Like the hospital it serves, the Desloge Chapel was underwritten by gifts from the family of Firmin V. Desloge, one of the oldest French families in the United States and wealthy through lead mining and other endeavors. Firmin's wife Lydia Holden Davis Desloge gave $100,000 to build the chapel. Roman Catholic Archbishop John Glennon laid the cornerstone of the hospital on June 22, 1931, and consecrated the chapel on November 9, 1933. In 1952, the funeral of the founder's son, Firmin V. Desloge II, was held at the chapel. In 1998, Saint Louis University sold the Chapel, along with the Hospital, to Tenet Healthcare Corp., a for-profit chain based in Dallas. In 2015, the university bought back the hospital, then sold it to SSM Health, the Creve Coeur-based health care system sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of Mary, formerly Sisters of Saint Mary.
Design
The stained glass windows were planned by Father Maurice B.McNamee, designed by Rodney Winfield, and fabricated by Emil Frei Associates in 1983. An artisan since 1898, Emil Frei also designed the stained glass windows for St. Louis University's St. Francis Xavier Church. An earlier plan, with windows depicting Jesuit missions in North America, was created by the firm of Reynolds, Francis & Rohnstock of Boston. At the altar is a major sculptural group of the Crucifixion by John Angel, the British-born sculptor, medallist, and lecturer.
Future
As of October 2015, SSM Health was planning to spend $500 million to rebuild and expand the hospital. Various media reported that the options under consideration include demolishing the Chapel and the 1933 hospital tower; SSM officials say they have not ruled that out. Desloge scion Christopher Desloge has launched an effort to preserve the chapel and hospital that his family helped build. The original architectural firm of Ralph Adams Cram which designed Desloge Chapel in 1931 has, eighty-five years later in 2016, joined the list of Stakeholders signing a letter to the owner SSM appealing for preservation. In November 2016, St. Louis University released its redevelopment plans for the area. The plan does not call for demolishing Desloge Chapel, leading the St. Louis Post Dispatch to report that "the iconic Firmin Desloge tower along Grand Boulevard appears safe for now."
