Yep - I'm building a personal prayer chapel here in Wray, Colorado! And yes, it will be open and available to the public for your own prayer use once the construction is finished.
The concrete was readied in June 2019 and we got a good start in July on the construction. The first pics show the basic building is up and the studs and trusses are visible on the interior.
Early August has the roof complete and some of the cement board exterior installed along with basic windows and doors cut out.
By the first two weeks of September we have been able to install the window and door trim, windows and paint the entire exterior and trim of the chapel.
As you can see, the weather wasn't always helpful. Here's what it looked like the day before Halloween!
The north wall ruff-out for the niches and cabinets are ready for the murals.
As of mid November you can see that the outside is complete! But there is lots more to do on the inside.
We had to manufacture all the trim and in-wall cabinets to install in the chapel. Here's just some of those pieces prepped for installation.
The view through the 'back door' shows some of the wiring and technology beginning to take shape.
You can see here that we had to prep the large mural in the house. That included trimming the top and making sure the alignment of the two pieces were right before installation.
The north wall has the 4 cabinets and 3 niches complete without any of the fascia trim. And we have been able to complete the installation of the mural before my brother finished his stint of construction help. The other artwork is pending, but is shown in the mechanical drawings referenced below. The mural painting is titled "Assumption of the Virgin" by the Renaissance painter Titian completed 1516-1518 and is currently located in the Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice, Italy. Here's more information.
Here's the installed mural while we are still under construction. The mural is 11' high (the original is 22' high) and came in two pieces. The company that provided the mural to my specifications was Limitless Walls. They provided excellent service, was able to find the artwork that I was looking for and was very helpful in the process. Since my original order, they also provided 9 other pieces of artwork within the chapel for the cabinet doors, ceiling and over the door. If you are looking for murals, pictures, or even canvas wrapped frames with your own subject matter or theirs, I'm happy to recommend their services.
If you are interested, I have a set of operational drawings available. Remember this is a DIY project so some of the plans will be updated as we build the chapel.
Yes the chapel will stay white as I am naming it the "White Chapel" because it is white but also in loving memory of my two wives Ramona (White) Snyder and Posy (White) Snyder.
Here's Posy and our home (boat) for 5+ of our 28 years together
And here's Ramona, together for 16 years
www.thatwhitechapel.com/construction.html
©Bob Snyder 2019-20
Last updated October 29, 2020