The Octagonal, domed brick chapel is built in Georgian Colonial style and is characterized by classical portico supported by columns.

[6] Due to the leadership change and campus master planning delays, construction of the chapel began late in January 1929 and was completed in June 1930.

[7] Despite the challenges posed by the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression, the Chapel was completed on time and opened immediately after to the university community.

[10] The contract valued just under $600,000 was awarded to the A. E. Stephens Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, in November 1928,[11][12] who built it in Georgia limestone and brick.

[13][16] The interior of the chapel is decorated with three verses in gilded lettering circle — two from the Gospel of John and one from 2 Corinthians – which are the building's only permanent religious symbol.

[13] The chapel was established with a board made up of both faculty and students, and the program consisted of three phases: worship, religious education, and personal and social relations.

[22][23] The Syracuse-in-China program was an outcome of a Hendrick chapel committee and it brought many Syracuse students to Chongqing, China, establishing a school there circa 1933.

[24] In 1980, with the listing of the "Old Row" Comstock Tract Buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, the chapel was added as a contributing property.

[1][2] The Chapel is home to ten chaplaincies, including Baptist, Buddhist, Evangelical Christian, Hindu, Historically Black Churches, Jewish (Hillel), Lutheran, Muslim, Methodist, and Roman Catholic.

[29] The chapel adopted a policy that allowed for the appointment of a Dean who was not necessarily affiliated with the institution's traditional Methodist religious backing.

[50] In May 1970, the chapel was the staging site for about 2,000 Syracuse student striking to protest the U.S. military forces' bombing of Vietnam,[33][51] and remained open 24 hours daily.

[53][54][55] The chapel has hosted speakers from variety of backgrounds including politicians and government officials (Hillary Clinton,[56][57] Ron Paul,[58] Madeleine Albright[59]), authors (George Saunders,[60] Jelani Cobb[46] Charles Blow & Ross Douthat[61]), academics (David McCullough,[62] Dacher Keltner[63]), and public figures (Al Sharpton,[64] Don McPherson[65] Forest Whitaker,[66] Soledad O’Brien & Wes Craven,[67] Karen Armstrong[68]) among others.

[73] In 1980, Rena Pierson Dankovich Chapel was donated,[74] along with vestments and religious articles serving the world's major faiths and in 1985 a five-year interior and exterior restoration effort was completed at the cost of $1.2 million.

[80] People's Place actively participates in issues both on and beyond University Hill, and has been known to close or offer free coffee and baked goods in response to important events on campus.