Another favorite photo of mine is this one. I don’t know the date of it but likely late 1930’s, sometime prior to the shutdown of work with the arrival of World War II. These cutters are putting the finishing touches on the architectural shapes in this area of the West Front.
They are on this wooden scaffold, above the main doors, focused on the work, preparing it for the carvers. Herbert Photo’s Inc. captured this powerful and majestic image. I can hear the tap-tap of the mallet and hammer on the chisels.
The completed work, Christ in Majesty, was likely carved by Rochette & Parzini carver, Mario Tommasi around 1960. Tommasi began his trade at the age of 15 in his fathers shop in Carrara, Italy. Rochette & Parzini were a sculpting, stone carving and modeling firm located in New York.
Wide angle view of the tower as Stephen Boyle and setter Edgar Reyes prepare to place a cornice stone on the west wall on July 26, 1988. – Photo by Robert F. Rodriguez
Master Mason Steve Boyle has shared with us the mortar formula that he used for setting, pointing and grouting. It was 6 parts sand, 1 part hydrated lime and I part white cement. It is the Indiana Limestone Institute’s standard mix.
Mortar Information from the Indiana Limestone Institute
(I am traveling for the next six weeks, so limited time for research. I am going to sprinkle in some of my favorite photos. These are photos that grabbed me instantly when I saw them.) –Roger
This one is by Robert Rodriguez who has documented the Morton Era stoneyard for more than a decade, and is an Artist-In-Residence. I don’t know who the banker mason was, but it would have just been finished. It is still in the cutter’s area and hasn’t joined the stacks of stone out there next to the Cathedral. I imagine he or she is standing to the side, quite pleased to be adding this one to the tower.
It strikes me as a noble photograph of a noble stone that conveys the feeling that beautiful work from the hands of an artisan is a theme that carried the stoneyard forward every day. No matter that the stone might be 200 feet in the air, each one deserved the very best.
This “My Favorite Photos” by Robert F. Rodriguez is courtesy of Pamela Morton
In the December 27, 1984 edition of The Times of London, Architecture Correspondent Charles Knevitt interviews James Bambridge, Master Builder. Mr Bambridge was 56 at the time.
Bambridge is dividing his time between the Dorset village of Winterborne Stickland and 110th Street on the edge of New York’s Harlem. “His job for the past five years has been to finish building the world’s largest cathedral. His main task at present is to train eight new stone carvers in a tradition killed by the advent of modern architecture in the United States. An $80 million appeal was launched in September and more than seven million dollars has already been committed. Two towers will be built to finish off the west front.
The task will be a culmination of Mr. Bambridge’s lifetime with stone. He was apprenticed at fifteen, attended the Brixton School of Building in London and then was employed with the City Builders, Trollope & Colls. He worked on the US Consulate in Toronto and on MP’s accommodation at Westminster. In 1967 he then moved to Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral. Ten years later he was appointed master mason at Wells Cathedral and in 1979 was asked to help complete St. John the Divine.
Five years at the Cathedral
He now spends five weeks at home in Dorset producing working drawings and full size details, then returns to New York for three weeks, supervising the work and the setting out shop. He has two British assistants, Mr. Stephen Boyle, the site construction manager, who served some time at York Minster; and Mr. Nicholas Fairplay, a carver and cutter.
If the job had come my way 15 years ago, I would not have been able to do it. I needed to work at Liverpool first: it rounded me off
– Jim Bambridge
The cathedral has its critics, especially among the local black community, half of whom are jobless. Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, once Martin Luther King’s chief of staff, believes the cathedral is irrelevant because it represents white culture and money.” The Cathedral Stoneyard Institute has employed many of these neighborhood youths in its apprentice program supported by the Harlem Commonwealth Council. Mr. Bambridge says: “The building is more important than any man, I am keeping faith with those artisans and clergy who started it all off.”
In early 1979, they put up the stoneyard building. It was on an open area on the north side of the Cathedral. Master Builder James Bambridge designed the building and the work stations. He laid out each step in the process of converting the multi-ton limestone blocks to building units. Then, the apprentices began their training under Master Mason Chris Hannaway including operating the saws and planer. These machines would engage with the stone first, before they got to the banker area. Master Builder Bambridge’s stoneyard layout created an efficient process of turning out finished stone.
Cutaway Drawing of Stoneyard
As time progressed, more men and women joined the apprentice ranks. Some of these apprentices would become stone sawyers who would prepare the cuboid shaped stones from the massive blocks. Some would work as banker masons carving those stones into intricate geometric patterns. Zinc templates were created in the setting out shop to guide the cutting. This setting out shop was in the basement of the Nave. Later, when Nicholas Fairplay was recruited, a dedicated stone carving area was created. Some would become carvers and adorn the stones with artistic forms such as figures and other ornamentation. Many of them would eventually work as fixer masons. They would use lifting tackle and mortar to place these stones on the building. All of this began with Master Builder Bambridge’s stoneyard.
Chris Hannaway in background watching and training the sawing operation
Bambridge’s Stoneyard Produces
The output of this operation was a compelling amount of finished stone. Each stone in each layer of the Tower drawing became a job ticket. As well, a zinc template was prepared. The small crew of apprentices were producing beautiful limestone building units. All of this was based on the 1929 design of Architect Ralph Adams Cram.
