The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-08
FAMOUS TIFFANY
 ALTAR REMOVEC FROM CATHEDRAL
WOman'S Gift Was a "White Elephant" on Trustees
 Hands.

New York, Sept. S.After standing for seventeen years in the crypt of the Cathedral of St. John ~fhe Divine, the famohs mosaic Tiffany altar, one of the most costly of it's kind in the United States, has been removed to the Tiffany studios, Madison avenue and Forty-fifth street, for repairs and reconstruction preparatory to being placed in private chapel at Laurel ton, l.. l., the country estate of MT. Louis c. Tiffany.
 The chapel now is in course of con- struction, and is being erected es- pecially for the installation of the al- tar. With the altar will be erected the reredos. lectern and five stained glass windows, which from the first have gone with it.
 The chapelSwill be used as a temple of art and not as a house of worship. MT. Tiffany has selected one of the most beautiful parts of his grounds for the temple, and he is personally supervising its constructitn.
 The Tiffany altar was used for all services at the Cathedral from the time the crypt was opened. January g., 1899, until five years ago, when the choir and crossing were opened for services. Since then it has been idle.
 The architecture of the altar is By zantine, while that of the Cathedral is Gothic. The altar was useless in the cript, which for five years has not been opened to the public, and there was no place upstairs where it har- monized. There is an impression that it was a white elephant on the Cat
 Rev. Dr. William Mercer Grosvenor, dean of the Cathedral. said today: rIt is perfectly true that the altar belongs to the Cathedral MT. Ti- fany has been very kind to us. He was afraid it would be hurt remain mig down in the dampness of the crypt which is seldom aired. He has taken it into his own charge to preserve it for us."
 It Is a coincidence that the altar is now back in the studio where it was designed and executed almost quar- ter of a century ago by MT. Tiffany.
 Mrs, Celia Hermoine Wallace, for merly of Chicago, but now of New Haven, Conn.,, gave the Tiffany altar to the Cathedral. She purchased it at the Chicago Worlds Fair, in 1893. at a price reported to have been $50.000. She made the gift as a. memorial to son who died when four years old. '
 The altar contains 15o, 900 squares of glass set in mosafts. The top of it and the retable are of Carrara mar ble. The medallions in front are of mother of pearl. The four smaller disks contain the emblems of the four evangelists.
 Sapphires, topazes and pieces of pearl are set in the central mosaic. The reredos is of irridescent glass mo- saic. The front and the lectern are also made of little pieces of glass. The 12 pillars back of the altar are of glass mosaic. The pillars represent the 12 Apostles supporting the arch of Christianity.
 When Mrs. Wallace turned over the Tiffany Chapel" as it was called, it was reported she also gave a sum of money sufficient for its preservation.
 Several times the crypt was robbed in the night during the years services were held there. One of the occasions was February 19,s 1902, when two bur- glars broke open a window and took seven precious stones from the altar.