As the foundations of the cathedral started to come up, the outline of the Crypt began to take shape. The arches shown here are below grade and form spaces in the Crypt. The Crypt follows the Heins & Lafarge plan above it. Basically, it encompassed the space of the Choir, Chancel, Sanctuary, Apse and the seven Apsidal Chapels. In later years, artists-in-residence used studio spaces in the Crypt. The spaces below the Chapels carried their names. Gregg Wyatt, who created the Peace Fountain used one as his studio for years. Almost all of the space is now storage.
The Crypts’ vaulted ceiling was the Guastavino Company’s first job at the Cathedral. They installed a fireproof ceiling of Akoustilith tile of Guastavino’s design. The tile had significant absorptive qualities. Therefore the congregation could hear the readers and preachers. The construction of the “temporary” dome over the crossing will showcase more significant work by Guastavino.
Crypt Ceiling by Guastavino, 1898. Photo New York Public Library 
Crypt ceiling underway. 1898 – Photo New York Public Library 
Crypt ceiling by Guastavino while great arch columns are going up. 1898 – Photo New York Public Library
Finally, on Sunday, January 8, 1899, the Crypt, accommodating a congregation of 500 persons, opened for services. Above it, the eight massive columns were still at the quarry. The keystone of the Great Eastern Arch was still ten years away. These services continued without interruption for the next 12 years. On the morning of April 19, 1911 the last service was held, with the opening of the Choir and the Crossing.
The Tiffany Chapel
The Tiffany Company designed and built an amazing chapel for the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago. As a result, it won numerous medals and was one of the most visited at the event. Mrs. Celia Hermoine Wallace purchased the chapel and gifted it to the Cathedral in memory of her son. It consisted of an altar, reredos, font, lecturn and five stained glass windows. Above all, the altar contained 150,000 squares of glass set in mosaic. The top of the altar and the retable were Carrara marble. The medallions in front were mother of pearl. The central shield contained settings of sapphires, topazes and pieces of pearl. The reredos was of iridescent glass mosaic.
CRYPT – From the latin Crypta meaning any vaulted building partially or entirely below ground. As early as the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (306-337), the crypt was considered a normal part of a church building, usually for burials. Later the size of the crypt was increased to include the entire space under the floor of the church choir. Crypts were highly developed in England throughout the Romanesque and Gothic periods. At Canterbury (pictured) the crypt (dating from 1100) forms a large and complex church, with apse and chapels.
- Photo – Museum of the City of New York
- Photos – Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library. Manhattan: Amsterdam Avenue – Cathedral Parkway