The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-19
AMERICAS BIGGEST CATHEDRAL
MAY TAKE A CENTURY TO BUILD.
After Ten Years the Buiders Have Finished Only Part
of the FoUndation and One Chapel of ST. John the
Divine of New York.
(CopyrIght. 1sO2, by Arthur Morris.

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| handiwork of the sculptor who says
that it will take him the better part of
four years of continuous work to think
out and turn out the stone decorations
for the chapel His son, Alexander
Hamilton. is helping him in the clay
modelling and plaster work, and an ex-
tensive and expensive pneumatic carv-
ing plant, soon to be installed on the
cathedral grounds. will aid him in the
carving.
Mr. Hamilton recently stated that, II
he should be engaged to furnish the
stone decoration for the choir proper,
in all likelihood he would never be able
to complete the commission TITS rea-
sonably certain that I've still twenty
years to live, but not even two score
years would suffice. Why. II would
be the work of a lifetime almost to
create and carve the ESQ statues that
ultimately will repose in the inches of
just eight pillars. And when you
think of the decoration needed for the
whole cathedral it seems like task
with no ending"
No one, not even the architects.
George l.. Helms and c. Grant La
Fargo, who know more about the big
cathedral than any other persons, ever
has attempted to make a rough esti-
mate of the amount of stone and
bricks and other material and the
quantity of decoration that the build
ing will demand. "All we know"
said Mr.. La Fargo, recently, els that
the amount will be great, great almost
to the point of incomprehensibillty
Each day we find our task grows larg-
er; each day we are astounded by it's
continually magnified proportions"
when will the cathedral be COM
pleted? When will the world come to
an end? onjecture-conjecture We
are arranging the drawings so that the
architects, whoever they may
be, who succeed us when we
are dead will be able to
understand them clearly and take
up the work without hitch where we
! left off. And we are not old men by
/ any means. No, I can't even make a
/ guess when the cathedral viii be COM
/ pleted
| May BE Centuries I'm Building.
1T took centuries of uninterrupted
| building to finish some of the European
cathedrals. some of which are consid-
erably smaller and none much larger
than the one gradually climbing sky
ward up on Morningside Heights. I
don't say that 1T will take centuries to
complete the Cathedral of st. John the
Divine, but I know it can't be COM
pleted, decorations and all, which are
as essential to building of this char
acter as its walls, in the thirty years
the public has generally been led to
believe. A third of this time has pass
ed already and what have we above
ground? Only one of the four great
arches that Will support the tower a
part of the foundation. and the Bel
mont Chapel. Why, it will take years
to lay the mosaics in the great dome
with 96-foot span which is under the
central tower rising to a hight of AIS
feet. And think of the sculpture, the
statues, the fret work, the stained glass
windows, the mosaics, that must be
scattered here, there, everywhere from
the towers tip down into the crypt
underneath the choir where services
are now being held.
mo, no man can even guess when
the cathedral will be completed"
What will it cost? What was
Adams salary the first year he was
banished from Eden? Conjecture-con
lecture. 1 only can answer millions
upon miliions-and still more millions"
The Cathedral Owns Quarries.
Some idea Of the way money must be
spent on the cathedral may be gained
from the following
The most striking portion of the
catheurai ABOVE ground is one of the
four great arches that ultimately Will
support the great central tower These
arches are to rest on four pillars that
rise to a hight of over one hundred
feet. Each pillar is to bear a weight
of $4,000, 900 pounds, four times which
148OOOOOO pounds, will be the towers
total weight. These pillar foundations
are to be aided in their herculean task
by what are technically called flying"
buttresses. Recently, work was begun
OF one of the buttresses. While the
stone masons were laying the vertical
part of the buttress five carpenters ft-
ted and built the false work" for the
arched portion. 1t took six weeks Of
steady work of ten hours lay to do
1t. Then when the masons were ready
for the false work." it took rive ineen
six weeks of steady work " ten hours
day to wedge it into place. The wages
and the cost of the material for the
false work footed up nearly $4,000.
For some further idea of the cost
consider the facts that the cathedral
authorities. in order to he sure of the
necessary supply of stone, had 10 buy
outright big granite quarry In West
chester county, this state, and take a
99-year lease on a limestone quarry in
Minnesota. But. in return for this big
first expense, the cath sdrars builders
nave prdctlcai monopoly OF two mag
nificent building stones that hitherto
have not figured in structures of any
consequence.
The New York product is being used
for the exterior. the Minnesota stone
for the interior finish above a base of
Dakota jasper, SO hard that it will
shatter the strongest carving instru-
ment, and a moulding of green serpen-
tine from Pennsylvania.
How the stones Were Discovered.
The discoveries Of the two principal
stones form interesting incidents in the
cathedrals history.
1t came to a point one day with the
architects where It was imperative
that the stone to be used in the cathe-
dral should be decided on. Messrs
Helms and La Fargo wanted something
novel They set out to find these
novelties. They had poor success I'M
til an accident favored them. Mr.
Helms lives up near Lake Mohegan
north of the metropolis. One Sunday
he went out for a stroll, and, first
thing he knew no Was standing IN fha