proposed designs the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine New York SECOND EDITION "The hand that rounded Peter's dome And groined the aisles of Christian Rome Wrought in a sad sincerity; Himself from God he could not free; He builded better than he knew; — The conscious stone to beauty grew." *t* jjc sfc "Earth proudly wears the Parthenon, As the best gem upon her zone, And morning opes with haste her lids To gaze upon the Pyramids; O'er England's abbeys bends the sky, As o'er its friends, with kindred eye; For out of Thought's interior sphere These wonders rose to upper air; And nature gladly gave them place, Adopted them into her race, And granted them an equal date With Andes and with Ararat." — From "The Problem," by R. W. Emerson Foreword On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the consecration of the choir and crossing, April 19, 1911, the Trustees of the Cathedral present to those whose generous aid and interest has brought this great project thus far on its way this report on the development of the designs for its completion. While these plans may be modified in detail, it is believed that the types and prin- ciples of design here indicated will be faithfully followed. This pamphlet is made up of illustrations and articles which appeared in the Easter issues of The Churchman in the years 1919 and 1921. DIMENSIONS Of Area 109,082 square feet Of Length Western Towers (square) 50 feet Nave 225 Crossing 100 Choir 170 St. Saviour's Chapel 56 Total Length 601 Of Width West Front (inc. Buttresses) 220 feet Nave and Aisles (exterior) 132 " Transepts 315 " Nave (interior) 56 " Aisles (each) 34 " Crossing 100 " Choir 56 " Ambulatory 20 " ht Western Towers 265 feet Ridge of Nave Roof 175 " Nave Vaults (above floor) 130 " Choir " 127 " Crossing 200 " Central Fleche " 470 " Finial Cross (30 feet) " 500 " above tide water 631 GROUND PLAN PROPOSED WEST FRONT The New Designs for the Completion of THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE WHEN it was decided to proceed with plans for the nave of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine it became neces- sary to consider schemes for the various parts of the entire edifice in order that the whole might be in harmony. The consult- ing architects said that these projects could only be considered as tentative. So vast a problem and one bringing up so many new questions was not lightly to be solved. It is possible that the completion of the build- ing may take place only when all those now living are dead ; the final decision may be in other hands. Architecture is more than the expression of the private predilections of individual practitioners, it has in it some- thing that is communal. A project such as this must grow from year to year, earlier ideas being modified or altogether dis- carded, others taking their place, perhaps in their turn also to be abandoned. Precisely this has happened. The nave has been designed throughout, complete working plans prepared. The general scheme has been under constant considera- tion not only by the architects, but by the ecclesiastical authorities, the trustees and the general public. The result of this cor- porate scrutiny is a unanimous desire to seek motives other than those first sug- gested. The drawings herewith published are the outcome. The original tentative designs published in The Churchman, Easter, 1919, produced under the direction of the consulting archi- tect, offered solutions of two problems. These were, first, the crossing with its tower or towers, second, the west front. Neither of these solutions was considered final. In the case of the west front the design indi- cated was never held to be anything more than "a" front. Time was then lacking for the minute study necessary. During the war this time has been afforded, and the new west fagade represents in a general way what the architects believe to be a final solution of the problem. This does not ex- tend to details, which will have to be studied and re-studied. Particularly is this true of the upper portions of the towers, but the general composition is one which the architects are prepared definitely to rec- ommend. As will be seen, a fagade of five units has been adopted, based rather on the fronts of Bourges and Wells than on the three- unit facades of Notre Dame, Amiens and Rheims. The three-unit fagade was the one most popular during the Middle Ages, and was simply an exterior expression of the nave, buttressed by two great towers, which either cover both side aisles as in the five- aisled plan of Notre Dame, or project well beyond the single side aisle, as in numerous three-aisled instances. Bourges and Wells strike a new scheme of great possibilities. In these cases the nave and both of the double side aisles are expressed by portals in the fagade, while the towers are pushed to the north and south, so giving a front of greater width, more perfectly express- ing the organism behind. In the present design an attempt has been made to combine the great verticals of Bourges and Wells with the powerful hori- zontals of Notre Dame, Amiens and Rheims, the idea being to knit the com- position together with a definiteness that was not attained in the above-named five- unit fagades. The deep porches of Rheims and Amiens with their immense shadows take the place of the shallow portals of Bourges, while the verticals of the towers are modeled more or less on those of Rheims Cathedral. It seems to the archi- tects that the enormous bulk of the New York cathedral will not only support, but actually demand a fagade as wide and spa- cious as that now shown. In the case of the crossing and its treat- ment, the problem was, and still remains, infinitely more difficult. Here is a great central square, four times larger in area than any Gothic crossing. The many studies made some years ago, searching after a scheme for a single central tower that should not (by reason of its abnormal area) dwarf and crush all the rest of the building, were not successful, and the architects were willing for a time to consider the idea of a tower over the crossing which should be merely high enough to include the vaulting of the crossing, with two lofty towers capped with slender spires placed on either side of the nave at the junction of the transepts. This is a primitive motive found chiefly in Lombard and Romanesque work where it is used with great effective- ness. It must be admitted that the necessity of carrying up the great square of the crossing (126 feet by 126 feet) sufficiently above the roof to provide an adequate lan- tern complicated the question materially and perhaps made the result less satisfactory than would have been the case had the roofs crossed without external expression of the central vault, as happens in many of the thirteenth century French cathedrals. Ralph Adams Cram. [As Mr. Cram was out of the country when the plans for the central mass and the completion of the choir were adopted, the further explanation of the plans was carried out by another hand. — Editor.] In finally reconsidering the treatment of the central mass, the architects have been forced back to the original idea of a single central tower in two stages, recalling the lantern of Ely by its polygonal plan. The lantern is made polygonal to preserve its proportion with the rest of the building from whatever angle seen, which is not pos- sible to a rectangular tower when seen from varying viewpoints. It was the opinion of some of the authorities that the proposed double lantern lacks aspiration, that is, that it seems cut off, too broad and flat at the top and that the eye demands to be led higher, seeking a harmonious finish. The precedent of Ely proved to be misleading; the upper lantern of Ely is built of timber and is only twenty-eight feet in diameter, while the eighty-six feet of the proposed upper lantern obviously demands different treatment. Accordingly, in the last design, standing on the upper lantern there appears a fleche or spirelet of open stonework like that of Bourges, but only one half the width at its base of the diameter of the fully de- veloped spire proposed by the first architects and quite as high. The gradual narrowing of the structure from its base on the great arches of the crossing up to the cross that crowns it at a height of 500 feet, complies with popular taste as well as with one of the most authoritative prin- ciples of design. The great verticals, the strongly accented piers that separate the windows and support the whole, re-echo the commanding verticality of the west front. The pierced stonework of the fleche adds high poetic charm. As it ascends the strength of the building blossoms out in enhanced beauty. The revised scheme for the choir now awaits discussion. The trustees looked far ahead when they asked, "What effect will the proposed nave have on the choir and how can the two be brought into harmony ?" Obviously discordant elements of style and proportion had already raised these "obsti- nate questionings" in the public mind. The choir will serve as it is until the nave is built, but the public must be convinced that all parts of the great structure will finally be completely harmonious. The cathe- dral cannot be built without the enthusias- tic public approbation of the whole scheme. The nave, nearly as high and quite as wide as that of Milan, imposes its own scale on the whole structure. The nave of the first design was to be but ninety feet high, in this plan it has a height of 130 feet. The Byzantine semi-dome over the altar much reduces the apparent height of the choir ; another thing conspires to the same end. The choir may be called a recess or alcove of the completed structure. Theor- ists hold that the apparent height of an alcove is determined by the height above the floor of the topmost point of illumina- tion, for instance, by the peak of the high- est windows. The present highest point of illumination is 80 feet, inadequate to balance the 110 feet of the rose window in the west end of the nave. The result of these discrepancies of height will be that the nave when built will fatally dwarf the I'KOmSKI) NORTH KI.K\ \TI()\ choir. The Byzantine dome will be dis- cordant with the thirteenth century Gothic of the nave. Fortunately the semi-dome is but a thin terra cotta shell, which per- forms no structural function and is easily removable. If removed there would be dis- closed, resting upon the massive, close-set granite columns which surround the apse, a high clear-story wall, supporting the structural roof, pierced by seven clear-story window openings, twenty-two feet high. The semi-dome conceals the existing struc- tural members of a thirteenth century French Gothic apse! There are fifty feet of construction above the capitals of the great columns, as much height of wall above as there is length of column below the cap- itals, furnishing what is entirely lacking now— an adequate load and a reason for the massiveness of the columns. If the window openings now hid by the semi-dome were glazed and illuminated by the sun, they would lead the eye upward to a point 120 feet above the nave floor, with the ef- fect of raising the apse to a glorious equal- ity with the nave. The whole structure, from one end to another, would thrill with harmonious aspiration. The standard con- struction of a thirteenth century apse in- cludes close-set massive columns round or nearly so in section, crowned with narrow arches, above which runs a small triforium gallery and higher still a series of stained windows, set in lovely vaulting. This scheme is followed in 17 of the great cathedrals of France. The choir of St. John's is from 15 to 20 feet wider than the French choirs, permitting of much more beautiful groining than is possible in nar- rower structures. At present on each side of the choir above the organs, there are seen clear story win- dows, reaching into the vaults. These win- dows are jilted by sky lights in the lower part of the roofs, a sheer irrationality and anomaly ! By the removal of the semi-dome a series of windows would be shown en- circling the apse, admitting light 120 feet above the floor. The structural framework for this mar- velous transformation is now in place. It was erected at great expense and is masked and mutilated by false work which cost rel- atively little. The picture on page eleven speaks for itself. It is felt that this part of the plan, harmonizing the choir with the nave and with the majestic vaulted cross- ing, is a last and essential member in the complex design of what promises to be one of the great cathedrals of the world. It cannot be said too often that the compo- nent parts of the plan are officially adopted in principle only, and will be subjected to careful study and modification in detail, both by the authorities and the architects. THE CATHEDRAL DESIGNS THE majestic beauty of Messrs. Cram and Ferguson's designs for the Cathedral of St. John the Di- vine is shown by the insert in this number of The Churchman, but the rank that will be accorded the finished structure is more fully suggested by a few comparisons. The building will be slightly longer than Winchester, coming after St. Peter's in respect of length ; its inter- nal height slightly exceeds that of Rheims. The central fleche is as tall as the spire of Salisbury. The width of the nave is the same as in Milan, and the great piers of the nave arcade are matched in diameter and height only by those of Milan. The crossing falls a few square feet short of the area "Under the Dome" at St. Paul's. The choir follows the best traditions of the French Gothic of the thirteenth century, indeed it improves upon those traditions. The width of the French choirs (about thirty feet J, cramps the groining of the apse into knife-edges, a fault easily avoidable by the fifty-five feet of width here available. The ra- diating chapels opening out of the choir have already been pronounced by competent authority "the finest che- vet in the world." The mighty west front is reminiscent of the best French examples. The spread of the trans- epts, about 300 feet, is almost unique Indeed the whole structure is charac- terized by unusual breadth and con- sequent nobility. The architect is especially to be con- gratulated on the treatment of the cen- tral mass, the very crux of any tran- septal plan. A polygonal lantern of the type of the Ely octagon has replaced the low square tower of an earlier de- sign, and the element of aspiration de- manded by such great length and breadth has been added by a spirelet or fleche of open stone work spring- ing from the top of the lantern. The great English critic James Ferguson said that the Ely octagon is the most beautiful and original achievement of English Gothic and explains that its precedent was not followed and devel- oped only because it was invented too late, appearing only as the cathedral building age was nearing its end. The octagon was not completed according to Allan of Walshingham's original purpose. Its stone work shows strong footings for a crowning superstructure of stone; but, instead was built, prob- ably as a temporary finish, a wooden cupola harmonizing imperfectly with the octagon. James Ferguson said that a possible reawakening of the vital Gothic spirit would yet work out the triumphant realization of the ideal foreshadowed in the octagon of Ely. Is it too much to say that at last an Amer- ican architect has fulfilled the pro- phecy of the great English critic? The cathedral, if built on the lines now indicated, will be one of the world's great temples, coming in size after St. Peter's and Seville (the re- vised plans of the Liverpool Cathedral are not at hand for comparison; , and will take high rank not only for bulk but also for beauty. The magnitude of the task of erecting it gives us pause, but the plans before us are such as to inspire to any effort it may cost to realize them. The first step in any great project is an adequate and in- spiring plan. Plato insisted that the original idea is the funadmental reality while its subsequent embodiment is sec- ondary and a matter of detail. This Platonic doctrine lay at the bottom of the admonition to Moses when about to build the Tabernacle: "See that thou make all things after the pattern showed thee in the mount." All great structures are founded in an idea which grows, develops and realizes itself in ways not dreamt of at its first incep- tion. Mr. Cram's article ("How Ca- thedral Plans Grow" might have been its title) shows the process and prin- ciples of thought by which his ideal is being wrought out. The contagion of this great vision will no doubt carry it to full embodiment. When at last it stands upon our Cathedral Heights as its creator's mind now sees it, it will become like Milan and Seville, like Winchester and Ely, like Rheims ana Amiens, "a possession forever." Reprinted from "The Churchman" of March 26, 1921 (Easter Number). PROPOSED MODIFICATION OF CHOIH, FROM THE EAM PROPOSED NAVE, LOOKING WEST PROPOSED COMPLETION OF THE CHOIR. LOOKING EAST COMPARATIVE DIMENSIONS OF GREAT CATHEDRALS CATHEDRAL Area Square Feet Height Towers Spires or Domes Height Interior Length Exterior Width Central Aisle St. Peter's Rome 227,069 448 150 718 100 Seville Spain 128,570 400 150 430 60 St. John the Divine New York 109,082 500 130 601 56 Duomo Milan 107,000 355 153 500 60 Cologne Germany 91,464 512 145 511 41 Amiens France 71,208 361 140 521 40 St. Sophia Constantinople 70,000 185 184 350 100 Antwerp Belgium 70,000 397 130 500 35 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 i Salisbury England 46,827 404 84 473 35 f Westminster Abbey London 46,000 225 101 511 35 Ely England 46,000 215 70 517 34 Lincoln England 44,400 271 82 482 39 Canterbury England 36,494 235 80 522 33 Contributions, of whatever amount, for the execution of the foregoing designs will be thankfully received. Checks should be drawn to the order of The Cathedral of St. John the Divine and mailed to the Canon Bursar at the Cathedral. Legal Title for use in making bequests by will: " The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in the City and Diocese of New York " "A Guide to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine", published by the Laymen's Club, contains 88 pages descriptive of the Cathedral, 16 pages of half-tone illustrations, and many line cuts. In paper covers, 50 cents a copy (by mail 60 cents); in purple cloth and gold, $1.00 {by mail $1.10). Address: The Laymen's Club, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, N. Y.