Stanford Memorial Church: Jane Stanford's Mosaic Memorial and How It Survived Two Quakes

Look straight down Palm Drive toward the Main Quad and the building you see at the end is Stanford Memorial Church, known on campus as MemChu.

A memorial for Leland Stanford

According to Stanford's Office for Religious & Spiritual Life (ORSL), the church was built in memory of Sen. Leland Stanford, who died in 1893. Construction began in 1899. Wikipedia says the church was dedicated on Jan. 25, 1903, and that a rabbi from San Francisco's Congregation Emanu-El read the first Bible lesson. That fit Jane Stanford's wish for a nondenominational church. ORSL says the church and much of the original campus were designed by Charles A. Coolidge, a protégé of architect Henry Hobson Richardson.

ORSL tells a story of Jane Stanford checking the depth of the stone carving with the tip of a notched umbrella. It calls this a legend.

The mosaics

The mosaics came from the Antonio Salviati studios in Venice. ORSL says Jane Stanford asked for a mosaic copy of Cosimo Roselli's Last Supper from the Sistine Chapel and wanted women and men equally represented in the work. The exterior mosaic on the facade is 84 feet wide and 30 feet tall. ORSL says it took 12 men two years to complete and was then the largest mosaic in America.

Two earthquakes

Jane Stanford died in 1905. ORSL says that in the April 18, 1906, earthquake, the clock tower and spire plunged through the roof and blew out the north face with its mosaic. The church was rebuilt without the tower. The mosaics were recreated from original drawings preserved in Italy, and the work was finished by 1917. The Oct. 17, 1989, Loma Prieta earthquake damaged mosaics of archangels inside, and the church reopened in 1993.

Visiting

ORSL's visit page describes the church as closed to visitors during a closure. It offers a 360-degree virtual tour and a printable self-guided tour, and says Sunday worship services continue and all are welcome. It also lists a labyrinth walk on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Check the page for current access before you go. The Cantor Arts Center is a short walk away.