Immaculate Conception Chapel at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Pennsylvania
October 28, 2026
Architects: Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP
Location: 1400 Evans Rd, Ambler, PA 19002, United States
Photos by Jeffrey Totaro
A New Home for a 155-Year Tradition: VMA’s Immaculate Conception Chapel at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
Light, craft and inherited liturgical art defining a new chapter of seminary worship
VMA’s new 220-seat chapel brings historic furnishings and sacred art from the Seminary’s former Overbrook campus into a contemporary setting for worship and priestly formation.
Voith & Mactavish Architects (VMA) designed the new Immaculate Conception Chapel at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Ambler, Pennsylvania. After 155 years at its historic campus in Lower Merion, the Seminary required a new, consolidated home—one bringing together classrooms, offices, a dining center, library, chapel, and residences for seminarians and priests, while recreating the close-knit community of its former grounds. The Immaculate Conception Chapel anchors the new 150,000sf campus, both physically and spiritually.
Designed as a wing of the Student Life Center, the chapel is woven directly into the daily rhythm of seminary life. Its 220-seat interior takes the form of a nave with tiered antiphonal seating facing a central aisle, allowing seminarians to chant the Divine Office in facing choirs, while additional congregational seating beneath a large choir balcony accommodates faculty, staff, and guests during larger liturgies.
The chapel’s vaulted form draws directly on the two chapels of the Seminary’s former Overbrook campus, and much of what defined those original spaces has found new life here. Stained-glass windows— twelve relocated to the nave walls and one to the ceiling of the chancel—cast light across reconfigured and refinished pews and faculty choir stalls. The marble altar and ambo were redesigned using elements drawn from several altars at the old campus, and statuary including the Stations of the Cross, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, were carefully restored and reinstalled. In the narthex, the Marian shrine, Drexel Crucifix, and holy water font continue their long-standing role of welcoming worshippers, and the Seminary’s historic bell now rings from a new bell tower.
The same interplay of light and craftsmanship gives the sanctuary its character day to day. The space is animated by sound as much as by sight: the cadence of daily prayer, and now the tones of a new pipe organ, Opus 64, built with two manuals, 23 ranks, and 43 stops. A processional aisle shapes the rhythm of ritual, guiding entrance and exit rites.
Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception, the chapel carries Marian references throughout—from a Miraculous Medal floor inlay to its consecration on a Marian feast day. The design honors the past while embracing the present—modern AV systems extend the Seminary’s celebrations beyond the chapel walls, carrying its liturgical life to a wider community.
Immaculate Conception Chapel at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Pennsylvania, USA – Building Information
Architecture and Interior Design: Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP – https://voithandmactavish.com/
The chapel carries St. Charles Borromeo’s 155-year history into its next chapter—a space built for worship, formation, and the seminarians who will come after.
- Address: 1400 Evans Rd, Ambler, PA 19002, United States
- Size: 4,000 sf
- Project Completion: 2025
- Client: St Charles Borromeo Seminary Services
- Provided: Architecture, Planning
Project Team
- John H. Cluver, FAIA, LEED AP, CPHC – Partner in Charge
- Robert Duke, Senior Project Manager
- Nathaniel Gotcher, Architect
- Ricky Jimenez Del Valle, Architect
- Daniela Holt Voith, FAIA, ASID, IIDA, LEED AP BD+C
- Sennah Loftus, AIA, LEED BD+C
Consultants
- Interior Design: Voith & Mactavish Architects
- Structural Engineer: O’Donnell & Naccarato Structural Engineers
- MEP Engineer and Lighting Consultant: Alderson Engineering
- Civil Engineer: Bohler Engineering
- Acoustic Consultant: Acentech
- Owner’s Representation: Aegis Property Group
- Construction Manager: W.S. Cumby
Architecture: Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP
Based in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and New York, we are a team of forty architects, planners, and designers who believe great architecture comes from innovation within the context of tradition.
VMA draws inspiration from traditional building principles to create architecture that responds to the places and organizations we engage with. We strive to reach a deep understanding of the social, cultural, and physical contexts of the project, in order to design solutions that reflect our clients’ heritage, values, and aspirations. Guided by our core values: innovation, beauty, and sustainability, we craft exceptional architecture that considers each project’s long-term environmental impact for future generations.
We pride ourselves on our commitment to thoughtful collaboration with our clients. By combining our deep expertise with our willingness to listen and ask hard questions, we work with our clients to create architecture that helps organizations grow, advancing their built forms in line with their missions.
Founded in 1988, we are led by founding partner Daniela Voith and four additional partners—John Cluver, Sennah Loftus, Robert Douglass, and Scott O’Barr—making us Philadelphia’s longest-continuously operating woman-owned architecture practice. Today, our diverse team of over 40 members is JUST and WBENC-certified and operates with consistent and meaningful care for pressing social and environmental concerns.
Photographs: Jeffrey Totaro
Immaculate Conception Chapel at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Pennsylvania images / information received 281026
Location: 1400 Evans Rd, Ambler, Pennsylvania 19002, United States of America
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