The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-09-23
GREAT CATHEDRAL READY
 FOR A GREAT CONVENTION

The first Cathedral Close ever built in the United States that of the Ca thedraI of St. John the Divine, is be- ing rapidly put Into shape for the Tri- enniaI General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, which will be held upon the Cathedral grounds New ork city, next month. Lawns are being IeveIed, debris clear ed away, and the ground prepared as well as possible about the cluster of new ecclesiastical buildings which are rising upon Morningside Heights
 These. buildings are the new Synod Hall, the Deaconess House the Bish- ops House, the Deans House. and the Choir School. Two of them, the -Dea- coness House and the Choir School, are completed The other three, of which Ralph Adams Cram is Archi- tect, are nearing completion. It has been the Architects aim to make the Bishops House and the Deans House beautiful, appropriate for the func- tions which they must perform, d1gn1- fled, and yet simple to the verge of austerity They have ample space and the rooms are perfectly proportioned which gives the desired effect of rich ness without luxury, dignity without ostentation.
 The New Synod Hall, which is prac- tica1ly finished, will be ready in time for the Convention. The main hall of this building, where the House of Delegates will meet, is pronounced by architects, the most beautiful semi religious meeting hall in the country. One of it's most striking features is the richly co1ored ceiling of painted rafters, above which rises the dark blue of the peaked roof The intri- cate carving of the west porch, which is the main entrance is progressing rapidly. The cost of the buildings and fittings, which were donated by John Pierpont Morgan and William Bayard Cutting, will be close to $450,- 900. The main hall will seat nearly thousand persons and the galleries surrounding it two hundred more.'
 Behind the New Synod Hall, which is in the southwest corner of the grounds, rises the completed Deacon ess House, which oVerloOks Cathedral Parkway. A little north of this is the Bishops House, built of Germantown stone. In planning this, the arcIi- tect had to keep in mind the public organizations, foreign Bishops and prominent people from all over the world who must be entertained there. It is less of a personal residence than a building for the sake of the Diocese.
 The Bishops House fronts west, but there is also an arched way between, it and the Deanery. The arched way gives upon a room with lofty vau1ted ceiling of masonry suggestive of an ancient guard room. The wide main hall of the building runs from this to the western door. The grand stair. way, with it's beautifully gradual as- cent, refutes the saying that there are no stairways in America and will be made impressive with cords of pur- pie velvet for 'hand-rai1s. On the sec .ond floor is the big oak paneIed din- Ing room with it's high ceiling, the kitchen, and the two. large drawing rooms with their teak wood floors and stone mantels, and the library also furnished in oak.
 The House contains a half a dozen guest rooms for dignitaries and many more for the country clergy who will always find a welcome at the Bish ops House. The second floor also con tatns the private hall leading to the bedrooms of the Bishop and Mrs Greer, and a morning room. A pri- vate Chapel for the Bishop, over the arched entrance at the back has been planned but work on it has not yet begun. The Bishops study, with coved ceiling, which looks truly ec- cIesia stical, is on the third floor
 The Bishops House is a house of wide spaces, ample cloak rooms, and austere beauty, but the Deanery, just back of it to the East is a smaller res idence in which every detail has been made as perfect as possible. All the floors in the servants quarters are of corked tile, and white Vitrified tile runs clear to the ceiling It is fur nished throughout in oak, the hall way, the reception rooms, and the H- brary, being very simple but digni- fled and beautiful. The Deanery is being built as memorial to the late cS14satoa Qzd1U1a- EAG-- hx his wife.