The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-01-11
The Cathedral Of st. John the
Divine.

explanation ny Mr.. Il. A. CRAM OF
what he is careful to describe as his
tentative" plans for the completion Of
the Cathedral Of st. John the Divine:
with all the more pleasure because 1t
appears from his letter that his ex-
plauation was embodied in report to
the trustees Of the cathedral. made be-
fore the sketches Of his design had
been publicly exhibited. to evoke an
tagonism aud protest as well as ex-
pressions Of adherence and confidence.
and consequently before they became
matters Of controversy. The four
points made in vindcation OF the
amended design over the original de-
sign are all the more valuable on that
account.
Everybody interested in the subject
will be gratified II not relieved by
learning that the consulting architect
intends that the plan shall be de-
vcloped with explicit regard to the
work already accomplished The
qualification OF relief will he the
greater because this is not altogether
the conclusion which has been drawn
from the public exhibition OF the
tentative" drawings 1t simplifies the
whole situation to know that the ques-
ton to he resolved on Morningside Is
merely which of two proposed solu-
tons is the more cOngruous, not with
one or another plan for completion, but
with the tedious and operose and
costly beginnings. covering twenty
years OF time and two millions of
money. 1t is gratifying, or relieving,
as the case may be. to read Mr.. GRAMS
opinion that lit would be impossible to
add to the work already accomplished
nave and transepts Of the traditional
English form, that is, long sequences
Of identical bays each approximately
twice the width Of its depth" This
opinion seems to involve his recognition
that the natural outcome OF the scheme
of st. John the Divine cannot be com
pressed within Anglican" or strictly
Gothic forms.
Unfortunately, this recognition seems
to be obscured in the point next follow.
| ing. which is that the rounding OF the
transepts should he wholly abandoned
in favor OF orthodox fiat walls" Con-
| sdering the crossing" Of the new
cathedral and its enlargement into a
great central auditorium as the gist Of
the whole design, the rounding OF the
transepts becomes not only legitimate
but almost or quite an essential aid to
its logical development, although 1t Is
true that the precedents for such dis.
position are not Anglican or even
strictly Gothic, but Byzantine or
ROmanesque. To an architect intent
upon the development OF this central
space the enlargement Of It by means
Of rounded transepts which Outwardly
abut the central feature and inwardly
enlarge the available space Is far
more pertinent consideration than 1.-THE
great grouping of three roses" in cir
cumstances in which the grouping"
can never be apprehensible Ito any
spectator, or than the maintenance of
the fiat walls" that undoubtedly ZAP
pear In practically all the standard
Gothic work Of the Middle Ages"
The standard GOthicists never had to
solve the problem Of the great central
space which constitutes not the me-
dinvalism but the modernism Of this
particular cathedral.
There cannot, one supposes, be much
question whether the central fact of
the scheme, the crossing" already
completed and accepted by all con.
cerned as a datum" is more logically
expressed by the broad and spreading
spire OF the original design. or by Mr..
GRAMS proposed substitute OF a fiat
rooted sexpartite vault with two sup
porting towers.
The strictly logical expression would
doubtless be the dome. which Mr.. CRAM
concurs with the original designers in
finding inndmissible.
There Is as little question that that