A guide to the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in the city of New York Fifth Edition — Background and Themes

ls, called the Chapels of Tongues, radiate from the Apse, or semi-circular eastern end of the Choir.

The loftiest features of the elevation are the two towers of the West Front (q. v.) and the great Central Tower above the Crossing. The latter, in the design now under consideration, consists of a dodecagonal lantern, carried up from the square Crossing in two stages, the upper smaller than the lower, and surmounted by a flèche or open-work spire rising to a height of 500 feet (including cross) above the ground.

When completed, the Cathedral will extend from Morningside drive to Amsterdam avenue, more than a tenth of a mile. It will be 601 feet long and 315 feet wide across the Transepts, and, with an area of 109,082 square feet, will be the third largest in the world, St. Peter’s at Rome being first and Seville Cathedral second.

The seating capacity of the Crossing in which the congregation ordinarily sits is 1,500; but on special occasions, when chairs are placed in the Ambulatory and people are admitted to the Choir Stalls, the Cathedral can accommodate about 3,500. When the church is finished, it will seat 7,000 and will accommodate several thousand more standing.

Progress of Construction

The Founder of the Cathedral was the Right Rev. Horatio Potter, (Provisional Bishop 1854-1861 and Bishop of New York 1861-1887), who proposed it in 1872. The charter was granted by the Legislature of the state of New York in 1873. The Right Rev. Henry Codman Potter, (Assistant Bishop 1883-1887 and Bishop of New York 1887-1908), nephew and successor of Bishop Horatio Potter, actively forwarded the movement for raising funds in 1886. The Close was purchased from the Leake & Watts Orphan Asylum by deed dated October 31, 1891. The first service on the ground was held January 1, 1892. The corner-stone was laid on St. John’s Day, December 27, 1892.[9] The first service was held in the Crypt January 8, 1899, and the first service in the Choir and Crossing (being the consecration service) April 19, 1911. Ground was broken for the Nave May 8, 1916, by the Right Rev. David Hummell Greer, (Bishop Coadjutor 1904-1908 and Bishop of New York 1908-1919). The parts thus far built are the Crypt, Choir, seven Chapels of Tongues, Crossing and foundation for the Nave. The Mohegan golden granite for the walls of the Nave is now being quarried near Peekskill, N. Y., and is being delivered on the grounds. Some details of the Choir and Crossing are unfinished. The completed portion of the Cathedral has cost about $4,000,000, and it is estimated that the Nave, West Front, Transepts, Spire, etc., will cost about $15,000,000, making the total estimated cost about $19,000,000.

Visitors to the Cathedral repeatedly ask when it will be finished. It is impossible to answer this question definitely. Some of the cathedrals of the Old World have been seven hundred years in building and are not yet completed. The things which endure the longest are generally of slow growth,[10] and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine is no exception to this rule. It is not a steel-frame structure, but is of massive masonry in the best traditions of Gothic architecture and is being built to stand for ages. Its physical construction must therefore necessarily be slow.

It is to be remembered, also, that the financial resources for the building of a modern cathedral are different from those which supplied the means for building many of the Old World churches. Westminster Abbey was built almost entirely from revenues of the Kings from Henry III. to Henry VII. St. Paul’s in London was partly built by the gifts of penitents who performed their penances in money. Occasionally an ancient shrine grew into a great church in consequence of some tradition or superstition which caused a continuous stream of illustrious persons to shower wealth, privileges and honors upon it. Pope Honorius prescribed collections in all Christendom for the building of Rheims Cathedral. The metropolitan church of St. Rombold’s, in Malines, Belgium, was built with money paid by pilgrims who flocked thither in the 14th and 15th centuries to obtain indulgences issued by Pope Nicholas V.; and the Tour de Beurre (butter tower) of Bourges Cathedral, like the tower of the same name at Rouen, “derives its name from having been erected with money paid for indulgences to eat butter in Lent.” (Baedeker.)