Architectural Sketch: Chapel of St. Sylvia

Architect Arnold William Brunner's pen sketch for the Roman Catholic Chapel of St. Sylvia demonstrates the architect's design process during the late nineteenth century. The drawing captures a wooden-frame chapel with a distinctive tall spire, featuring the modest proportions and ornamental detailing characteristic of American ecclesiastical architecture of the period. Brunner's loose, confident linework renders the building's essential forms—the pitched roof, graduated window placement, and prominent tower—establishing the visual hierarchy that would guide construction. This preliminary study exemplifies how architects translated conceptual sketches into built structures, preserving the designer's hand in the archival record of American architectural practice.