Category: Divine Stone

That is the premise of this article in Scientific American from 1927. The Thirteenth Century French style nave is marked by great simplicity and dignity. It has the fundamental characteristics of the cathedrals of Notre Dame, Chartres, Ameins and Rheims. Among these, the interior of St. John’s nave is unmatched for sheer majesty. A review of the building methodology of the nave goes a long way to answer the question. Will it last 5,000 years?

Both the exterior granite and the interior limestone in themselves will last that long. So, what other factors can determine how long that building will last? The author, an engineer, suggests three: design, poor ancillary materials and workmanship. He suggests that St. John’s greatly surpasses, in its structural strength and workmanship, the cathedrals of the Middle Ages.

The Design Compromised by Material Availability

The drawing above compares a pier in Gloucester Cathedral (1100 A.D.) and one of the intermediate piers of St. John’s. The builders of the Twelfth Century Norman Church, and all the later medieval churches, could not afford to construct their piers of cut stone throughout. They built an exterior shell of fine squared stone, from six to twelve inches thick. They then filled the center with a core of rubble set in lime mortar.

When the load of the upper walls came upon such piers, the rubble core settled more readily than the carefully jointed ashlar casing. With the passage of centuries, the mortar frequently disintegrated and the center rubble core lost its bearing quality. The whole load rested on the thin outer shell, which would bend or bulge, flakes of stone splitting off, and the work threatening an early fall.

The more slender intermediate piers of St. John’s have amazingly slender proportions, a diameter of 5 feet to a length of 98 feet. To guard against any buckling under the load they carry, each course became a single granite block. These blocks weigh up to 4 tons each, set with thin cement mortar joints.

Medieval Churches Limited to Small Stone

In those early days, money was scarce and the world had lost many of the secrets of construction, notably that of the making of the cement. This was the ingredient that made for the lasting work of the Romans. It was an age of small stone and mortar construction. Lack of suitable tools and appliances at the quarries, poor roads and inadequate means of transportation had an impact. This and the lack of capital drove the early builders to the use of small size building stone. In binding this material together, they were restricted to the use of lime mortar. Some of this was good, but much of it, as many a catastrophe proved, of wretched quality.

The Main Piers

The main piers measure 11 feet by 16 feet, 3 inches. They consist of a heavy outer casing of multiple ton Indiana limestone with an inner core of massive squared granite blocks. Each granite block weighs between 5.5 and 7 tons.

Towers Collapse and Piers Buckle in Medieval Cathedrals

In both English and French cathedrals built in the Middle Ages there have been many building problems. Chichester, Ely, Wells, Salisbury and Beauvais have experienced these problems as well as tower collapses, failures and the need for heroic measures to shore up the building. The settlement of the masonry under the thrust and counter thrust of vault and flying buttresses have caused much of this.

St. John’s has been designed and built with a careful avoidance of the pitfalls which so often brought disaster to certain medieval churches. The load upon every pier, the thrust against every buttress, has been calculated with close exactness. The crushing strength and the safe limit of loading of each kind of stone are known.

This cross-section illustrates the strength and mass of the abutments. The thrust of the nave vault, great though it may be, will never push these huge masses of out of plumb. They may well be in place for 5,000 years.

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• Building for the Ages, J. Bernard Walker, Scientific American, November 1927
• All images and drawing are from the above article as is the 5,000 Years question.

Jacob & Youngs, contractors for the Nave, had three construction issues to resolve for constructing the Nave. One, to reduce to a minimum the fire hazard of scaffolding; two, the centering of 250 ton stone arches that would crown 120 feet above the floor; and three, a design for the centering system that could adapt itself progressively to an increasing height up to 100 feet, all the while supporting scaffolding and erection derricks. The contractor selected a steel structure to deliver the 90,000 stones.

They erected eight steel towers (4 pairs) to varying heights as needed. These towers would support hoisting rigs, scaffolding and centers. The towers could provide material to the two lines of piers on each side of the Nave, the outside walls, the buttresses and the arch vaulting of the ceiling.

Various passageways and runways honeycomb the steel structure. These are to facilitate transporting material. Six twenty-ton derricks top off the steel towers to move the heaviest material. The derricks have 70 foot booms. The derricks are operated by direct current electric hoists of 50 and 75 horsepower.

The Work Process

Material yards on each side of the building were convenient to the large derricks on the towers. Small hand derricks on the ground move the stones around the yard. A foreman in each yard is responsible for sending up the proper pieces when needed. The limestone arrives carefully wrapped in burlap. Since most of the pieces are small, a number of the them were hoisted on a skip. On the other hand, the large pieces of granite and limestone are hoisted one at a time and deposited in place by the large derricks. Some of the pieces of granite weigh 12 tons. Small hand derricks can place the limestone and smaller granite .

In addition to the two material yards, a shop is maintained on the job where the finishing touches are put upon the carved stone. The cement mortar is mixed by hand in the crypt below the floor. It is placed in wheelbarrows and carried up to the working platform by an elevator operated by a 35-hp. electric hoist.

The ordinary masonry gang consists of a stone setter who is gang boss, fitter, and two derrick men. One of the derrick men assist the fitter and the other operates the bell signal rope to the hoist house on the nave floor. The hoist engineer completes the gang personnel. The gang varies slightly where hand hoists are used exclusively. These gangs are distributed one on each pier and at intervals along the walls. The total labor force numbers 175 to 200 men. David Bell is the superintendent in charge.

Constructing the Nave, Opinion from 1926 – Engineering News Record

“Structurally the Cathedral is medieval. It is true masonry, not concrete and tile and steel. Arch and wall, buttress and pillar are cut and carved stone. In its construction there are some modern touches. Where in old cathedrals the stone was shaped by the mallet and chisel, it is now made ready largely by the stone dressing machine and the pneumatic tool. The former mazes of timber staging and centers are replaced by a comparatively simple supporting structure and working platform of steelwork. The electric elevator and derrick now do the work of hand winches and many human carriers.

Today the old methods would have put the cost beyond count. Even by the measure of modern methods and machines, here was a difficult construction task. There are repeated circumstances, as may be observed on the cathedral work, in laying fine architectural stone masonry where old ways and tools cannot be bettered. No power hoist can surpass the hand winch in convenience and precision in lining in, for example, the stones in the clustered columnar piers. But without modern methods the practicability of such a structure would be doubtful. Out of them come speed and safety and a limited need of workmen. Out of this gain came economy and the possibility of reproducing a medieval type structure at present day prices and wages.”

Engineering News Record, 1926

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• Indiana Limestone Company
• New York Public Library, Digital Collections
• Engineering News Record, Vol. 97, No. 13, September, 28, 1926
• The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Its Progress Pictured, January 1928, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library

We covered the first two chapels built and consecrated in a previous blog, the Chapel of St. Saviour and the Chapel of St. Columba. Private subscriptions built all but one of the seven Chapels of the Tongues. Public subscriptions created the funds for construction of the Chapel of St. Ansgar. The languages of the first immigrant groups to arrive in New York are the reason for the theme of the chapels. Despite diverse languages, these immigrants came together in their worship. They are more human in scale and intimate in their presentation than the main Cathedral. The donors could use their own architect and the subsequent designs. Their construction could proceed separate from the overall construction of the Cathedral. Below are the remaining Chapels of the Tongues.

The Chapel of St. James

Henry Vaughan designed this chapel, dedicated 0n May 2, 1916. The exterior is rectangular in plan. It has a crenelated parapet at the roof and pinnacles on buttresses. It is pure English Gothic architecture of the 14th century. The interior walls are Bedford Indiana Limestone. It is 60 feet ling and 39 feet wide. This chapel seats 250 and has its own Skinner organ. The chapel was the gift of Elizabeth Scrivian Potter, wife of Bishop Henry Codman Potter.

The altar is gray Knoxville Tennessee marble and has elaborate limestone reredos. The tomb of Bishop Potter is in the chapel. It is Siena marble with the figure of the Bishop in Serevezza marble.

Many special people have been married in the chapel dedicated to the Spanish immigrants and the patron saint of Spain.

The Chapel of St. Ambrose

Carrere & Hastings designed the chapel, dedicated to the Italian community of New York City. It is considered Modern Renaissance style. The dedication of the chapel occurred in 1914. Sara Whiting Rives gifted the chapel.

The exterior of the Chapel of St. Ambrose is characterized by the half round windows. The Chapel is 50 feet long by 27 feet wide. The floor is inlaid with grey Siena, red Verona and cream colored cenere marble. Rosata marble lines the side walls. The altar and retable are of white alabaster.

The Chapel of St. Martin of Tours

On the exterior there are fleur de lis in quatrefoils. There are large, narrow pointed arch windows with single lights in the basement. The chapel honors French speaking immigrants. Clementina Furniss gifted the chapel designed by Cram & Ferguson and dedicated in 1918. As a Roman soldier, St. Martin clothed a beggar with half his cloak. This chapel,reserved for private devotion, is not included on any tour for visitors.

The interior style is 13th Century Gothic. The pavement is Tennessee pink marble, bordered by Belgian black marble. Indiana limestone lines the interior walls. In the chapel is the statue of Joan of Arc by Anna Hyatt Huntington. Sitting near the statue is a rough stone from the Rouen cell that imprisoned her. The free standing marble altar stands on red marble pillars.

The Chapel of St. Boniface

The exterior features Gutzon Borglum statues in niches of buttresses. They are Charlemagne, Alcuin, Gutenberg and Luther. The chapel dedicated on February 29, 1916 honors German speaking immigrants. The George Sullivan Bowdoin family gifted the chapel. Henry Vaughn designed This chapel. It is a pure specimen of English Gothic architecture of the 14th Century. Vaughn was the original architect for the Washington National Cathedral.

Indiana limestone walls are the interior. The pavement, sanctuary steps and altar consist of pink Knoxville marble with a heavy black border of Belgian marble. The altar is of grey Tennessee marble. The chapel is 48.5 feet long by 28 feet wide.

The Chapel of St. Ansgar

The exterior is rectangular in plan with parapets of quatrefoil tracery. There are pinnacles on the buttresses. Henry Vaughan designed the chapel again in the style of 14th Century Gothic. It is 66 feet long and 41 feet wide. Public subscriptions gifted the chapel in memory of William Reed Huntington. On April 3, 1918 it was dedicated to the needs of Scandinavian Christians.

The Chapel is double-sized similar to St James Chapel. The altar and the statues of the reredos are grayTennessee marble, given by Mrs. Julia Grinnell Bowdoin. The pavement is pink Tennessee marble and mottled Vermont marble. On the ambulatory side of the entrance are statues of St. Ansgar and St. John the Baptist carved by the John Evans and Company of Boston.

Stones from the Lady Chapel of Worcester Cathedral and stones from Ely Cathedrals are located in St. Ansgar’s Chapel.

Must See

As I finish this blog, I wish I could have found more and better images of these beautiful chapels, inside and out. The combination of cut stone and carved stone along with carved wood and stained glass make these amazing structures. Each is different in design and embellishments.

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• New York Public Library Digital Collection
• Columbia University, Digital Images Collection
• Morningside Heights: A History of Its Architecture and Development, Andrew Dolkart
• A Guide to the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in the city of New York, Edward Hagaman Hall
• The Living Cathedral, St. John the Divine, A History and Guide, Howard E. Quirk
• Previous blog about St. Saviours and St. Columba’s Chapels. https://divinestone.org/blog/the-seven-chapels-of-tongues/

Where John Angel left off in 1940, Simon Verity finishes in 1996. On the left in the above image we see the anteater-like carving on the periphery of the Portal of Paradise by the sculptor John Angel. On the right, looking at the curious grotesque, we see the dog carved by Simon Verity. This intersection of carvings, some 50 years apart, calls out the difference in style between these two. Angel used the Renaissance technique of creating clay models for the carvers, then carving final details where needed. Verity, trained in the Gothic tradition, used no models. He carved directly into the stone working from sketches and drawings. This little corner of the Portal of Paradise leads us from John Angel to Simon Verity.

There is more to the story. Let’s look at a little larger view of this area.

The statue of Noah by Simon Verity is part of the Portal of Paradise statues. The face of Noah is that of James Parks Morton, Cathedral Dean. Verity used many Cathedral and neighborhood people as models. The dog is Dean Morton’s beloved Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Pepe.

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• Tom Fedorek’s Video Series the Portal of paradise – Episode 4
• American Gargoyles – Spirits In Stone, Darlene Tree Crist, Photography by Robert Llewellyn

A reredos is a decorative screen above and behind the high altar. The reredos was structurally separate from the altar ( as compared to retables, a similar paneled, decorative screen attached to the altar back). Highly carved stone or wood panels provide niches for statues and the religious iconography. We are going to explore the evolution of the Cathedral reredos and look into the question of where did the reredos go.

The image below shows the reredos under construction in June of 1909. This was a period that involved the many decorative elements of the interior of the Choir and the Chancel. Architect George Lewis Heins had died in 1907 and his partner Christopher Grant LaFarge was still supervising work on the Cathedral. Their contract, however, ended with the death of one of the partners.

Limestone, cut and carved for the screen, came from The Pierre de Lens quarry in Mouleon, France. This creamy white Oolitic limestone has a fine compact grain structure very suitable for carving and sculpture.

Sculpted Clay Models

Carl Bitter modeled the sculpture of Christ. Leo Lentelli of Barr, Thaw & Fraser carved it. Otto Jahnsen modeled the other figures. They were all carved by Barr, Thaw & Fraser. Following are images of those models:

The completed reredos is part of the 1911 consecration of the partial Cathedral.

The New Architect Weighs In

The altar screen was perhaps a little underwhelming in the context of the Heins & LaFarge era Choir and Sanctuary. We know that Ralph Adams Cram, the successor consulting architect, praised those in Seville. In a letter to Bishop Manning in 1935, Cram wrote –

“Having lived in the shadow, so to speak, of the Seville reredos, I realize its incomparable majesty and its unique place in the sphere of religious art. I thought I could visualize the cathedral, when once the choir is reconstructed and the great screen taken down, with this great area of smoldering gold drawing the whole thing together”

– Ralph Adams Cram

Perhaps the best example of reredos is in St. Thomas Church in Manhattan. The church was designed by the partnership of Cram and Goodhue. Architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue and sculptor Lee Lawrie designed the reredos. It was carved by the Ardolino Brothers. The church opened in 1913.

Bishop Manning Presides over Removal of the Reredos

On October 14, 1945, a special service marked the new appearance of the high alter and sanctuary. Bishop Manning, clerical members, trustees and staff gathered on the steps leading to the sanctuary. A curtain hid the altar area while the altar screen was being razed. The curtain was removed to reveal an unobstructed view from the great western entrance to the eastern window at the back of the chapel of St. Saviour.

Closing the ceremony, Bishop Manning said:

The altar now stands out clearly and dominantly, as it should…those majestic columns around the apse have now come into their own. They were partly hidden and rendered ineffective by the reredos.

– Bishop William T. Manning

In closing, the Bishop expressed appreciation to Canon Edward N. West for the part he played in suggesting this important change and working with the architects to make it happen.

The Senior Guide tells us the rest of the story

Some months ago, I asked Tom Fedorek, Senior Guide and Cathedral historian, what may have happened to the carvings. As I read the words “razed” and “demolished” in various articles I feared the worse. Tom told me that there were remains and he would fill me in. He told me the cross below, now in the Bishops Green was originally atop the reredos.

The One-Hundred Year old statues are in the Crypt

In the Crypt, Tom has identified all but two of the nine statues that made up the reredos.

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• New York Public Library, Digital Collections
• Museum of the City of New York
• Special thanks to Tom Fedorek for his knowledge of the Cathedral