Stop 13. Draper Building and Carrillon

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Draper Building’s most striking feature is a central tower, which rises 154 feet. Although taller and more graceful, it is reminiscent of the central tower of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The projecting wings house classrooms and incorporate recessed arches and other features of Colonial Georgian architecture. Another distinctive feature is the small chapel inside Draper Building. Its stained glass windows are modeled after the windows of Sainte Chapelle in Paris. In the small anteroom to the chapel is a display case with a stone that was gifted to Berea College from the city of Berea (now spelled Veroia) in Greece, which is the namesake of Berea, KY. On the back side of building, below the stained glass windows, more special stones are set into the wall. Some of these stones come from significant places, such as the stone from the vicinity of Jesus’ carpenter shop in Nazareth. Other stones were gifts from significant people, like the stone gifted to Berea College by Mahatma Gandhi. A legend to the side identifies the stones and their significance. Built in 1938, Draper Building was renovated in 2000 for the installation of a 56-bell carillon. A carillon is similar to chimes but with more bells, allowing the player to achieve harmony and rhythm. It is played like a piano or organ. The bells hang stationary, and only the clappers move. The clappers are connected by a series of mechanical linkages to a keyboard in a playing room located directly below the bells. Berea College’s carillon is the largest in Kentucky, weighing 11 tons. The playing room is large enough to accommodate 15-20 people to observe the performance. During the summer months, carillon concerts are presented on the first or second Monday of each month at 7:30 pm, bringing worldrenowned carillonneurs to perform. Seating is provided in the College Quadrangle, and a video monitor allows the audience to see the player in action.

In 2015, a ceramic sculpture of a fish, created by Berea College graduate, Grace McKenzie, was installed in the small courtyard of the Draper Building where there is also a koi fish pond.