Divine Stone

Memories of the Stoneyard

Post author By Roger Murphy
Post date July 14, 2020

Dean Morton talking about Stoneyard Memories — Dean James Parks Morton looks at photographs during a video interview on Nov. 19, 2015 at the Interchurch Center in New York City. - Photo Robert F. Rodriguez

In perhaps his last interview, Dean James Parks Morton talks about his vision and passion in establishing the apprentice stoneyard program at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The program therefore revived building the Cathedral, which had been dormant since 1941. The Dean brought in English Masons skilled in traditional methods of stone cutting. As a result, they taught minority men and women the skills to build the Cathedral towers. Morton recounts his memories of the stoneyard with Cathedral Artist-in-Residence Robert F. Rodriguez at The Interchurch Center on November 19, 2015.

"Set in Stone" - Memories of the Stoneyard

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Dean Morton reviewing photos of the stoneyard from 25 years ago — Dean James Parks Morton looks at photographs during a video inerview on Nov. 19, 2015 at the Interchurch Center in New York City. – Photo Robert F. Rodriguez

Robert F. Rodriguez

Robert is a New York based photojournalist, photo editor and videographer. He has a distinguished 40 year career in newspapers and magazines. Robert is a past president of the New York Press Photographers. He became an artist-in-residence at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine when he met Dean Morton and began documenting the stoneyard. In his own words…

My relationship with the Cathedral and the building program goes back to around 1980 when I met with Dean Morton about photographing the program through a photojournalist’s eyes. I felt this was such a unique project that needed to be properly and fully documented. The Dean gave me carte blanche to cover the program and for the next dozen years I became involved in the fabric not only of the stoneyard program but Cathedral life in general. I became immersed in the building project and learned about boasting patterns, Indiana limestone, crocketts, ashlars and was awed by the process and by the creativity of the crew. I became good friends with many of the stonecutters and carvers and have maintained relationships with many.
Dean Morton became a very important person in my life. He officiated over my wedding to Stephanie Azzarone and, wonderfully, helped us renew our vows after 25 years. (We like to say that Dean Morton gave us the “extended warranty.”) I live only a few blocks from the Cathedral and I often look at the tower and, like Dean Morton said in my video, perhaps one day soon it will continue.
– robert f. rodriguez

Robert and Jeep photographing carving — Artist-in-residence Robert F. Rodriguez and carver D’Ellis “Jeep” Kincannon photograph Jeep’s carving from different angles in October 1987.

Because he is normally behind the lens, this photo of Robert working in the stoneyard is a rare one. We are grateful to Robert for the video of Dean Morton reminiscing about his favorite stoneyard. Likewise we thank him for the many photos he shared with us.

Profiles in Stone

Mandela and the Cathedral

Post author By Roger Murphy
Post date July 12, 2020

Manu Forchet carving Mandela sculpture — Emmanuel Fourchet Carving Mandela Stone Sculpture. - Photo Robert F. Rodriguez

Images in and on cathedrals have been used since medieval times to convey important stories. In the Middle Ages a significant percentage of the population was illiterate. Therefore art became necessary for teaching purposes. These traditions carry over to contemporary cathedrals. So it was that head carver Joseph Kincannon decided to honor Nelson Mandela with a carving. He assigned 24 year old Emmanuel Fourchet to carve the sculpture. A cornice on the southwest tower facing Harlem would be the destination. This linked Mandela and the Cathedral.

Mandela’s long 27 year imprisonment was coming to a close and he had gained international acclaim for his activism. He would later become the President of South Africa in 1994. The carving followed the Cathedral’s mission.

“The Cathedral was founded as ‘a center for intellectual light and leadership’. From the beginning, this has been a place for social and political activism, the exploration of ideas, and for the community in the widest sense. As times change, the conversations change.”
Cathedral St. John the Divine

Mandela carving with a dragon, symbol of apartheid — Mandela Carving with a Dragon, the Symbol of Apartheid.

Manu Fourchet was one of the first to come to the Cathedral in an exchange program with Les Compagnons du Devoir, the companions of duty. It is a French organization of craftsmen and artisans dating from the Middle Ages. Therefore it was an ancient apprentice program. He came as an accomplished banker mason with a great deal of letter cutting experience. His work shows that he was a natural carver. Mandela and the Cathedral carving was one of his first.

Emmanuel Fourchet Continues to Carve

Later, when Cathedral Stoneworks took on commercial work, he went to Pittsburgh and worked under Nicholas Fairplay. The project involved the intricate carvings for Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Fine Arts. This was one of the first Cathedral Stoneworks ventures into commercial work whose profits would keep the Cathedral building. The project combined traditional hand carving, and computer aided technology. After three years, this project completed and Manu returned to Lyon, France where he is an important leader in the field of stone carving and restoration.

Emmanuel Fourchet's Gargoyle at St. Jean Cathedral in Lyon.

In 2010 a gargoyle at the Cathedral St. Jean-Baptiste in Lyon needed replacing. Sculptor Emmanuel Fourchet was given the task of designing and producing a suitable replacement. Fourchet continued an age-old tradition, modeling the head on his friend and longtime colleague Ahmed Benzizine (pictured with gargoyle). Benzizine was the foreman responsible for the renovation of the cathedral for the last three decades. Fourchet hoped to keep his tribute a secret, but it leaked out. Benzizine shaved off his moustache so that he would no longer resemble the new gargoyle. Unperturbed, Fourchet simply chiseled the stone moustache off.

Watch this site for a special edition next week – An Interview with James Parks Morton by Robert F. Rodriguez, Memories of the Stoneyard.

Cathedral Stone

The Cathedral Builders

Post author By Roger Murphy
Post date July 2, 2020

Cathedral Builders – Poem by John Ormond

They climbed the sketchy ladders towards God, with winch and pulley hoisted hewn rock into heaven, inhabited the sky with hammers,

defied gravity, deified stone, and came down to their suppers, and small beer,

Stonework at Cathedral — Stoneworkers at Cathedral. – Irma and Paul Milstein Division, The New York Public Library.

every night slept, lay with their smelly wives, quarreled and cuffed the children, lied, spat, sang, were happy, or unhappy, and every day took to the ladders again, impeded the rights of way of another summer’s swallows,

grew greyer, shakier, became less inclined to fix a neighbour’s roof of a fine evening,

Cathedral Builder — Irma and Paul Milstein Division, The New York Public Library.

saw naves sprout arches, clerestories soar, cursed the loud fancy glaziers for their luck, somehow escaped the plague, got rheumatism, decided it was time to give it up,

to leave the spire to others, stood in the crowd, well back from the vestments at the consecration,

Cornerstone ceremony for the nave — Cornerstone ceremony for the Nave. Irma and Paul Milstein Division, The New York Public Library.

envied the fat bishop his warm boots, cocked a squint eye aloft, and said,

“I bloody did that.”

Cathedral 1931 — Wurts Bros. 1931. – Museum of the City of New York

The Poet

John Ormond (1923-1990) was a Welsh poet and film-maker, born in Britain, at Dunvant, near Swansea. His view of art was one informed by his working-class background, the son of a skilled shoemaker. “Cathedral Builders” is not an exaltation of these grand consecrated structures, rather it is a celebration of the ordinary lives of the uncelebrated workers who commit to the actual work of building cathedrals. Ormond emphasizes the fact that great accomplishments are often the result of the collaborative effort of ordinary people.

National Library of Wales
Swansea University
Museum of the City of New York
Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library

Cathedral Stone

The Great Eastern Stone Arch

Post author By Roger Murphy
Post date June 26, 2020

Keystone setting for great eastern arch — Setting the keystone on the arch. - Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library. (1899).

The great eastern stone arch looms above Morningside Heights at the close of the nineteenth century. It was the signature image of the cathedral construction in those days and the culmination of years of excavation and foundation building. The keystone was only half an inch out of position laterally and 3/4 of an inch vertically when the arch completed. Before any of that began however, it is important to understand the significance of the Romanesque arch in the design by Heins and La Farge.

In their design, the number one key feature was a large crossing. The crossing is the intersection of the transepts and the nave. They explain the aim of this crossing plan as follows: “so that the greatest possible number” of people “may be properly so placed as to see and hear.” To accomplish this, four rounded or Romanesque arches create a 96 foot square at the crossing. The typical Gothic crossing using pointed arches is about 47 feet.

Support for the Lantern

Additionally, the design called for a massive 16-sided lantern/tower above the crossing, supported by the four Romanesque arches. The place of hearing was also to be the greatest source of light in the cathedral.

Stone arch and lantern — Stone Arch and Lantern section through choir

Floor plan Heins and La Large design — Stone Arch and Lantern section through choir

The ground floor plan shows four very large square piers standing at the corners of the crossing. Next to each of these and set at right angles with them, are two smaller piers – eight in all. Between the larger piers spring the four great arches which bound the crossing and carry the central tower. From the outer piers spring buttress arches meeting the great arches at about their point of springing. Both piers and arches are of the most solid granite blocks because of the enormous weight they have to bear. The load upon the base of each of the four corner piers, according to the architect, will be about 35 million pounds.

Architect Grant LaFarge had the following to say regarding the recent use of concrete and steel construction. “As to structure, this quality can be insured only by the use of imperishable materials in visibly massive construction. Any device as the modern steel frame, commercial and of unknown duration, is instantly to be dismissed; so, too the indiscriminate use of the hasty and half understood concrete, treacherous, but dear to the engineer. A building of masonry, with true vaulting, is the only possible thing.” Stone on stone construction was the order of the day.

“A building of masonry, with true vaulting, is the only thing.”
– C. Grant La Farge

Excavation, Foundations, and Piers

The soil and rock lacked stability after the siting and the laying of the cornerstone in 1892. They built St. Luke’s Hospital across the street on bedrock at grade. At the Cathedral, excavation had to go as deep as 72 feet in places, through all rock of poor quality to underlying solid strata no less than 20 feet in thickness.

1895 excavation for the Cathedral — Excavation for the Cathedral. – Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library. (1895)

Once the excavation was down to bedrock, dewatering took place and the workers laid footings of Portland cement. The massive granite blocks for the foundation of the eastern stone arch began to move in. Then the piers began to rise, 38 square feet at the base.

Foundation for the Stone Arch — Irma and Paul Milstein Division od United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library.

Foundations for the Stone Arches — Irma and Paul Milstein Division od United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library.

The Eastern Stone Arch and Buttresses

The springing line at each of the great arches will be 16 feet above the top of the 79 foot pier and its span will be 114 feet from tip to tip of the voussoirs. The clear span is 96 feet. The voussoirs are granite and cut to template. The rise was 55 feet. They weighed between 3 and 6 tons each and laid in mortar of Portland cement.

Buttress Voussoir — Great Eastern Arch Voussoirs

Arch construction depends essentially on the wedge. These wedge shaped blocks are called voussoirs. Each voussoir must be precisely cut so that it presses firmly against the surface of neighboring blocks and conducts loads uniformly. The central voussoir is called the keystone. The point from which the arch rises from its vertical supports is known as the spring, or springing line.

After the deaths of Bishop Potter (1908) and the architect George Heins (1907), the trustees did not renew the contract for architect La Farge (1911). The work on the transepts was not completed nor the great lantern/tower. The Crossing, Choir, Chancel and Apsidal Chapels were complete. The Crypt hosted services. The selection of a new architect was in the works. The love affair with the unique mix of Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic greatly diminished. The crossing would remain the dimmest place in the cathedral.

Scribners Magazine, V. 41, 1907
The Churchman, May 30, 1891, Competitive Design, Heins and La Farge
Scientific American, Building Edition, October 1900
Columbia University Library
New York Public Library

Cathedral Stone

My Stoneyard Connection

Post author By Mark Saxe
Post date June 18, 2020

My connection to the stoneyard began in the late 1980’s when John Barton, AIA, the son-in-law of the Dean of the Cathedral, James Parks Morton, invited me to see the stone working program. I was offered a place to stay in the Bishop’s guest quarters and visited the stone shed attached to the cathedral several times.

John introduced me to the cutters and carvers. I remember no names, only the intensity and dedication that showed in the faces. It was likely that I met Jose Tapia, Tim Smith and Eddie P. They were working…cutting and carving some of the thousands of stones necessary to complete the Cathedral’s towers. I wished I was one of them, but it was not to be, living in New Mexico with a stone masonry business that needed me and I needed it. However, my connection to the stoneyard has continued since that tour.

I would have traded places with any one of them.

The light filtering down from the skylights, the fine dust of limestone in the air and the tap, tap, tap, of hammer on chisel was mesmerizing. The vibe was intoxicating, especially to me who had already spent the last 13 years working with stone. I would have traded places with any of those carvers but I had a home and business to take care of. Upon leaving the Cathedral I had a feeling that we would meet again in the future. That experience had a profound affect on me and because of it I met many people who worked on the cathedral, most notably Joseph Kincannon, Nick FairPlay, and John Barton. All of them have added to my life and work.

And Now…

So, here it is 2020, the year of the coronaviris pandemic. Roger Murphy, friend and stone carving enthusiast, and I decided that the stone work of the Cathedral St. John the Divine needed to be be written about. The stonework at the Cathedral had for the most part been neglected for a number of reasons. One of those reasons may have been the attention given to the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. It was being built and carved around the same time and received very much attention. Thus the divinestone.org blog was created.

My stoneyard connection was again activated when I was contacted by a friend of mine who was moving from New Mexico and was clearing out her collection of books. She asked me if I would be interested in claiming a few. It was in her bookcase that I found John Barton’s masters thesis, “The Divine Spirit of Architecture”. Written at Yale University, it covers 12 sacred structures and of course St. John the Divine was one of them. I let John know of my discovery and asked if it was ok to reprint some of it.

The hands of St. John the Divine reach far and wide. More about those hands in an upcoming post.

Mark Saxe’s website is www.saxstonecarving.com