The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-20
.ST. JOHNS CHURCH
 IS CONSECRATED Episcopal Cathedral Larg- est in United States IT IS TO COST S1O,OOO,OOO Has Been Twenty Years in Course of Construction-Wil Have Seat
 ing Capacity of Seven
 Thousand

bishop of the diocese of New York Among the guests invited to witness the function were representatives of many communions.
 The ceremonial began with the process sion of ecclesiastics preceded by the vest ed choir of boys, across the walk from the synod house to the huge mass of gray stone still outwardly crude. but represent ing an important step in the work of mak- ing the Cathedral of St. John the Divine the fourth largest cathedral in the world.
 Within the structure, where many beau ties of the decorative scheme already have been worked out, the procession pro oeeded under the great dome and with lm- pressive exercises, the presentations of the chapel of St. Savior and St Columba and of the altar, organ and choir were formally made and conservation cere- monies performed Music from the great organ and by the choir featured the cere- nronial.
 Bishop Greer preached the sermon of the day, dwelling upon the value of the present day cathedral as a force for righteousness in modern life.
 New York, April 1s.-The Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine is the largest ecclesiastical structure in the country and the fourth largest in Chris tendon. Although only partially con structed it has already been 20 years in building, at cost of $3.5oo,ooo, and 1t may take as much longer to complete it. at a total estimated cost of s100oo,0o0.
 Seating accommodations are now pro vided for about HOO persons, but although consecrated for present use. four-fifths of the work remains to be done, and the full capacity will approach 7ooo. At pres ent the interior walls stand In great part as they were laid, in jutting tiers of rough granite; the vaulted roof of the crossing is only a makeshift of terra cotta, to be torn down later; the arches from which the transcripts will spread are blocked with temporary concrete baffles the floor ing itself is but a cement bed on which the ,nosaics will yet be superimposed; i; only a hint of the full glory appears, and yet so noble is the harmony of the ample dimensions and so rich the promise of full fillment that the fragment opened to the public today is itself an invitation to worship.
 How has this mighty undertaking been financed?" asks Canon Robert Ellis Jones. By the same devotion and sacri- fec, he answers, which actuated the best of the medieval cathedral builders. The cathedral has no official source of revenue No organized effort has been made to draw on the interest of Episco- palians, 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 salary, and a dozen old men in church home earned by making nets and hammocks s25o, which they begged might be built into the cathedral.
 Many Future Requests
 A revenue thus derived cannot be esti- mated in advance, but bequests are now known which, as they mature, will be sufficient to insure continued progress. The choir is now roofed and partly cased with the limestone which will later finish the entire interior. The eight giant col unms. 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 ttem of those whom their donors wish to commemorate. Two of the seven chapels in the apse of the chancel have been com pleted 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 originally for Pope Adrian VII in 1630 at Rome already hang in the spaces between the windows of the apse 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 intersection of the rave and the transcepts, designed for the main assembling place of the congrega- tion, is roofed over and with the unfn- ished transcepts and the nave shut in from the weather by concrete screens, the remaining windows and work on the Ian tern and towers above can go on without annoyance to worshippers, each finished unit to be thrown open upon the main | body of the edifice as 1t becomes ready | for use.
 Style Romanesque
 | In style, the cathedral Is late Ro- | IT anesque. with strong traces of Byzan- | tine influences, or as the architect-in- | chief, c. Grant LaFargo, a son of the late | John LaFargo, describes 1t, "so far as the cathedral in the larger sense is Gothic | it is the Gothic of very early period . | the time of transition from the simple | Romanesque to the more complex organ | ism Nowhere Is the constructive scheme based on the pointed arch. The mystery of long vistas down dim, pilared aisles has been exchanged for the sol emn grandeur of great central crossing. wherein the congregation may mass with il. sound of the preachers voice, lighted | from above by domed lantern of 16 win dows. suimounted In turn by a central | tower.
 | The site is the most commanding in the | city, on what once was the battlefield of Harlem Heights. overlooking the main | plain of Manhattan, the Hudson river, and Long Island Sound. It occupies three | city blocks, bounded by 10th and 18th | streets to north and south, and Morning side drive and Amsterdam avenue to east and west. The cathedral itself is a cruci- form structure 520 feet long, 165 feet wide across nave and aisles, 230 feet wide across transepts, having two western tow | CTS in angles made by arms of the cross. with central tower and spire planted on base 100 feet square and rearing it's
 final cross to height of 425 feet As the great dome of the crossing dominates the interior. so the lofty tower, soaring from
 the lodges of Morningside Heights will dominate the exterior.
 Compared With Others
 I Some idea of the size of the cathedral
 Is to be gained from a comparison with
 other notable cathedrals. The central tower of Trinity church, Boston, hither-
 to the most massive in America, could
 stand within St. Johns crossing and leave
 three-quarters of it's area bare. The dome
 is Of almost equal span with that of the
 mosque of St. Sophia at -Constantinople and nearly 100 feet higher. The dome of St Pauls, London, is slightly wider, but 36 feet lower. The rotunda of the cap,-