While most Princeton students are still fast asleep at 5 a.m., Jim Sullivan, the University’s head carpenter, is already hard at work inside the iconic University Chapel. In the quiet, pre-dawn hours before morning prayers, Sullivan carefully restores the Chapel’s historic pews, mending their brittle and cracked wooden structures with precision and care.
“I can get a lot done in three hours,” Sullivan, a former scoutmaster who has worked at Princeton for over 20 years, said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.
The pew restoration project gained momentum after the University made the Chapel wheelchair accessible as part of the “Princeton Builds Accessibility” program. Sullivan was recruited to modify one of the historic pews to make room for the installation of a ramp in the Chapel. The University subsequently filed a work order for Sullivan to restore all of the pews.
The project, which has been going on for a year now, has seen roughly half of the pews restored. Sullivan expects his work to continue for another year.
Time is no issue for Sullivan, however. The delicate work of restoring the pews brings him great pleasure, as his work is “in the service of the University community,” he said.
For over 50 years, the Chapel pews have stood as witnesses to the rituals and traditions of Princeton life, offering a space for quiet reflection, solemn ceremonies, and joyous celebrations. Now, Sullivan is giving them a new lease on life, carefully restoring each one using wood from the original pews kept in the Chapel’s basement.
“It’s really a privilege to have such access to a place of such beauty and peace,” Nadia Makuc ’26 said.
Due to what Sullivan described as an “extremely dry” atmosphere inside the Chapel, the wooden pews have become warped over the years. Some of the wood dates back to at least the Civil War, according to a history for the Chapel Choir. In the University woodshop in the MacMillan building, Sullivan uses specialized chisels with small tips to bring the figurines adorning the pews, symbolizing religious icons, back to life.
As students scatter for the summer, Sullivan will continue with his craftsmanship, quietly working to make sure the pews of the Chapel are restored for the next generation of Princetonians.
Ben Goldston is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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