The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1911-04-20
Twenty Years in Building and
Only Partially Com
pleted Now.
TWENTY YEARS MORE
Ii Will Likely Take to Finish
This Great Episcopal
Cathedral.

/
vine. the largest ecclee.ast!cal struc-
ture in The country and the fourth
largest IN Ch-istondoT, was solemnly
consecrated here today. Although
only partially constructed, 1t has al
ready been twenty years in building,
at cost of $s.5oO,O0O and 1t may
take as much longer TO complete ii, at
"a total estimated cost of $40, 900, 900
seat!ng accommodations are now
provided for about 1000 persons. hut
although consecrated for present use.
four-Iifths OF the work remains to be
done, and the fun capacity Will APP
proach 1000 At present the Interior
walls stand in great part as they
were LAID. in jutting tiers of rough
granite; the vaulted roof of the cross
ing is only makeshift of terrace
to be torn down later: the arches from
which the Transcripts will spread are
blocked with temporary concrete baf-
fies; the flooring itself is but a cement
bed on which the Mosaics viii yet he
superimposed; only Il hint of the full
glory appcars-and yet so noble is the
harmony of the ample dimensions and
so rich the promise Of fuEillment, that
the fragment opened to the public to-
day is itself an invitation to worship.
How has this mighty undertaking
been flnanced?" asks Canon Robert
Ellis Jones. by the same devotion
and sacrifice" he answers. which ac-
tuated the best of the medieval ca
thedral builders. The cathedral has
no official source of revenue. No or
ganized effort has been made to draw
on the interest of Episcopalians. and
! yet gifts OF all sizes have flowed in,
from all quarters. Five dollars come
every year from seamstress up the
! Hudson. The inmate librarian of a
city refuge gave one-tenth of his sal
/ airy, and dozen old men in church
home earned by making nets and
hammocks $3.50, which they begged
might be built into the cathedral
A revenue thus derived cannot be
] estimated in advance, but requests are
now known which, as they mature
will be sufficient to insure continued
progress. The choir is now rooted and
partly cased with the limestone which
will later finish the entire interior The
eight giant columns. each 65 feet
high. exclusive of the capitals, which
cluster about the altar between the
ambulatory and the chancel are in
place, with the names carved upon
them of those whom their donors wish
! to commemorate. Two of the seven
chapels in the apse OF the chancel
/ have been completed, and with them
| their stained glass windows These
are the gifts of August Belmont and
Mrs. Edward King. Seven tapestries
depicting sacred subjects and woven
leriginnlly for Pope Adrian VII in 1880
lat Ecgape. already hang in the spaces
between the windows OF the npse and
the full complement will add three
more. The organ and carved choir
stalls. the gift Of Levi P. Morton, are
in place. The great crossing at the in
tersection OF the nave and the trans
Icepts, designed for the main assemb-
ling place of the congregation. Is
rooted over. and with the unfinished
TRANSCRIPTS and the nave shut in from
the weather by concrete screens, the
remaining wings and work on the
lantern and towers above can so on
without annoyance to worshippers,
each finished unit to he thrown open
upon the main body of the edifice as
lit becomes ready for use.
In style the cathedral is late Ro-
nanesque, with strong traces of By
zantine Influences, or as the architect
in chief, C. Grant LaFargo, son OF
the late John LaFargo, describes H.
80 far as the cathedral in the larger
sense is Gothic. 1t is the Gothic of n
very early period, the time Of trans
ition from the simple Romanesque to
the more complex organism" No
where is the constructive scheme
based on the pointed arch. The mys-
terry Of long vistas down dim, pllarcG
aisles has been exchanged for the sol
emn grandeur of a great central cross
ing. wherein the congregation may
mass within sound Of the preachers
voice, lighted from above by domed
lantern OF sixteen windows, surmount-
ed in turn by a central tower,
\ The site is the most commanding
in the city, on what once was tho bat
tletield OF Harlem Heights, overlook