New-York tribune., 1902-12-25
MIGHT FINISH CATHEDRAL SOON.
People Should Furnish Means for Erecting
It More Rapidly.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: have read with interest article in last
Sundays Tribune the new Cathedral OF st Johh
the Divine. building.
May I take exception to one statement III thdt
excellent article not as questioning its truth but
as seeking to modify the impression 1t would give
to the average reader-naney, that the building Is
colossal edice that 1t may. and prooaoy Will
require hundred years TO complete it as a matter
of fact. No will deny that it might be a lhou-
sand years in building. If money and men were not
forthcoming it might languish in onscurlty anu
be even forgotten Roslyn Chapel. we know was
begun in 1446 and is still unfinished thouSnI III
stone,' yet all its marvellous intricacies of carven
work. which delight the eye and mind and I'LL the
traveller with astonishnent even in this age OF
marvels. completed within thirty-siX years
at cost in present reckoning of 2OcOU0
1t is an easy matter to calculate. if forty stone
cutters are employed, in how much less tnle
12O could accomplish that part of the work; or
so many cubic feet of stone put in place per
month with the present force of worknen, TO what
extent stone worBrnen and appliances could pront-
ably be multiplied That is question for en-
gineers with which the ayman has nothing to do.
The fact remains that this great cathedral is now
well under way, and it Is not necessary TO predict
that children yet unborn will die before tney see
the cross lifted on the finished tower. In unex-
pected confirmation of these words, already written
is report the trustees of the cathedral which
appears in The Tribune of to-day December l6)-
In it the statement is confidently made that the
cathedral choir will be finished probably IN TWO
years and further, that with sufficient money IN
hand the entire cathedral could be completed with
I'm years.
The popular idea has always been that catne-
dra or any great church must be long In building
This may be traced to two distinct causes VIZ the
long unfinished condition of Cologne Cathedral, the
still unfinished towers of Antwerp, Strasburg ana
Vienna and the English cathedrals. showing, as
they do. in their architecture the very history OF
the English people and covering sometimes perloo
of five six centuries. II is true that Cologne De-
gun some six hundred years ago was finished but
the other day and that Antwerp. Strasburg and
Paris (Notre Dame) and Vienna (St Stephens)
were built with nediaval energy and piety IN d
comparatively brief period, and are still incom-
plete; but It would be very unfair to say that
these churches were hundreds Of years In puildlng
because two towers, or in some cases one tower
were left to be finished by a later age
The European cathedrals their architecture
shows generally built in one period Inc
English cathedraIs. the other hand, were $40"
in acquiring their present FORM and there are IN
stances in which the Norman. early English. deco
rated and perpendicular may be found In pages
of stone, with the transitional form Of each va
riety 10 turn the leaf
Even this however, does notI always mean that
the cathedral necessarily four hundred years
in acquiring the form and of church Ihe
additions of later ages were sometimes in the way
of transformation. when at Gloucester anu
Winchester Norman was converted into perpehole-
or chapels were added for the further use or a
church already venerable. and think 1t may be q
matter of surprise 10 most people to know the
time of building occupied by some OF the great
English cathedrals
Dean Spence of Gloucester. In his White Rooe
of Churches" speaking Of the abbeys and cathe-
drals of England says: They arose with incredible
swiftness in all parts Stupendous houses OF prayer
were designed and many of them finished in the
dsvs of Lanfranc or Immediately after" Lantranc
himself restored Canterbury Cathedral from its
very foundation Of ruins in seven years. durham
Cathedral was begun in 1893 and completed ABOUT
1Iao Salisbury was completed in forty years: ST
PauTs London (the choir. in twenty-five years.
EIv was dedicated in twenty-five years from us
BEGINNING The eastern end of Lincoln was built
in fifteen years yet it was not finished till hun
dred years later.
These figures which are only approximate. VIII
show roughly how difficult matter 1t is to judge
the new by the DID, and how the old works them
selves varied In rapidity of completion. The gen
eral contention may be safely made. ! think. that
a few years win the choir completed. Not Efs5
or the early of the twenty-first century: as
the author of the article in question seemed 10
think must come before the whole great faorio
T@nrivaIed in situation, strong and massive in
conception the Cathedral of St John Is destined
to nay for the beauty and dignity of the city
part as important in its way as that primal cause
For its existence the spiritual home for the faithful
and the abiding place Of Gods glory. l.,
II this day and generation would have snare IN
these great and good tnings II nlSss sHPI1 '
Al Taxington-aye Dec. Is, 1862