The Presence and Mystery to Inspire
ANDREW DOLKART The period between the late 1880s and the beginning of World War I is when The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Brooklyn Museum all expanded. The Public Library was founded. Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo were built. Columbia, NYU, City College, and Barnard all built their campuses. There was a huge expansion of the institutional realm. JESSYE NORMAN These
places all had the same idea about how they could be a place for all people to come, to learn, and to take part. They were concerned about being a part of the community in which they were built. All of these great public places putting forth their attitudes of “Come everybody. And be welcome.” ANDREW DOLKART The
New York Public Library was given land on Fifth Avenue. The Met was permitted to expand into Central Park, but other institutions had to look for places to build. Morningside Heights was the most convenient spot. So Morningside Heights becomes this academic, intellectual, institutional center of the city. It was called "The Acropolis of New York." WAYNE KEMPTON Morningside Heights is one of the highest points in Manhattan. The plan was when you pulled into New York Harbor, you would see the Cathedral of St. John the Divine overlooking the entire city. Top left The eight granite columns were cut from the Wharff Quarry in Vinylhaven, Maine. They are 55 feet in height, 6 feet in diameter and weigh 130 tons each. The foundation of the columns goes down 135 feet to bedrock. Moving the columns was a feat of engineering. They were loaded on a specially designed barge and shipped to the city two at a time. A truck with wooden wheels pulled ahead by a powerful winch carried the columns to 112th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, a journey of about two miles. It took 19 days. Top right Building surveyors photographed in the Town Building, December 10, 1895. Middle left Raising the columns, 1904. Middle right Stone carvers in the workshed of the north field. In the background, sculptures of the saints, which are now placed on the exterior roof line of the apse. The models were designed by Gutzon Borglum.
ANDREW DOLKART Actually, you would have to have a very strong pair of binoculars to see the Cathedral from New York Harbor. It was supposed to be visible to lower Manhattan because initially, the front of the Cathedral was planned to face south toward 110th Street. You would have had these very tall towers facing the southern end. It was a poetic notion. But in the Episcopal tradition, the Choir is at the east end. So the planners moved the Cathedral entrance to face west toward Amsterdam Avenue.
SUSAN RODRIGUEZ The Cathedral was very complex to construct. The whole thing was a technical feat. There was a tremendous operation just to quarry the stone. The excavation took much longer than they had planned. WAYNE KEMPTON When they started to dig the foundation, they couldn’t reach bedrock. They were running out of money. Pierpont Morgan donated half a million dollars, saying: “Here’s a little something to get you out of the hole.” I don’t know whether that’s an accurate quote, but it may be. In 1911, the Cathedral opened the Chancel, the Choir, and the Crossing: half a cathedral with a pulpit. By 1914, all the outer buildings had been completed. The Bishop’s House had 32 rooms. When Morgan was asked why he built such a big house, he said, “Why shouldn’t the Bishop live like the rest of us?” THE REV. TOM PIKE There
is no way to escape the fact that many of those we call robber barons helped build the Cathedral. But it’s just one piece of the story. Pierpont Morgan understood that to have a great city, you had to have a great space. Not just to convene people, but to inspire them. What was the Cathedral trying to inspire? It wasn’t just about having the biggest organ in North America, or having a hundred million yards of stained glass, or fitting 10,000 people. The tougher issue was, “What is it that would make the Cathedral inspiring?” Like all of us, Morgan and the others were looking to create something that had the presence and mystery to inspire. The Cathedral is a place where the human situation is magnified. History, the present, and the future are all magnified here. Shortly before he died, Morgan was preparing to go on his final trip. He was not well, as he got into his car, ready to leave New York for the last time, he told the chauffeur, “Take me up to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.” It’s hard to know what was in Morgan’s head, but the Cathedral was the last thing he saw in New York.
FRANCIS SYPHER The idea was that it would be up here on the hill where everybody could see it and the doors would be opened to all. That design was part of the conception. That conception is also reflected on the seven Chapels of the Tongues with each one devoted to a different immigrant group with services in their own languages. STEPHEN FACEY The seven chapels represented seven of the immigrant communities in New York at that time. Today, you would have to build dozens of chapels to represent the ethnic neighborhoods of the city.
Bottom The Consecration of the Choir, the Crossing, and the Chapels of St. Saviour and St. Columba, April 19, 1911. 10
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