which many of the Connick Associates were present.
In the 1950s, a sketch was made by the Connick Associates for the small window that faces the Langdon Chapel. It would be dedicated to the Rectors of All Saints Parish and emphasized the sacraments in its design. Funds were not forthcoming, so the window was never fabricated (Click here to view the sketch).
Henry Pepper, a long-time member of All Saints, provided the money in his will for this window. It combines the secular with the spiritual in a unique way for All Saints -- no Saints are depicted
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Pepper Memorial Window+ West Aisle + LEAVING the chapel, proceed along the west aisle toward the rear of the church. The large stained-glass window on your left has been described as "stylistically the finest in the church." It is a memorial to the wife of Edward D. Ver Planck and was dedicated in 1923. This window was designed by Charles Connick to be allegorical in subject matter.
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Ver Planck Memorial Window
Just beyond the Ver Planck Window is a memorial tablet for Lawrence Whitcomb. He was elected to the vestry at the very first Parish meeting on November 1, 1894, and served for eighteen years. Looking up, above the door, is The Rectors Window, the newest stained glass window at All Saints. It was donated anonymously and fabricated at the Willet Studio in Philadelphia. The Window is an abstract design which expresses the dynamic beauty of God's creation and the involvement of God's priestly people moving forward into the new millennium. Surrounding the central design, the window links the nine past and current rectors to Melchizedek, the high priest who ministered to Abraham in Genesis 14:18 and who is invoked in Psalm 110:4: "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek".
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The Rectors WindowContinuing along the aisle, turn right at the last pew and look at the octagonal Baptismal Font of stone. It was given in memory of Charlotte Sanger and inscribed "Blessed are the pure in heart." The exquisitely carved wooden canopy was given as a thank-offering for the recovery of the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eben C. Stanwood. The font and canopy were both designed by Bertram Goodhue. This is the third location for the font: originally placed about fifteen feet east; then, in 1926, moved to the east transept; and finally, in 1969 to its present location.
The following letter was sent by Bertram Goodhue to All Saints' first Rector:
