Several groups helped in the building of the nave in addition to the efforts of Bishop Manning’s massive fundraising campaign. These groups asked what they could do, and came up with some specific projects that warrant recognition. Following are three efforts that show how everybody helped with constructing the nave.
The Pilgrims Pavement
The Laymen’s Club, founded in 1908, made many impressive contributions to the construction and operations of the Cathedral. They ushered, took up collections and organized the publication of materials about the cathedral in the early stages of construction. In February of 1926 the group announced a campaign to raise $100,000 to finance the slate pavement of the nave. To understand the large amount of that, a copy of the New York Times in 1926 cost 2 cents.
The Laymen’s Club members gave tours of the Cathedral with visitors designated as pilgrims. Each pilgrim received a token and invited to leave a voluntary contribution in any amount. These tokens were reminiscent of Middle Age pilgrimages where tokens or other objects were part of the visit to a particular site. As part of the fundraising plan, they drew up a chart. It showed the floor marked off into 20,000 squares, each representing a $5.00 contribution leading to the total of $100,000 (the total area of the pavement was 32,400 square feet). As people made donations, the laymen colored in individual squares on the chart. The New York Times published names of significant donors.
A Real Pilgrimage
To further connect the idea of a pilgrimage, 27 bronze heraldic medallions would dot the floor. The medallions would represent places in the life of Christ, places commemorating events in Christianity and religious institutions. The medallions are set in central disks of Maine black granite with a circular border of Belgian black marble. The pavement surrounding the medallions is green Vermont argillite with bands and borders of black argillite. Argillite is a dense, fine-grain sedimentary rock that is an intermediate between shale and slate. A clay or shale hardened by recrystallization is argillite and called slate if it possesses secondary cleavage.
On January 11, 1933, the Cathedral signed a construction contract for laying the pavement with the firm of Edward Bell. The Laymen’s Club had raised the money. Bishop Manning dedicated the pavement on March 11, 1934. Everybody helped, constructing the nave.
In the 1980’s the Laymen’s Club explored the idea of continuing the pavement into the crossing. The idea included the medallions, but it did not happen. The floor of the crossing remained granolithic. A granolithic finish is a floor topping placed on an existing concrete slab. It forms a durable top surface consisting of hard aggregates (granite), cement and sand.
The Children’s Arch
The children’s arch is at the far end of the nave next to the crossing. The arch is 56 feet wide and will rise 130 feet. The two columns are 98 feet high. Bishop Manning announced the campaign for the children’s arch just prior to the major campaign kick-off in Madison Square Garden.
As you know, one of the great arches in the nave is to be built by the children and is to be known forever as the children’s arch.
– Bishop Manning
By October of 1927, $50,000 of the planned $207,000 had been contributed. On that occasion, Bishop Manning assembled almost 3,000 children for a ceremony at the Cathedral. Following his address, Bishop Manning presented medals to those children who had contributed to the fund over the past year. Everybody helped, constructing the nave.
The Women’s Transept
Though technically not “the Nave”, this same period saw the Bapistry and North Transept undertaken.
Mrs. Edmund L. Bayliss, Chairman of the Women’s Division of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine Campaign, gives the signal for the steam shovel to start excavating for the women’s transept. At the right is Bishop William T. Manning.
Dedicated as the women’s transept, funding came 100% from the contributions of women. Sadly, the women’s transept was never completely finished. This was likely due to the events of Pearl Harbor, the outbreak of war and the curtailment of construction. Its incomplete structure later became an exhibit area and the gift shop. A fire on December 18, 2001 destroyed the structure.
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- Strangers and Pilgrims: A centennial history of the Laymen’s Club of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Sypher, F.J.
- New York Times archives
- A description of The Pilgrim’s Pavement in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Dean Milo Hudson Gates.
One reply on “Everybody Helped – Constructing the Nave”
Hi Roger, Really interesting subject. I had no idea about all those fund raising projects. I wonder if there any tokens and medallions floating around NYC.