Standing for 73 years before the current building, Appleton Chapel was home to religious life at Harvard until 1932.

Its namesake is preserved inside Memorial Church, as the Appleton Chapel portion of the main building houses the daily service of Morning Prayer.

[2] The University Architects Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott, were enlisted to design the new building, and they planned a structure that would complement the imposing edifice of Widener Library.

The current Memorial Church was built in 1932 in honor of the men and women of Harvard University who died in World War I.

[2] The knight's face in The Sacrifice was modelled on the British World War I flying ace, Ian Henderson.