Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-18
THE BIG CATHEDRAL
1t May Take a Century to
Finish It.
TEN YEARS AT WORK
A PART OF THE FOUNDATION
AND ONE CHAPEL FINISHED.
Will Take Forty Men Ten Years to
Dress the Stone for Interior
of Choir.
Copyright. 1902. by Arthur Morris }

Copyright 1902. by Arthur Morris)
Written for The Evening Star.
Bishop Potter recently went up to Morn
ingside Heights 10 inspect the work being
done on the largest cathedral that has been
undertaken In centuries. He was accom-
panied by an ecclcsiasI cal friend from the
west who, In the course of the inspection,
said to the bishop:
Il can't IL gin to grasp the bigness of this
cathedral of yours. For the last ten years
I've been hearing about the mountaineering
dimensions of the Cathedral of ST john
the Divine, and l have marveled thereat
But now that l am here on the ground my
mind is bewildered even more by what my
ewes have seen and my ears heard. scarcely
can compre bend the immensely of the task
My dear brother" was the bishops dry
response, we're In the same boat Then
he added: And every time come up here
get a new shock. I haven't begun to think
II the ca thedraI as a complete whole, except
in a vague way. That's little too much
to ask Of any man except the architects
and even they are thinking by degrees. But
what startles me continually IS the bl$ntsS
of the little things of the cathedral
IL is only through Compre hension of these
big little things that b shop Potter spoke OF
that the average lay mind can grasp some
tangible idea of he magnificent proportions
nf the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and
OF the stupendously intricate and delicate
architectural problems that its construction
has brought forward. No sucn building mas
been projected since the dark Gays or the
middle ages when the only light left burn
ing in the minds of men was that of
fervid religion. Then it was that cathedraIs
We're begun that We're not completed Tor
hundreds of years. Now in New York an
other such cathedral, a worth rival OF airy
OF the olden times has been building for
full ten years and, in the opinion OF men
who know. this cathedral certainty VIII rot
be finished in the lifetime of the present
general lion and perhaps not in the lifetime
Of the present generations grandchldr"h'
Years to Dress Stone for Choir.
The citation Of just one big little thing
will give 81 fair impression of the vast task
the cathsdraTs builders have assumed.
1t IS the intention to begin work on the
choir Of the cathedral this fall The choir
will be 100 feet long. "A feet wide, and its
ceiling JOS feet above the floor It will have
an area of 6.4so square feet. ON the cathe-
dral grounds is a $4,000 stone mill, efecled
for the exclusive use of the cathedral. Last
year forty stone cutters. with the alu OF
the latest improved machinery. dressed and
finished 10000 cubic yards of stone. Work
ing at this rate, which means working tN-
ery day in the year except sundays ana
holidays it will take these forty men ten
years to dress and finish the necessary
amount of stone for the Cnolr s interior.
The stone workers began TINS long ttSN d
few days ago.
Another big little thing will give some
faint idea of the almost tncomprehenslb!e
amount of decoration that the cathedral
will require before it can be called finlsned
In the choir will be nearly score or I'M
roense stone pillars many feet in diameter.
reaching to the ceiling over one hundred
feet in the ali and weighing ton on ton
The inches in eight of these pillars Will az
ford accommodation for 2J6 statues, each
one of which is 10 be five feet in height.
If lust eight pillars require all this decora-
ton what Will be needed for the rest of the
Chofr-and the choir will be hardly one
third the entire size of the cathedral.
Fifty-Two Statues for Just One Chapel
The Belmont Chapel. now nearing com
p!etlon as far as the stone work is con-
cerned also aptly illustrates the great mass
IS Of material and human energy that must
be utilized before the final touch IS placed
on the cathedral.
This chapel, the largest of seven to be
used for holding religious services in for
eign tongues for the benefit of newcomers
to America presents dwarf-ltke proportions
when it's lines are compared with those OF
the cathedral of which it is the easterumOSt
part. Its fifty-five feet of length is lost
sight of in the cathedrals grand length of
$50 feet; and the cathedral at its widest
point will be 296 feet ten times. less
four feet, as wide as the chapel, which is
being built by money from the Golfers of
August Belmont as memorial to his wife.
Yet this small portion of the cathedral has