Category: Profiles in Stone

Categories
Profiles in Stone

The Starting Five

The Starting Five

The Starting Five apprentices are pictured above with Chris Hannaway, Master Mason. Starting in December of 1978, hundreds of applications and inquiries poured in to Dean Morton’s office. Questions about the hiring of apprentices for the soon to be opened stone yard tied up 3 phone lines in the office, according to Odessa Elliot. They came out of the neighborhoods and they approached the Dean on the street. He recruited five young people, including two former street gang members, for the first class. After a hiatus of 37 years, construction would begin again. James Bambridge, Master Builder, secured Chris Hannaway to train the apprentices.

“I don’t worry about experience. I look for character, integrity and desire to learn”

– James Bambridge

First Stone Arrives

On June 21, 1979 a celebration marked the delivery of several gigantic blocks of Indiana Limestone. Bishop Paul Moore of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, The Very Rev. James Parks Morton, the dean of the cathedral and a host of community leaders including Mayor Koch spoke at the ceremony. They voiced a common message. The renewal of construction heralded a renaissance for the church, the community of Harlem, and the city.

“I pray that these two towers on the edge of Harlem will remind New Yorkers that we cannot rebuild our city at the expense of the poor, the aged and the sick. I pray that they will become symbols of our compassion, sympathy and yearning for peace.”

-Bishop Moore

The initial cost of resuming construction would be met by $2 million already available in the cathedral’s building fund. Therefore Bishop Moore estimated that this was sufficient money to set up the stone shop, purchase or rent the necessary equipment and pay the workers salaries for 5 years. An intensive fundraising campaign would supplement the initial amount. The Harlem Commonwealth Council would select 3 apprentices and finally the Diocese would pick two.

Cutting shed starting five
Early days in the cutting shed – First Five Apprentices, Chris Hannaway watching

The Starting Five –

Dean Morton recruited Jose Tapia from a Harlem group called the Harlem Renigades. (They didn’t like too many e’s). James Jamerson’s previous job was installing refrigeration equipment. He said he hoped to start his own business in stone masonry once the job at the cathedral is finished. Manuel Alvarado was a museum keeper before he found work in the yard. Timothy Smith used to build stone walls in Vermont. Thus he had some experience. There is one woman so far in the workforce, Linda Peer, who said there is no reason women should not be stone masons and wishes there were more.

-Photos contributed by Timothy Smith

Categories
Profiles in Stone

Bambridge – Master Builder

Bambridge Master Builder
Photo – Robert F Rodriguez

James Bambridge – Master Builder was recruited in 1979 by the Very Rev. James Parks Morton to begin the construction of the two towers on the west front of the cathedral. He was recommended to Dean Morton by colleagues at the Liverpool Cathedral. No one could have been better at the task of drawing out each of the 24,000 stones required to finish the two 80 meter towers. Bambridge supervised the recent completion of the Liverpool Cathedral. He arrived in New York with sterling credentials.

Before 10 years at Liverpool, there were repairs to the bomb damaged buildings in England, including the Houses of Parliament. He also worked in Canada and was the Master Mason for restoration work at the Anglican Cathedral in St. Johns, Newfoundland. He often related stories of work in sub zero temperatures getting a stone set before the mortar froze. After Liverpool he worked on the Wells Cathedral, where he served as master mason.

Early in his career, he served a stone masonry apprenticeship with Trollop & Colls in London. Bambridge worked through all the tasks as mason (banker mason/stone cutter) fixer (stone setter) and then extensively as a “Setter Out”. This entailed working drawings, layout, template making and job tickets. He was apprenticed to the legendary Harry Biggs. He spoke often of what he had learned from him and other craftsmen of extraordinary ability like Bert Possey and Fred Lowne.

Initial Tasks

Initially the 1929 revised drawings were reviewed by Jim Bambridge – Master Builder. These were the plans of architect Ralph Adams Cram whose firm took over design in 1907 from Heins & LaFarge. He was also searching for a professional foreman who could train the soon to be hired apprentices.

“It’s a mighty satisfying kind of work, a lad can look up at a building years later and point to a stone he shaped. We number all the stones and the lad actually knows which ones he did.”

-James Bambridge

Applications for the initial five apprentice jobs were mounting at Dean Morton’s office. Telephone lines were jammed said Odessa Elliot, secretary to the Dean. The list would eventually go to Mr. Bambridge. He commented, “It’s a mighty satisfying kind of work, a lad can look up at a building years later and point to a stone he shaped. We number all the stones and the lad actually knows which ones he did.” In Liverpool, Mr. Bambridge trained eight young men to be journeyman masons, a three year process. Many others stayed for shorter periods.

Continue reading “Bambridge – Master Builder”
Categories
Profiles in Stone

“It made me get up in the morning, it was the most exciting thing going”

Dean Morton
Dean Morton

Dean Morton is featured prominently in the story of the most recent construction period at the Cathedral Church St. John the Divine (1978-1996). It begins with this amazing man. Construction stopped in 1941, just days after Pearl Harbor. Work was not commenced after the war due to the Episcopal Diocese conviction that funds could be better placed. As a result, programs to alleviate the poverty of its upper Manhattan neighborhood were invested in.

The Rt. Rev Paul Moore Jr. became the Episcopal Bishop of New York in 1972. He quickly appointed James Parks Morton the new dean of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. For the next 25 years, Dean Morton would preside over one of New York’s most significant gathering places.

Almost immediately, Dean Morton indicated that work would resume on the building. There would be no bidding or contracts with general contractors. This program would be old school. As a result, this will be the story of recruiting a Master Builder who would establish an apprentice program. Most noteworthy, these apprentices would be individuals from the local community, therefore providing jobs and valuable skill training.

They would come from the youth of Morningside Heights, Harlem and Newark and be trained in the ancient art of stonecutting. Much in the manner that cathedrals were built in the Middle Ages. Although modern saws and derricks would be employed, it would be a community product. Above all, building a symbolic center for that community. We will meet many people and much stone as this story unfolds, but a common thread in this period will be Dean Morton.