Designed in 1921 by Ralph Adams Cram in his signature style, it was built by the University between 1924 and 1928 at a cost of $2.3 million.

The main sanctuary consists of a narthex, a gallery, a nave, two transepts joined by a crossing, and an elevated choir.

The iconography was planned by Albert M. Friend, a faculty member in Princeton's Department of Art and Archaeology, with the goal of portraying, in one scholar's words, a "synthesis between Christian faith and modern thought.

A nondenominational chapel, it hosts weekly ecumenical Christian services and daily Catholic Masses.

[4][5] Ralph Adams Cram, the university's supervising architect, designed and oversaw construction of the new chapel.

Cram sought to build a crown jewel for the Collegiate Gothic motif he had championed on the Princeton campus.

[2] The university's president, John Grier Hibben, also had a stake in the project: student hostility toward Princeton's brand of mainline Presbyterianism was on the rise.

An ordained minister, Hibben hoped the new chapel's majesty would inspire students to attend services of their own volition.

[6] Albert M. Friend, a faculty member in Princeton's Department of Art and Archaeology, played a central role in planning the iconography.

[6] Hibben called replacing the Marquand Chapel "an immediate necessity";[10] nonetheless, the project encountered financial problems early on.

Ground was broken during Princeton's commencement ceremonies in June 1924, and in the following year Cram and Hibben laid the cornerstone.

[12][13] On March 13, 1960, less than six weeks after the first of the Greensboro sit-ins, Martin Luther King Jr., delivered a sermon at the chapel.

[19][20] Following the restoration, the chapel was rededicated in an interfaith ceremony in which people belonging to Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism gave prayers.

[21] Leading the ceremony, then-Dean of Religious Life Thomas Breidenthal said, "This edifice is unmistakably Christian, [but] this chapel is meant to belong to all of us.

[27] The garden of evergreens was designed by H. Russell Butler, Jr.[28] On the chapel's south side are an additional door at ground level to the east and an exterior pulpit, designed after one at Magdalen College, Oxford,[6] and named Bright Pulpit, in honor of John Bright.

[30] Cram resigned as Princeton's supervising architect over the inclusion of the arch, which he disliked;[31] nonetheless, he participated in the chapel's 1928 dedication ceremony.

A statue of a pelican, a religious symbol associated with Corpus Christi, sits atop the sundial, which was presented to Princeton in 1907 by William Mather, then the governor of Victoria University of Manchester.

The model for the tympanum above the main, west entrance was designed and sculpted in clay by John Angel and carved in stone by Edward Ardolino.

[25] Running west to east, the main sanctuary consists of a narthex, a gallery, a nave, two transepts joined by a crossing, and an elevated choir;[41] it seats almost 2,000.

[43] Another inscription, from Psalm 100, refers to Westminster Choir College, which holds its commencement ceremonies in the chapel.

[46][47] The pews in the nave are constructed from wood originally intended for Civil War gun carriages; over 100 carvers spent more than a year producing the intricate carvings.

[49] The southern transept is named for Chester Alwyn Braman, the first donor to the University Chapel Fund.

The altar and the choir stalls were built and carved by Irving and Casson, A. H. Davenport Company, in Sherwood Forest oak;[52] Cram speculated that the wood may have dated from the time of Robin Hood.

[58][59] The chapel's iconography consists of over 10,000 square feet (930 m2) of stained glass[60] as well as stonework and wood carvings.

Milliner notes that images of historical and legendary people carved into the choir's woodwork "reflect the intended seating during a Chapel ceremony".

Behind the altar are carved images of eight religious figures: four Catholic saints to the north, and four leaders of Protestantism to the south.

In an ecumenical touch, the north and south are symbolically united by "The Love of Christ" in the Great East Window.

[70] Stained glass windows telling the story of the Book of Job are set into the walls of the staircases between the narthex and the gallery.

[2] Other windows show Baruch Spinoza[72] and Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi;[30] both images were planned before the chapel was built.