Divine Stone

Master Builder James Bambridge had in mind to erect the pinnacle on the West Front simultaneous to the Southwest Tower. Based on the Cram designs, this would include the 9 1/2 foot statue of Elijah. On the same level and towards the Northwest Tower would be the same size statue of Moses. Fairplay’s Elijah was carved to meet these designs.

Around late 1985, while Nick Fairplay taught carving to the apprentices in the stoneyard, he began carving the statue of Elijah. The process started with a full size model.

The stone yard received truckloads of rough quarried blocks from the Indiana quarry. A dimensional block sized for the statue would have been a custom order. Fairplay made due with what was in the yard and that required the statue to be made of two pieces. The head and shoulders are a separate piece of limestone.

Perspective and Foreshortening

In his previous training and work on churches in England, Nick had observed the uniqueness of statues that were very high up on the structures. He also found examples inside the Houses of Parliament when he worked on restoration there. Enlarged, often bizarre shaped heads, were made so that the viewer from far below got a normal vision of the piece.

The head of Fairplay’s Elijah would be at an elevation of 250 feet above the bottom of the Cathedral. The best view would be across Amsterdam Avenue and down a bit on 110th Street. Medieval carvers would angle the piece on a hinged contraption, getting the correct degree to correspond with the angle of the most likely view of the person on the ground or floor. The drapery as well will appear flared out from the viewers perspective. Nick placed his stone at a 60 degree angle to get this perspective correct. The statue is a stylized sculpture meant for the viewer on the street.

Fairplay’s Elijah

Fairplay studied 14th Century sculptures to arrive at his likeness for Elijah. Unlike many of his predecessors at the Cathedral, he created the sculpture and then carved the likeness in stone by himself, by hand. He used a pointing machine to translate the detail of the model to the stone. Climbing up to work on the upper portion, then back down to find another tool, or shifting to the other side added many hours to the carving of this large statue.

Nick Encounters Master Carver Palumbo

Nick told us a story about when John Walsh took the whole stone yard to visit and tour the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. He found himself in the office of Vincenzo Palumbo, Master Stone Carver, talking about statues. Mr. Palumbo referred to a statue he had carved and was proud to say that he transferred 4,000 points from the model. He asked Nick how many points he used for Elijah. Nick responded that he used 100 points. Mr. Palumbo told him to “get out, and don’t come back”.

Elijah Not Seen

Due to a change in focus, the pinnacle and tympanum were not built. There was no niche for Elijah. At first, The statue was on view near the Narthex. After some time, Elijah disappeared . We began asking around about the whereabouts of the statue, very few remembered it. Robert Rodriguez remembered Chris Pellettieri pointing at something in the crypt recently and saying “that’s Nick’s statue”. Robert had Chris take him back to the spot so he could document Elijah’s existence.

We are glad this unique carving has been stored and preserved. Hopefully one day the world will see Fairplay’s Elijah in his intended destination.

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• We are grateful to Robert Rodriguez for documenting the creation of Elijah some 36 years ago and his present day location.
• Thanks to Chris Pellettieri for remembering where Elijah is resting.
• More about Nick Fairplay at fairplaystonecarver.com

Stephen Boyle, Master Mason and Robert F. Rodriguez Photo Journalist take us up on the Southwest Tower. This is where the fixing of stones took place some 35 years ago.

“The vertical face planes of the buttress’ inside corner are being aligned at the top arris using a level as a straight edge. Edgar Reyes is at the ready to ‘adjust’ stone’s position by use of a raw hide hammer.”

-Steve Boyle

This shot of the East elevation shows the upper portion of the concrete ring beam being encased with stone on the exterior, and brick on the inside wall replacing much of the hearting for several courses which was normally brick, scrap stone or concrete block. “In the foreground showing the SE buttresses there is a split pin lewis that was inserted into the hole drilled into the top bed of  the stones (holes can be seen on the 3 buttress stones) enabling them to be hoisted and subsequently set on the wall. The top of the picture shows part of the monorail system used for setting stone and moving materials around the job. Top left corner shows the electric hoist with a wheel barrow full of mortar attached, this was the hoist that did the initial pick when materials came out of the elevator.

“The short beam from which it was suspended over the landing platform connected to the SE corner of the monorail system and a load could be transferred either to the south or east elevations. When this picture was taken the height of the tower had increased to the point where the head room between the wall and the monorail was so reduced that it had become difficult to set stones because of the shortness in the length of chain. (The longer the chain, the greater the ease in positioning a stone in its precise location). Only one more course, the cornice would be installed before the monorail and its support beams would be dismantled and a further 30 feet of scaffolding added. Dismantling was also necessary at this time to allow installation of the bell frame steel.”

– Steve Boyle

“Occasionally, a stone would not fit for one reason or another (out of square slightly too big in height, too long etc.) If only slight modification was needed, the piece would be dressed by the building crew. It saved time rather than to return it to the shop. This is being undertaken in the picture.”

– Steve Boyle

“Lowering a stone into position, the first course of the “C” zone. This during the architecture students summer program. Note the short length of the lifting chain. The cornice would be the last course to be set before the Bell Frame was erected. Then the next 30 feet of scaffolding installed.”

-Steve Boyle

“When chain hoists were not in use we would stow the chains to prevent the slack from being blown around by the wind, potentially causing damage to the stone and entanglement.”

– Steve Boyle

The Master Mason looks forward

“….by this point, the tower construction had really gained momentum and the completion although a long way off was seeming as if it could become a reality. I felt we’d all come a long way since the first corner stone was set in the fall of 1982 and was excited about the prospect of actually being around when the last pinnacles of the tower were in place. Quite a few apprenticeships had been completed and there were now a number of skilled, talented and productive artisans. We had completed fabrication and installation of “A” and “B” zones, the B zone gablets being the most exciting and challenging installation that any of us had been involved in. The stone shop was turning out a large volume of highly skilled trade work and the carving shop was well established and exploding with artistic talent.

Installation of the of the “C”zone was well underway, the reinforced concrete ring beam that tied everything together below the bell frame had been installed (the installation of reinforcing bars and form work all accomplished in house), the “E”Zone was in the process of fabrication and the plans for the bell frame were in the works. The setting crew was looking forward to speeding up the operation because the “D” zone, the next section of the tower, had fewer stones in each course due to the spaces created by the window openings of the Bell chamber and the mullions that had been machined in Indiana would run through several courses so it would be like setting 3 stones at once in some areas. After the D zone, there would be more exciting and challenging work setting the triple arches for the roof support and the arches which topped off the louvered bell chamber windows. From then on it was still more interesting work all the way to the top of the crowning pinnacles, icing on the cake.

Sadly we didn’t know that we were in fact close to the end of the Tower construction due to lack of funds. There would be a short intense burst of activity with the installation of the bell frame, the “C” zone weathering courses and a small section of the “D” zone before the plug was finally pulled for Cathedral work. The focus thereafter would be on commercial work the profits from which it was hoped would eventually fund the completion of the Tower.” -Stephen Boyle

From my Viewpoint…Robert F. Rodriguez

Photographing on the Tower presented numerous challenges. In many cases I could not back up enough to get the right angle. I was working on the same narrow and precarious planks as the crew so I had to be creative and resourceful. Depending upon how many levels of planks were available I could shoot above or below the work being done. I was comfortable enough climbing around the pipes to get into a better position. One time (and only once, thankfully) I was photographing above the work and I dropped a lens. Luckily it wasn’t a long drop and the lens hit mainly on its rubber lens hood so no damage to the equipment or any of the crew.

I also borrowed or rented several “ultrawide” lenses or cameras to give a different look to the work. The trick with using ultrawide equipment is to minimize the distortion so that all the lines of stones were not severely out of wack.Being up on the tower on a wonderful summer afternoon was also a great treat. I had fabulous vistas in all directions and I tried to incorporate those views into many of the photographs. When the course with all the carved figures was in place I managed to get the carvers to pose next to the work – Cynie Linton pictured with her Pilgrim of Santiago de Campostella, Rubin Gibson with his lion figure and Jeep Kincannon next to his greenman. I also got Dean Morton to pose with a carving by Joseph Kincannon on one of the corners. It’s my favorite portrait of the Dean. As work progressed I started planning on how I would photograph the last stone in the tower being set into place. Could I get into a bucket on a crane as the last pinnacle was set? Could I have the workers build me an extra platform allowing me a clear angle? I was even looking into a balloon with the camera mount on it – in the days before drones. But none of that came to pass as the tower is now a half-built monument. Whenever I pass the Cathedral I look up and see the work of the stone masons and savor the times I spent there. – Robert F. Rodriguez

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Among the several character defining elements of the Cathedral is the “temporary” dome. Now 113 years old, Guastavino vaulting revisited is an opportunity to look at the expertise and work of this company and its impact on the Cathedral. The above drawing, dated January 18, 1909 depicts different views of the dome. All the views are necessary to visualize and design the dome and the interface of the dome with the arches. The drawing is part of the Guastavino/Collins Archive, Drawings and Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. The drawing is on a large linen sheet 40 inches by 30 inches. The scale is 1/4 inch = 1 foot.

In 1909, a year after the death of his father, Rafael Guastavino Jr. designed the 93 feet diameter dome of the Cathedral. The dome is the company’s largest as well as being the thinnest brick shell in the world. The thickness at the top is just under 4 inches. The great spire and lantern that Heins and Lafarge envisioned over the crossing was set aside in order to enclose the crossing and allow services to move out of the crypt. The massive perimeter arches were already in place when Guastavino Jr. designed and constructed the dome. A challenging part of the project was to frame the spherical dome into the existent square layout. The capacity of the arches played a critical role in the design process. Guastavino Jr. graphically calculated the thrust generated by the dome once he determined the weight of the arches.

Graphic Statics

The main working drawing presents five different projected views of the dome and arches to calculate the three-dimensional dome using graphic statics. The idea of graphic statics is to find the forces in a system based on its geometry. Graphic statics is a powerful method for the design and analysis of structures. Using force polygons and simple geometric construction techniques it provides visual information about form and forces in a structural system.

This one unique drawing, attributed to Rafael Guastavino Jr., contains every calculation required to construct the dome. Guastavino made innovative calculations not previously published.

A Review – A hundred Years Later

Three structural engineers recently deconstructed components of the drawing to see if the calculations indeed were sufficient to construct the dome.

“The working-drawing illustrates how the genius and expertise of a man could synthesize, on a single sheet of paper, the entire design process of one of the most daring structures in the world. This result refutes the belief that other calculations notes for the Cathedral have existed and have been lost. Guastavino Jr. here reminds every contemporary engineer that innovative, efficient design goes along with clear and efficient design methods and tools. He also reminds every preservation officer how much critical information is embedded in original drawings, providing a first-hand view into the original designer’s thought process.”

“This single working drawing includes all the information about the geometry of the structure and the provisions for its construction, but it also describes precisely where the geometric features come from and how all the technical values were graphically computed. It encompasses five different views of the dome, all related by alignments and projections.”

-Zawisny, N., Fivet, C., & Ochsendorf, J. (2017). Guastavino design of the 1909 thin dome of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Construction History, 32(2)

Needless to say, it is also an elegant piece of work.

Guastavino – Father and Son

Rafael Guastavino y Moreno (1842-1908) revived Catalan construction in Spain and introduced it to the United States in the late nineteenth century. Born in Valencia, Spain he studied architecture at the School of Architecture in Barcelona. When he was 26, he won a competition to design a large textile factory. This project, which made his name in Barcelona, allowed him to fully employ his fireproof thin tile construction. These buildings established him as the leading practitioner of Catalan vaulting. The Catalan vaults are thinner, have a lower rise, and are capable of covering greater spans than stone vaults. Guastavino scholar Professor George Collins compares them to a masonry version of plywood.

Guastavino, Sr. came to the United States in 1881 at the age of forty. He was accompanied by his 15 year old youngest son. Guastavino believed that he could find better building materials here, particularly Portland cement. He did not meet with immediate success in the United States. His system of building was unknown and his success in Spain did not carry much weight. In 1886, passed over for another design job, he agreed to erect the vaulting to carry the floors on that job. This proved to be the path Guastavino would take. He would be a builder installing his vaults in buildings designed by other architects. He would no longer function as an architect in the United States.

The Company

As a contractor, for over 70 years, the R. Guastavino Co. would be involved in about 1,000 buildings in 40 states, four Canadian provinces and eleven other foreign countries. They would hold 24 patents. All of their materials were fireproof.

Rafael Guastavino y Esposito (1872-1950)

The younger Guastavino was not an architect or engineer. He probably had the equivalent education working for his father all those years. He was president of the company for more than 30 years. Guastavino, Jr. was instrumental in adding acoustical materials and glazed finish tile to the company’s product line.

Beginning with the Boston Public Library, Guastavino searched for a source of glazed tile to finish the interior of their vaults. Although they found enough tile to complete the library, no dependable source was established. This led the Guastavino’s to set up their own factory in Woburn, Massachusetts.

Finished (glazed) Guastavino work became so attractive that the company’s vaults were installed for purely esthetic reasons, apart from the building’s structure system.

Acoustical Tiles

Before becoming consulting architects for the Cathedral, Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson, whose principal specialty was neo-Gothic ecclesiastical buildings, were wanting to find a stone-like, sound-absorbing material. They arranged for Rafael Guastavino, Jr. and the leading architectural acoustics expert of the time to meet. That man was Wallace Sabine, a Harvard physicist. Rich acoustical reverberations had enhanced medieval masses, but modern services focused on the sermon. The architects required new construction material capable of reducing reverberations and emphasizing good syllable articulation. Sounds in the pitch between middle C and the third octave above middle C are the characteristic sounds which distinguish articulate speech.

Guastavino and Sabine went on to develop and patent two such materials which the R. Guastavino Company manufactured. The first, a fired-clay tile known as Rumford tile, the second, and more effective product, a cast product called Akoustolith patented in 1916. Akoustolith tile covers all the Nave vaults. After the reconfiguring of the Choir by Cram in 1939, the Choir vaults received the same treatment.

The Sermon or the Music

The principal difficulty in church acoustics is that the conflicting requirements of both speech and music have to be met. Akoustolith tiles assist in the articulation of the spoken word for sermons, but its absorptive qualities make it a source of frustration to many church musicians. The musicians prefer greater reverberations for the enrichment of choral harmonies and organ music.

Two events occurred that have affected these conflicting requirements. Modern sound systems that can enhance the spoken word is one of them. The other event that affected the Cathedral was the December, 2001 fire in the North Transept. The cleaning operation that was undertaken by Building Conservation Associates (BCA) after the fire, allowed for a specialized cleaning of the tile in the Choir and Nave Vaults as well as securing them where needed. Many non fire-related masonry repairs became apparent once scaffolding was up. After the cleaning and stabilizing of the tiles, it was decided to apply a coating that would reverse some of the sound absorbing properties of the tiles. This coating would not be reversible due to the nature of the pore structure of the Akoustolith. The Cathedral decided that an improvement in the music quality within the building outweighed this factor.

The contractor applied the coating to the Choir vaults, the first sexpartite Nave vault west of the Crossing and the side-aisle vaults directly adjacent. The organ curator participated in these improvements.

Guastavino/Collins Archives

The Guastavino/Collins archives is part of the Department of Drawings and Archives at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University. Professor George R. Collins brought the collection to Columbia. He collected the original drawings and files from 1962, the year the company dissolved, through 1988 when he transferred it to the Avery.

According to Janet Parks, Curator, there are 2,652 drawings for 693 projects. The two largest projects–the National Shrine for the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine–have 110 and 115 drawings, respectively. The Cathedral drawing range from the Crypt, Choir ceiling, several Chapels, stairways and Nave in addition to the Crossing dome.

Many types of architectural records are represented in the collection: drawings, correspondence, specifications, contracts, invoices, minutes, financial statements, patents, advertisements, photographs, test results and reports, memoranda, tile samples, and factory order cards. Miscellaneous materials record Professor Collin’s research efforts.

Guastavino Tile in Recent Lecture

For a deeper dive into the work of the R. Guastavino Company and especially the tile work in the Cathedral, below is an AIA Continuing Education lecture. It is presented by The General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen of the City of New York. The presenters are Raymond Pepi, President of Building Conservation Associates, and Laura Buchner, Project Manager, Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Link to Video Here

Currently restoration work is being performed on the inside of the dome above the scaffolding depicted in these images from the Crossing by Robert F. Rodriguez.

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• Zawinsky, N., Fivet, C. & Ochsendorf, J. (2017). Guastavino design of the 1909 thin brick dome of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Construction History, 32(2), 39-66.
• BUCKNER, LAURA. “Restoration of Akoustolith Tile at Saint John the Divine, New York City.” The Journal of Preservation Technology, vol.41, no 2/3, 2010, pp 27-34
• Parks, Janet. “Documenting the work of the R. Guastavino Company: Sources and Suggestions.” APT Bulletin: The Journal of Preservation Technology 30, no 4 (1999); 21-25
• Special thanks to Stephanie Azzarone for leading us to the lecture video from The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York.

For over 30 years, Mohegan Golden Granite quarried in Yorktown, New York was inextricably tied to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Through three different quarry owners, from 1898 to the mid-1930’s, this warm buff granite was used on the Cathedral exteriors.

Mohegan Granite Geology

Granite ledges in the Sylvan Glen area of Yorktown were quarried by farmers in the 1880’s for their own use. In 1890 the Mohegan Granite company began. The granite bedrock in Sylvan Glen formed in the Devonian Age, about 370 million years ago. Molten magma flowed upward through faults in the overlying rock. Eventually, after cooling, the solid granite became gradually exposed to crustal uplift and erosion.

Granite contains three key minerals: feldspar, mica, and quartz. Thus the configuration and amount of these minerals determine the rock’s color. The Mohegan Quarry produced two shades of granite, a light gray stone with a pinkish tone well suited for carvings, as well as a golden or buff colored stone. This latter stone is known as “Mohegan” or “Golden” granite. It is prized for its warm mellow hue. The color is due to the presence of a little limonite stain. Limonite is an iron ore. This stain is distributed along the borders and microscopic cracks of the quartz and feldspar.

The Connection to the Cathedral

The Cathedral’s interest in the quarry began four years after the laying of the Cathedral’s cornerstone. In 1896 Heinz & LaFarge sought out sources of granite to be used in the construction of the Choir. They looked into the suitability of granite quarries from Maine to Minnesota. One of the firm’s partners, George L. Heins, lived in nearby Peekskill, New York. He was an avid hiker and it was on one of his hikes that he came across the quarry and the golden granite.

After a process of elimination that factored in durability, color and ease of working, the architects commissioned an analysis of the properties of both Mohegan and Maine granite. Suitable laboratory analysis concluded that the Mohegan Golden Granite would prove to be durable and satisfactory. In 1898, based on the analysis, the Cathedral’s trustees authorized the expenditure of $40,000 for the exterior of the Choir. The Cathedral would become the quarry’s largest and most sustained customer. The quarry was located just 38 miles north of the building site.

“We consider its [Mohegan’s] color very nearly the ideal color for such a building. It is not only light, but has sufficient warmth to prevent any appearance of gloominess and at the same time it is not so white as to make a glaring effect upon the eye. We consider it distinctly superior to the [Maine] stone in this respect.”

Heins & LaFarge

More Mohegan Granite Specified

Between 1911 and 1913, the Cathedral’s Synod House used Mohegan granite. As well it is on the Saint Columba, St. James and Saint Ansgarius Chapels. In many cases it appears that it is not load supporting but an exterior veneer.

In the early years, perhaps between 1898 and 1900, Evelyn P. Roberts was the President of the Mohegan Granite Company. Acting as a private citizen and not a representative of the company, he purchased adjoining land and then leased it to the Cathedral. This ensured supply of the stone for future Cathedral needs and added to the linkage between Cathedral and quarry.

Supplying Granite for the Nave

By 1917, Cram and Ferguson’s designs for the Nave were complete and construction was about to proceed. Competition was fierce from the Maine quarries. In June 1917, the Cathedral accepted the Mohegan proposal for $34,000. However, work did not proceed due to World War I. In April 0f 1920, the Cathedral Trustees voted to commence construction in the spring of 1921. This was subject to the raising of necessary funds, an estimated $500,000.

The Cathedral received bids from the Mohegan Quarry and a quarry in Maine for this phase of the nave’s construction. The Trustees made the decision to go with the Mohegan bid based on several reasons. One, of course, was the continuing use of the same stone. Another was the fact that the Mohegan bid was $110,ooo lower than the Maine bid. Additionally, they discussed the possibility of the quarry closing without new orders. The execution of the contract would greatly strengthen the quarry’s business and the availability of future stone orders.

In October 1920, the Cathedral entered into a $150,620 contract with Grenci & Ellis, the quarry’s new owner. The contract was for suppling and delivering about 17,500 cubic feet of granite. This granite was for the facing of the exterior walls of the nave up to a certain elevation and for the facing of the walls of the four bays adjacent to the Crossing.

Grenci & Ellis, Inc

The first commercial quarry dating to 1890 was the Mohegan Granite Company. Evelyn Pierrepont Roberts headed up this company. After successful dam contracts, the quarry sat idle for several years. In 1896-97 a reorganization occurred with new capital and E. P. Roberts as a director. The new company formed became the Mohegan Granite Quarrying Company. Later, sometime between 1919 and 1920 Bruno M. Grenci and Thomas H. Ellis acquired the company. Ellis was the long-time superintendent at the quarry under its previous owner.

Bruno Grenci immigrated to the United States 1n 1898 at age 15. In Italy, his family worked with stone. Once in America, Grenci worked in Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania and New York. In 1900 he went to work in the Mohegan Quarry. He left and started his own business in 1904 and in 1917, in partnership with Thomas Ellis, he associated in the operation of the Mohegan Quarry. According to records, he inspected every piece of stone before it left the property.

More Than a Quarry

The new company’s major breakthrough came in 1925. The Cathedral awarded Grenci & Ellis a series of contracts for the Nave. These contracts amounted to $5 million. Once again, competition for these contracts between the Mohegan and Maine quarries was intense. With contracts for $5 million in hand, the new company undertook a modernization and expansion that enabled it to supply Mohegan granite for the Cathedral and finished granite from other quarries for other jobs. The greatest modernization took place in the granite sheds where increased fabrication abilities took place.

Quarry Methods

Grenci & Ellis upgraded quarrying methods as well. Over the quarry’s five decades of operation, steam drilling replaced hand drilling. Compressed air drilling in turn replaced steam in the mid 1920’s. The new drilling and splitting methods led to a one third increase in the amount of marketable stone they were able to produce.

At Mohegan, granite was difficult to split on flat, perpendicular planes, wasting the limited supply of golden granite. Deep hole splitting controlled the splitting, resulting in flatter planes, less waste and more usable stone

Another method used by the quarry was broach channeling. This efficient mechanical method for extracting large blocks involved drilling rows of closely-spaced holes with a compressed air drill. Then a wide broaching bit acts to remove the webs between the holes. A few strategically placed blasting powder charges freed the block from the quarry wall. Broach channeling was faster and lower in cost than other splitting methods. It helped the Mohegan Quarry conserve the most desirable stone.

In 1930, Grenci & Ellis bought the Mount Waldo quarry in Frankfort, Maine. The acquisition enabled the company to offer a wider variety of granite. Most of the Maine granite was shipped to Mohegan for finishing. This in turn allowed it to expand its market and secure additional contracts. The last known contract with the Cathedral was for stage 4 of the exterior of the West Front.

The Quarry Ceases Operations

The quarry ceased operations in 1941 and never reopened. The closing was due in part to new building techniques and materials as well as the halt in construction at the Cathedral. Today, the quarry is part of Yorktown’s 343 acre Sylvan Glen Park Preserve. 6.8 miles of trails wind amongst the abandoned quarry.

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• City of Yorktown, New York; Yorktown Trailtown Committee; yorktowntrailtown.org, Mohegan Quarry
• Milestone Heritage Consulting
• City Museum of New York, Digital Collections
• New York Public Library, Digital Collections
• Cathedral of St. John Divine Archives