The Cathedral of St. John 
 the Divine 
 
Avery Arc hitectural and Fine Arts Library 
 Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library 
 
The Cathedral of St. John 
 the Divine 
 
 Its Progress Piclured 
 
 ) Antoinette B. Hervey 
 
 January 
 1928 
 
2 
 
"When the student, who has familiarized himself with the mediaeval 
 cathedrals, first enters the nave of St. John's, looks through the two lines of 
 soaring columns that sweep, unbroken, from floor to roof, and appreciates the 
 vast stretch of 96 feet from clerestory window to clerestory window, he will 
 realize that here is something which, for sheer ?najesty of effect, is unmatched 
 among the cathedrals of the world. "—- J. Bernard Walker, Editor Emeritus, 
 Scientific American. 
 
 (TWJ 
 
 To the Builders of the Cathedral 
 of St. John the Divine: 
 
 This book of drawings and photographs 
 will help you to realize the magnitude of the 
 work that we have in hand, and the point 
 of progress that we have reached, in the erec- 
 tion of one of the world's greatest cathedrals. 
 The architect's drawings show the majesty 
 and beauty of the designs as at length devel- 
 oped and adopted. The photographs show 
 the actual progress of construction, which 
 now covers the entire ground plan of the vast 
 edifice with the exception of the South 
 Transept and the Chapter House. 
 
 By studying these views in the order in 
 which they are given you can make a little 
 tour of those parts of the Cathedral at pres- 
 ent under construction. Starting on the north 
 side of the building you will proceed to the 
 West Front where you will enter through 
 the great Central Portal. Passing along 
 through the Nave, you will face about and 
 look towards the Rose Window in the west 
 and will pause to look at the Bays, each with 
 its own Chapel. Then, entering the immense 
 space of the Crossing, you will stand before 
 the Choir which is to be remodeled to har- 
 
 monize with the glory of the Nave. From 
 there you will go to the superb Baptistry, soon 
 to be completed, and then on into the 
 Women's Transept, the foundations of which 
 are now being laid. 
 
 In a little more than three years we have 
 seen work begin on the Baptistry, the Nave, 
 the West Front and, within the past few 
 weeks, on the Women's Transept. This prog- 
 ress is encouraging but it is well for us to 
 realize that some of the greatest of the old 
 cathedrals were completed in less time than 
 ours has already taken. St. Paul's in London 
 was built in thirty-five years, the Cathedral of 
 Chartres in sixty-six years, Amiens in sixty- 
 eight years, and Santa Sophia in less than six 
 years. It is fifty-five years since our Cathedral 
 project was inaugurated, and building opera- 
 tions commenced thirty-six years ago, in 
 1892. And encouraging as our progress has 
 been recently, there is still much for us to do. 
 The glorious Central Tower and the South 
 Transept are still to come. The funds now 
 given and pledged are sufficient only to com- 
 plete the present contracts on the Nave and 
 
 3 
 
to make a beginning in the erection of the 
 West Front up to a point thirty-nine feet 
 above the floor level, and the fund for the 
 Women's Transept is still incomplete. 
 
 We are all hoping that the building of the 
 Cathedral may now go forward without in- 
 terruption. Let me quote one whose words 
 upon any subject command the attention and 
 respect of the people of our city and country, 
 Mr. Elihu Root. Speaking in Carnegie Hall, 
 at a meeting in aid of our present efforts, Mr. 
 Root said: 
 
 Much has been done, yet the Cathedral of 
 St. John the Divine is a long time in building. 
 I have seen the plans for the complete struc- 
 ture. They are most inspiring. They fill the soul 
 of an American with a glowing feeling to think 
 that the genius of an American architect can 
 visualize such a structure for the future of his 
 country. 
 
 Many of us can never see the completion of 
 the structure, but I, for one, would like, if I 
 could, to say some word that may hasten on 
 the laying of one stone in the wall. 
 
 The Cathedral is not like an ordinary church. 
 This is a country of small churches, many of 
 them very beautiful, but an ordinary church is 
 an Episcopal Church or a Catholic Church or a 
 Presbyterian Church, while a great Cathedral, 
 with its vast spaces, its universal symbolism, its 
 appeal to historic instinct, gives an unmistak- 
 able impression of the faith of a people, and 
 holds out its arms to all the world. It is Chris- 
 
 nan, and it is a perpetual illustration of univer- 
 sal Christianity. 
 
 I do not think the building of this Cathedral 
 is solely your matter; it is primarily yours, be- 
 cause you have undertaken it, and you are to 
 be the trustees of that great influence upon the 
 world; neverthless, it is an influence for the 
 nation, and upon the nation, for the world, and 
 upon the world, and it is a matter for all of us, 
 not limited to a single diocese, or to whatever 
 race or creed. The building of the Cathedral 
 of St. John the Divine is a matter that ought 
 to be of solicitude and pride for us all. 
 
 Build that great and noble Cathedral. 
 
 Build it not solely for the Diocese of New 
 York, but build it for all our brother men living 
 in the world. 
 
 Build it as a testimony that the lessons that 
 came to us from our God-fearing fathers have 
 not been forgotten. 
 
 Build it as a contribution of America to the 
 spiritual life of mankind. And thereby help to 
 save our own souls. 
 
 If we will keep that noble appeal in mind, 
 and all do our part according to our means, 
 the building of the Cathedral will not have 
 to stop for lack of funds, but we shall carry 
 it forward to completion to stand through the 
 ages as a mighty witness to our faith in God, 
 to the revelation of His love given to us in 
 Jesus Christ, and to the place which belongs 
 to Him in our life as a people. 
 
 4 
 
August, 1925. Steel scaffolding hete used for the first time in any building. 
 
 December 9, 1927. A recent view of the construction. 
 
 5 
 
6 
 
Drawing of the West Front upon which construction has commenced. 
 
 8 
 
The Central Portal. 
 
 The West Front follows the best traditions of French 
 Gothic. Its great width of 207 feet made possible the 
 adoption of the five portal plan, the special glory of 
 Bourges. The size of the side portals has been diversified, 
 yielding a pleasing architectural rhythm. 
 
 The perfection and profusion of the sculptural orna- 
 ment of their portals give the French cathedrals their 
 preeminence. Statues of the Saints and figures of our 
 Lord fill and crown the doorways, where the artistry and 
 religious symbolism are most easily studied and are most 
 impressive. 
 
 The modeling of the sculpture has been intrusted to 
 the two most eminent and gifted artists in Gothic now 
 to be found in America, Mr. Lee Laurie, who has the 
 incomparable reredos of St. Thomas' Church to his 
 credit, and Mr. John Angel, whose work in the Bap- 
 tistry of the Cathedral and the facade of the Chapel of 
 Princeton University gives assurance that the whole will 
 display rare unity of religious expression and artistic 
 perfection. Mr. Laurie will execute the figures of the 
 main, or central, portal shown on this page. 
 
 The deep reveals will on the north side have statues 
 more than life size of Moses, Joseph, Isaac, Abraham, 
 Noah and Melchisedek, and on the south side John the 
 Baptist, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Simeon and David. 
 Our Lord in majesty will be the subject in the tym- 
 panum and at the apex of the gable there will be a 
 figure of St. John the Divine. 
 
 The north and south portals will commemorate the 
 Saints and Martyrs of the historical Church, with special 
 emphasis in the north portal upon the heroes of An- 
 glican Christianity. 
 
 9 
 
Herald Tribune— Steffen 
 
 Looking west toward Broadway and the Hudson River. The transverse arches and diagonal groins of the vault- 
 ing, which may be seen also in the drawing of the completed Nave on the opposite page, are here shown. 
 
 10 
 
The Nave, looking west. The piers have the same height as those of the Nave of Milan Cathedral, 100 feet. 
 
 11 
 
The principal feature of each of 
 the fourteen bays in the Nave is a 
 chapel 18 feet deep, 25 feet wide 
 and 43 feet high. Above the chapel 
 arch is the triforium gallery, and 
 above that the clerestory windows 
 rise more than 100 feet from the 
 floor, as shown in this transverse 
 view of the Nave. The drawing on 
 the opposite page does not indicate 
 the depth of the chapels. It is in- 
 tended to suggest the detailed treat- 
 ment of the altar, the windows of 
 the chapel, the triforium and the 
 clerestory. 
 
 12 
 
As indicated in the drawing on page 7, there are four- 
 teen bays in the Nave, seven on either side. Five bays 
 have been given by individuals or families, as memorials. 
 Nine others are being built by community groups follow- 
 ing the precedent of the trade guilds in the building of 
 the old cathedrals. Two of these groups have reached 
 their objective of $150,000, and thus one-half of the 
 bays are now fully provided for. 
 
 The division representing Historical and Patriotic So- 
 cieties was the first to complete its fund through the gen- 
 erous gift of $40,000 from its Vice-Chairman, Mr. 
 Ormond G. Smith. One hundred and eleven societies 
 contributed to the fund, and eight foreign governments 
 made gifts to the Cathedral through the Chairman, 
 General Charles H. Sherrill. The Bay of Historical and 
 Patriotic Societies was officially assigned with an impres- 
 sive service on December 11, 1927. 
 
 The fund for the Sports Bay, which had reached 
 $91,000, was next completed through an underwriting 
 pledge of $59,000 from an anonymous donor obtained 
 by General Sherrill, who is also Vice-Chairman of the 
 Sports Division. Mr. Julian S. Myrick is Chairman of 
 this group. The underwriting covers quotas allocated to 
 various sports which have not been formally pledged. 
 The Sports Bay is to be officially assigned on January 
 29, 1928. 
 
 The fund for the Military and Naval Bay is more than 
 two-thirds completed. The Education Bay and the Press 
 Bay are more than one-third provided for. The funds 
 for the Fine Arts Bay, the Bay of the Legal Profession, 
 the Bay of the State of New Jersey and the Bay of the 
 Medical Profession are near the one-third mark. 
 
 13 
 
© Antoinette B. Hervey 
 
 The Sanctuary and Apse as they now appear. It is planned to remodel the Apse and Choir, above the level of the 
 capitals of the columns, bringing them into conformity with the present design of the Cathedral. 
 
 M 
 
© Antoinette B. Hervey 
 
 The Baptistry, one of the most beautiful in the world. The font is not yet in place 
 
 15 
 
St. John s Tower 
 
 (Reprinted from The Outlook) 
 
 Seven centuries ago, in a gradual transi- 
 tion, Gothic architecture developed out of 
 the Romanesque. It reared cathedrals to tall, 
 slender proportions, with no massive walls to 
 support by their mere bulk the weight of the 
 upper reaches of stone. It substituted the expe- 
 dient of balancing the "thrust" of arches bear- 
 ing stone vaulting against the thrust of other 
 arches and against the weight and thrust of 
 buttresses, and of leading the weight to the 
 ground through piers at points of concen- 
 tration. 
 
 Through the periods of Gothic building 
 during these seven centuries the distinguish- 
 ing principle of construction has remained the 
 same, but architects have repeatedly sought 
 new ways of applying it. Yet so masterful was 
 the work of the artisan-architects of the great 
 period when most of the French cathedrals 
 were built that the architects of the revival of 
 the Gothic have been able to do little more 
 than to recombine mediaeval Gothic elements 
 into new, and often supremely beautiful, 
 buildings. Now Dr. Ralph Adams Cram, of 
 Boston, the most devoted modern disciple of 
 the thirteenth century, the architect of the 
 Cathedral of St. John the Divine, which stands 
 on an eminence in New York, has made a to- 
 tally new application of the Gothic principle. 
 
 This drawing of the interior of the Crossing shows the 
 intersection of two of the secondary arches by means of 
 which the Central Tower, 60 feet square, is hung over 
 the Crossing, 120 feet square. The design for this tower 
 solves what had appeared to be an insuperable problem, 
 and is a new development in the history of Gothic 
 architecture. 
 
 16 
 
He has made plans for the raising of a great 
 tower over the crossing of the nave and tran- 
 septs of the Cathedral with no supporting 
 piers directly under it, but with the weight 
 carried to outer piers by secondary arches 
 springing from above the great main arches. 
 By thus applying Gothic structural principles 
 a sixty-foot square tower, perfectly propor- 
 tioned to the exterior of the Cathedral, will 
 be supported above a void one hundred and 
 twenty feet square . . . 
 
 An obstacle to the satisfactory completion 
 of the Cathedral has been the difficulty of cov- 
 ering the very large crossing. A square tower 
 rising directly from the main piers in accord- 
 ance with the usual Gothic treatment would 
 have been one hundred and twenty feet 
 square — disproportionately large in compari- 
 son with the rest of the building. A dome was 
 out of the question, as not a Gothic element. 
 The solution previous to Dr. Cram's recently 
 accepted plan was a twelve-sided spire nar- 
 rowing down from the size of the crossing; 
 
 but that pleased neither Dr. Cram nor the 
 Trustees of the Cathedral. 
 
 The diagram on this page indicates the 
 plan for hanging a sixty-foot tower over a 
 crossing twice as large. The letters A desig- 
 nate the great main piers of the crossing. 
 B shows the main arches springing from the 
 main piers and defining the one hundred foot 
 interior square of the crossing. C indicates the 
 secondary piers in line with the main arcades 
 of the nave, the choir and the transepts. 
 D shows the intersecting arches, continuing 
 the lines of the main arcades, resulting in a 
 square of sixty feet upon which the tower will 
 be supported. The white circles in the dia- 
 gram represent the bosses at the intersections 
 of the arches, not any sort of supporting 
 columns. Above the vaulting of this square 
 the tower will rise, with its weight converted 
 into thrust by the arches it will rest on, and 
 with the weight and thrust received by the 
 secondary piers and by the arcades in each 
 direction. 
 
 The dotted lines represent arches. 
 
 17 
 
Mrs. Edmund L. Baylies, Chairman of the Women's Division, gives the signal for work to begin on the North 
 
 Transept, December 5, 1927. 
 
 The Women s Transept 
 
 Ground was broken for the Women's 
 Transept on December 5, 1927. The 
 work of construction on the Cathedral now 
 covers the entire ground plan with the excep- 
 tion of the Chapter House and the South 
 Transept. The Women's Transept will be 
 similar to the Nave in general design but 
 simpler in that but one line of piers will form 
 the entrance to the six bavs whose clerestory 
 windows will continue the series which lines 
 the Nave and which will eventually encircle 
 the Cathedral. 
 
 This undertaking by women is without 
 precedent in Christian history. Women have 
 had a part in the building of every cathedral, 
 frequently a notable part, but never before 
 have the women of the Church and of the 
 
 community undertaken, as women, to build a 
 major portion of a great world cathedral. 
 Within the walls of their Transept will be 
 many memorials, including the beautiful rose 
 window which is to be given in memory of 
 Mrs. Hamilton R. Fairfax, the first Chairman 
 of the Women's Division. 
 
 The objective of the Division is $1,000,000 
 which is now three-quarters subscribed. After 
 Mrs. Fairfax, Mrs. Vincent Astor carried the 
 work still further forward. The present Chair- 
 man is Mrs. Edmund L. Baylies, under whose 
 leadership the members of the Division are 
 actively engaged in the work of completing 
 the fund so that construction of the Transept 
 may continue without interruption. 
 
 18 
 
The facade of the North Transept to be erected by the women of New York. 
 
 19 
 
Cathedral of St. John the Divine 
 Dimensions 
 
 Length 
 
 West Front 50 ft. 
 
 Nave 225 " 
 
 Crossing 100 " 
 
 Choir 170 " 
 
 St. Saviour's 
 Chapel 56 " 
 
 Total Length 601 " 
 
 Width 
 
 West Front 207 ft. 
 
 Nave 132 " 
 
 Transepts 315" 
 
 Central Aisle 56 " 
 
 Side Aisles (each) ... 34 " 
 
 Crossing 100" 
 
 Choir 56 " 
 
 Ambulatory 20 " 
 
 Height 
 
 Western Towers 272 ft. 
 
 Ridge of Nave Roof. . 175 " 
 
 Nave Vaults 124 " 
 
 Choir Vaults 124 " 
 
 Lantern Vaults 234 " 
 
 Central Tower 400 " 
 
 Area 109,082 sq. ft. 
 
 Comparative Dimensions of 
 Great Cathedrals 
 
 
 Area, 
 
 Height of 
 Towers, Spires 
 
 Height 
 
 Length 
 
 Width 
 Central 
 
 Cathedral 
 
 Sq. Ft. 
 
 or Domes, 
 
 Interior, 
 
 Exterior, 
 
 Aisle, 
 
 
 
 Feet 
 
 Feet 
 
 Feet 
 
 Feet 
 
 St. Peter's, Rome 
 
 227,069 
 
 448 
 
 150 
 
 718 
 
 100 
 
 Seville, Spain 
 
 128,570 
 
 400 
 
 150 
 
 430 
 
 60 
 
 St. John the Divine, New York . . . 
 
 109,082 
 
 400 
 
 124 
 
 601 
 
 56 
 
 Duomo. Milan 
 
 107,000 
 
 355 
 
 153 
 
 500 
 
 60 
 
 ^Liverpool, England 
 
 101,000 
 
 308 
 
 116 
 
 619 
 
 52 
 
 Cologne, Germany 
 
 91,464 
 
 512 
 
 145 
 
 511 
 
 41 
 
 Amiens, France 
 
 71,208 
 
 361 
 
 140 
 
 521 
 
 40 
 
 Washington, D. C 
 
 70,000 
 
 275 
 
 95 
 
 525 
 
 41 
 
 St. Sophia, Constantinople 
 
 70,000 
 
 185 
 
 184 
 
 350 
 
 100 
 
 Chartres, France 
 
 68,260 
 
 378 
 
 122 
 
 507 
 
 50 
 
 Notre Dame, Paris 
 
 64,108 
 
 204 
 
 110 
 
 390 
 
 45 
 
 York, England 
 
 63,800 
 
 198 
 
 99 
 
 486 
 
 51 
 
 St. Paul's, London 
 
 59,700 
 
 363 
 
 89 
 
 460 
 
 40 
 
 St. Patrick's, New York 
 
 57,768 
 
 339 
 
 112 
 
 332 
 
 48 
 
 Winchester, England 
 
 53,480 
 
 
 78 
 
 556 
 
 35 
 
 Rheims, France 
 
 48,985 
 
 270 
 
 124 
 
 483 
 
 40 
 
 Westminster Abbey, London. . . . 
 
 46,000 
 
 225 
 
 101 
 
 511 
 
 35 
 
 *The sixth edition of the official handbook does not give the area of the Liverpool Cathedral, which was given by 
 the London Times at the time of the consecration as 101,000 square feet. 
 
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