Category: Divine Stone

Maybe you don’t read blueprints very well. Maybe two dimensional perspective sketches aren’t quite good enough. Well how about a very large scale model of the Cathedral that you can walk inside? Oh yes, now you see it. That is what Heins and La Farge created so that there was no mistaking what their design would look like.

From the December 1900 issue of Carpentry and Building Journal, comes this article. The finished model was displayed in the Leake & Watts building lobby on the Grounds.

“We understand that arrangements have been made for a public exhibition this winter of a complete model of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, now in progress of erection on Cathedral Heights, New York City. The model will be of plaster supported on wood and iron frame work, with sheets of matting for the purpose of keeping the walls firm. The model will be about 50 feet by 25 feet in plan and 35 feet high. It is said that there will be room for 100 or more people to walk inside, and that the architects, Heins and LaFarge, have worked upon this model for nearly two years. The model will be exhibited on the site of the cathedral, and probably small fee will be charged.”

This view is of the interior of the model. It is looking towards the Altar past the Choir area from the future Crossing. The work is highly detailed inside and out.

• Carpentry and Building Journal, December 1900
• All Photos – Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library. 1900. Manhattan: Amsterdam Avenue – Cathedral Parkway

For reference, the Belmont Chapel, later named the Chapel of St. Saviour, began construction at the eastern end of the Cathedral around 1901 (left side of photo). 1899 saw the completion of the great eastern arch (right side of photo). The massive chancel columns were in place at the end of 1904 (center of photo). The picture above shows the choir walls beginning to go up. Cut stone production was in full swing at this time in the first stone shed.

The massive columns defining the Chancel had to be up before the construction of the walls could begin. Once in place, at end of 1904 the walls of the Choir began to go up. The substructure of the walls was granite with the interior facing specified as Frontenac Limestone.

Beginning in 1901, the cutters and carvers created the stone that would decorate the interior of the choir, chancel, including the capitals for those massive columns and for work to continue to finish the first apsidal chapel, the Belmont Chapel. We don’t know the names of these cutters and carvers, nor the masons who set the stones. Their work and the beauty and craftsmanship is there for all to see.

The Sculptors Moved In

Slowly the carvers and sculptors took over the stone shed. They would create the statuary inside and outside the Cathedral. The photo below shows the models for the statues of the apostles. The final placement, high up on the outside walls of the choir, would show off these statues to the world.

Sculptors also carved the reredos for the altar in the stone shed.

Frontenac Limestone was selected by Heins and La Farge from hundreds of samples submitted. It was quarried in Goodhue County, Minnesota along the Mississippi River. It is pale yellow to light cream in color and was used in much of the interior of the Choir, Chancel and Apsidal Chapels. The quarry began production in the 1850’s aided by river travel and slowly ceased operation in the beginning of the 20th century when river commerce was overtaken by the railroads.

• All Photos – Irma and Paul Milstein Division of the United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library
• Minnesota Historical Society

The Historical Parapet at the entrance to the Choir is designed to represent outstanding characters of 20 centuries of christianity. First of all, it is in two sections, one on each side of the steps leading from the Crossing to the Choir. Each section is 18.5 feet long and 4 feet high. It is built mainly of Champville (France) marble, in modified French Gothic Style. The twelve marble columns are alternately green, red and yellow. Furthermore they are of Alps Green from Italy, Rouge de Rance from Italy, and Numidian from Africa, respectively.

The representative character of the nineteen men was the basis for selection. As well, the selectors reviewed their contribution to the development of Christian civilization. The Architects Cram and Ferguson designed the Parapet, Ferrari modeled them. Finally, John Evans Company of Boston carved the figures.

The Evans company reserved the uncarved block for the figure selected at the end of the 20th century. Most noteworthy the front runners in 1922 were Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Lloyd George, and Charles Evans Hughes.

Time to add the 20th Century Carving

When the 20th century ended, the cathedral selected four individuals-unlike the previous centuries, and not all men. Chosen were Martin Luther King, Jr., Albert Einstein, Susan B. Anthony, and Mahatma Ghandi. As a result the task of carving the group from the stone that had been waiting for 78 years, came to Chris Pellettieri. At the time, Pellettieri was an Artist in Residence at the Cathedral and continues that relationship today.

Chris grew up in the neighborhood and attended the Cathedral School and sang in the choir. He remembers walking by the uncarved stone at the parapet as a youngster. After college and some contruction work, he found his way to the apprentice program. Some 30 years later, he remains an accomplished sculptor and carver.

“I was honored when the Cathedral chose me to make a sculpture of some of the most revered people of the 20th Century to stand alongside their existing sculptures. The surrounding carvings were all done in the 1920’s and it was a challenge to meet the high standards of that period as well as to squeeze four figures into the same sized niche as the others.” – Chris Pelletteri

• Untapped New York, 2/13/2014
• Chris Pellettieri web site www.stonecarving.us
• Columbia University Libraries

This touching fictional children’s story, by Mara Rockliff, takes an apprentice stone cutter through her journey as mother and proud worker on the magnificent cathedral. Me and Momma and Big John is gorgeously illustrated by William Low.

From the book jacket: “Momma comes home from work, tired and sore from a long day at her job. She’s a stonecutter now helping to build ‘Big John’ – the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City. She works for many weeks on just one stone, and her son John wonders how she does it. When at last Momma’s stone is finished, her son John can’t wait to see it. But when he arrives at the cathedral, he can’t believe it is just one plain stone – where is Momma’s name? How will all the people know this is Momma’s art?”

“One of the apprentices was a young mother, Carol Hazel, who inspired Me and Momma and Big John. ‘Stonecutting is in my blood’ she says today. ‘The cathedral is a beautiful thing. and beautiful people helped build it.'”

– Mara Rockliff

Images From Me and Momma and Big John

A New York Times article, Feb. 23, 2001, reviewing the closure of the stoneyard and where the apprentices had gone, indicated this: “Carol Hazel, who raised four children as a single mother at the yard, plans to graduate this year from Mercy College with a degree in education”

• Our thanks to Mara Rockliff for letting us present her book. She is the author of many books for children. You can visit her online at www.mararockliff.com.
• Thank you as well to William Low for permission to use images of his wonderful illustrations. He is an award winning illustrator, author and painter. You can see his work at www.williamlow.com.
• This book is available HERE