November 2023 - Divine Stone

Hats, Caps and Scarves — Wearing her trademark headscarf Arlene “Poni” Baptiste poses for a portrait on Feb. 24, 1981.

The Cathedral cutting and carving sheds were always filled with the sounds of chisels and mallets chipping away at limestone blocks. And with the chipping, limestone dust filled the air and settled on every surface, especially one’s hands and head. The fashion trends in the stone yard demonstrate some solutions.

Fashion Trends in the Stone Yard — Without a hat to protect, limestone chips are caught in Nils Peele’s hair while he works on a stone on Oct. 3, 1980.

Many cutters and carvers resorted to conventional headgear to keep away the dust but some brought style and fashion flair with their hats and scarves. Two trend setters that stood out from the rest were Timothy Smith and Arlene “Poni” Baptiste.

One of the five original apprentice stone cutters, Timothy sported an array of berets, straw hats and baseball caps. Timothy recently said, “I love hats. I see a good hat and I buy it. I just collect them.” He added, “We were always outside and a hat was important.”

Fashion trends at the stone yard — Timothy Smith sports a straw hat with wide brim while cleaning out excess stone from a large block on July 8, 1981.

Timothy’s berets often included pins with military insignias that he would buy from Army Navy stores and add to his hats.

Fashion trends at the the stone yard — Timothy Smith takes a break from cutting stone as he puffs on his pipe on Oct. 3, 1980. The insignia on his hat is from The Gloucestershire Regiment, an infantry regiment of the British Army. Tim said he probably bought the pin at an Army Navy store and added it to his beret.

While many women stone cutters and carvers simply wrapped a kerchief around their heads to protect them from the stone dust,

Arlene “Poni” Baptiste was without doubt the stone yard fashionista. She brought an Afro-Caribbean splash of colors and patterns to the long headscarves she always wore. She looked like a Nubian Queen with her elaborately tied scarves that fell onto her shoulders.

Poni explains that the head coverings “often began as just an interesting piece of printed fabric. Some were colorful scarves I bought or was given to me by family and friends because of my well known preference for wearing them.”

“The key is choosing a symmetrical central pattern. A starburst, for instance folded just right yields a radiant crown. Then there is the tying. A knot in the back ain’t quite enough, but twisting the two ends then wrapping and lacing them around my head results in a neat finish.”

And because of the dusty environment she worked in, Poni adds “there is also simply the practical side of it.

My dreads stayed dust free in a stone yard.”

Timothy comments that Poni’s fashion style was “fantastic, so individual and unique. She was also a great stone cutter.”

The stone cutting shed could be frigid in winter so the crew employed an assortment of headgear — from tweed caps to hoodies fastened over hats to thick wool knit hats — to keep the body warm. The fashion trends in the stone yard turned practical.

When work began on the south tower, construction supervisor Stephen Boyle would frequently be seen wearing a hard hat. Others wore them on and off depending upon how hot the temperature got while they were setting stones.

On one occasion hard hats were not meant to keep heads safe from falling objects. The helmets were ceremonial and celebratory on Sept. 29, 1982 when clergy and dignitaries wore blue hard hats to mark the resumption of construction of the tower after a 41-year hiatus. Bishop Paul Moore, usually wearing his imposing miter, swapped it for a hard hat, which he raised in celebration to all assembled.

Bishop Moore — Bishop Paul Moore doffs his hard hard to the crowd during the ceremony marking resumption of the Cathedral’s construction after a 41-year hiatus on Sept. 29, 1982.

One particular hat had a long life at the stone yard, passing from one stone carver to another. Cynie Linton remembers buying a painter’s style brimless hat at a vintage clothing store in Greenwich Village.

“It was the hat I wore the majority of my eight years as a stone cutter and carver,” Cynie said, the hat “kept stone bits and dust out of my hair.”

When Cynie left the Cathedral for architectural school she passed the hat on to new apprentice Treese Robb. “I don’t actually remember giving it to her…I must have been in a generous and expansive mood,” Cynie said facetiously.

Treese remembers, “I admired Cynie’s hat and she had beautiful wavy hair,” adding that Cynie looked “so darling in that hat.”

All these years later, Treese still has the hat.

Note to Treese: Cynie misses that hat and wishes she had it back.

More Fashion Trends in the Stone Yard

While working for several years on the Portal of Paradise Simon Verity always worked outdoors. He often wore floppy wide brimmed hats to keep to sun out of his face.

Yves Piere — While working for several years on the Portal of Paradise Simon Verity always worked outdoors. He often wore floppy wide brimmed hats to keep to sun out of his face.

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All the images in this article were taken by Robert F. Rodriguez during his decade plus time documenting the activities in the stone yard of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City.

The Ardolinos

Many of the cathedral’s stone carvings were produced by the Ardolinos who immigrated from Torre La Nocelle, Campania, Italy late in the 19th Century . The Ardolino brothers, Eduardo and Clamanzio Celestino joined at times by their cousins Raffaele and Dominico, also brothers, worked for years at the cathedral, often carrying out the designs of sculptor John Angel.

Ermalindo Eduardo Ardolino

Known as Edward Ardolino, he was an Italian born American stone carver and architectural sculptor of the early twentieth century. He is the most well known member of the Ardolino family of stone carvers. He worked with leading architects and sculptors, including architect Bertram Goodhue and sculptors Lee Lawrie and John Angel. The Ardolinos participated in carvings at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine as the building progressed as evidenced in photos and clerk-of-works reports from 1909 into the 1930’s. The Ardolino’s work is in the nave, baptistery, multiple west front carvings and includes carvers Ralph (Raffaelle) and his son Arthur. They worked under architects Heins & LaFarge and Ralph Adams Cram.

Edward Ardolino was born into a long line of stone carvers in Torre Le Nocelle, Province of Avellino, Italy. On his 1898 immigration, when he was 14, he identified himself as a sculptor. He was joining his older brother Charles (Clamanzio Celestino) Ardolino who was a stone carver in Boston. Together they formed Ardolino Brothers. They contracted others, including cousin Ralph (Angelo Raffaelle) Ardolino to assist in fulfilling their commissions. Later, Charles retained Ardolino Brothers and Eduardo created Edward Ardolino, Inc. In 1907, Edward Ardolino married Nicolina de Cristofaro. The Cristofaro’s were another stone carving family originating from Torre Le Nocelle.

Collectively, the Ardolinos worked on sculptural carvings on hundreds of buildings in the U.S. and Canada. They employed as many as 32 carvers at one time. Outstanding among them are the Los Angeles Public Library, the Nebraska State Capitol and four buildings in the Federal Triangle of Washington, D.C. Most of the Goodhue/Lawrie collaborations fulfilled in conjunction with Ardolino were invited into historic registers or achieved landmark status.

A Famous Photograph

A much circulated photo “working on an angel” is of an Ardolino carver taken in 1909. This photo is of the carving of a capital atop the monumental columns in the chancel area of the cathedral. The capital is the design of the architect George B. Post.

It seems that of all the Ardolinos involved in the work at the cathedral, based on their ages and photos that this is Charles (Clamanzio Celestino) Ardolino above.

Clamanzio Celestino Ardolino 1922 Passport Photo. Image from The Genealogy of Torre Le Nocelle, Italy

Those capitals, modeled by Mr. Post, were carved in-situ from clay models, working 60 feet above the altar floor.

Chancel Capitals — Clay model positioned between two chancel column capitals

Raffaelle Ardolino

Ralph (Raffaelle) Ardolino emigrated to the United States in 1888. He had apprenticed under his stone carver father in Torre Le Nocelle, Campania, Italy. He later studied at a fine arts academy in Florence. By the time he was 18 years old he had mastered the art of sculpting and was adept at every phase of working in stone. He also learned the blacksmith’s trade, as many carvers did, to be able to forge, repair and sharpen their own tools.

Ralph came to live in the Boston area where his cousins owned the carving firm, Ardolino Brothers. When the cousins moved to New York, Ralph did not follow them; instead, he eventually moved to Tampa. In Tampa he operated a monument business and executed several sculpting commissions. By 1918 he had moved his family to Brooklyn.

Although Ralph worked extensively for Edward Ardolino Inc. he also had commissions of his own as a freelance sculptor. As well, he worked on the Lincoln Memorial, employed by the Piccirilli Brothers, and in addition to carving did much of the lettering at the monument. Ralph and his son Arthur worked on many projects at the Cathedral. He traveled to worksites throughout the country but always returned to the brownstone he owned at 240 Bergen Street in Brooklyn, New York.

Lincoln Memorial Lettering — Lettering by expert stone cutter and sculptor Ralph Ardolino.

Trips to the Jersey Shore

The New York community of Italian carvers and sculptors would regularly take weekend trips on the excursion boat, Mary Patton, to the Jersey Shore.

The boat would leave Friday night and come back Sunday night. Anyway, one weekend when he was down here he decided that maybe the place to be was Long Branch. He would stay here reading magazines containing carving and sculpting bids, and send off estimates to companies around the country. Then the business began to drop off, and by 1928 there were only 86 carvers in the New York union. There was less stone being used in building and less carving.
Ralph Ardolino, Jr.

So Ralph Sr. went looking and found an old monument shop in West Long Branch, put all his savings into it and brought all the Ardolinos to New Jersey. By the time the business was established in 1929, all of his sons had completed their apprenticeship in the trade. Dan handled drafting and sales, Ralph Jr. took care of the business end and Arthur and Carl took care of the stone carving work in the shop.

In 1980, the Ardolino sons were all in their seventies and they closed their doors. One further generation of Ardolinos remained in Long Branch. Richard Ardolino cuts letters for cemetery monuments as of an account in 2009.

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A Socioeconomic Study Exploring the Immigration of Artisan Stone Carvers from Italy to the United States of America circa 1830-1920, Russ Joseph Morris, The College of Staten Island.
The Amazing Monument Men of Monmouth County, Monmouthtimeline.org
ABOUT NEW JERSEY Tombstone Artisans: A Family Affair, New York Times, January 8, 1978
Correspondence between Gail Iamello Deninger and Wayne Kempton, Cathedral archivist
The Genealogy of Torre le Nocelle, Italy,