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Construction at St. John The Divine to Resume

Episcopal News Service. December 12, 1978 [78355]

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- After a 37-year pause, construction will resume on the world's largest gothic-style cathedral as the Episcopal Diocese of New York makes a visible affirmation of its commitment to New York City.

The Rt. Rev. Paul Moore, Jr., Bishop of the diocese, announced here that the Trustees of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine have voted to resume construction.

"The decision of the Cathedral Trustees to build again," Bishop Moore said, "must be appreciated as a concrete sign of hope for our City and our neighborhood... a dramatic affirmation that neighborhoods are not to be abandoned, but to be rebuilt... that we are here to stay. "

Bishop Moore also announced that the Cathedral has entered into a threeyear contract with James R. Bambridge, Master Builder, who for the last ten years supervised the recent completion of England's Liverpool Cathedral. Mr. Bambridge will head the newly created Cathedral of St. John the Divine Building Operation; in essence, the Cathedral's own construction contractor. Utilizing the medieval craftsman method employed at Liverpool, Mr. Bambridge will hire and train a small core of neighborhood people to work the stone, and, eventually, a larger group of workers to erect the two Western Towers and the interior of the Crossing.

According to Bishop Moore, the initial costs of resuming construction will be financed by monies currently in the Cathedral's Building Fund. "This money cannot be used for any purpose other than building," Bishop Moore said. "Additionally, the work under Mr. Bambridge's direction will proceed only as we have money in hand designated explicitly for the purpose of the Cathedral's construction.

"On the basis of the minimum stone-working crew that Mr. Bambridge will engage at the beginning of the project, Bishop Moore continued, "there is money in hand for setting up the stone shop, purchasing or renting the necessary equipment, and paying the workers' salaries for five years."

Bishop Moore said that immediately following the Trustee's vote Colonel Robert Pentland, Jr., of Miami, Florida, a Cathedral Trustee, pledged a gift of a minimum of $1,000,000 toward the new construction.

Bishop Moore then read a statement from James H. Dowdy, President of the Harlem Commonwealth Council who said, "'It is significant that the Cathedral is rebuilding in the old way and that the old masters will be training new workers from the community. These workers have something money can't buy. That's pride in their work and that's the only way you're going to build something that lasts.' "

This new stage of the Cathedral's completion follows the architectural designs approved by the Trustees in 1977; the two Western Towers as designed by Ralph Adams Cram in 1929, and the Crossing Interior, retaining the Guastavino dome, as designed by John Doran. The official new name of the Cathedral architect is: "Office of Ralph Adams Cram: Hoyle, Doran and Berry, Architects. "

The halt, caused first by World War II, then by construction and financial problems became a matter of policy when Bishop Moore's predecessor, the Rt. Rev. Horace W.B. Donegan, declared in 1969 that no further work would be done on the Cathedral during his episcopate.

In a letter to the clergy of the diocese, Bishop Moore noted that the decision now to resume work had the full blessing of Bishop Donegan and went on to explain the historical needs on which the decision was made: "In 1965 Watts exploded, and between 1966 and 1969 many communities and cities, including Harlem, Chicago, Washington and Columbia University. It was clear that the nation's attention must be focused on the sores of the nation's inner-cities and particularly on the injustices suffered by their racial minorities, and that the monies available in that optimistic and affluent period must be directed by priority to projects that would bring about change in those conditions.

"Today, a decade later, the condition and mood of our cities and our people is very different. Some important social projects have been enacted in our cities and there has been demonstrable progress in many areas. But, those must be counter balanced by increasing unemployment, increasing housing abandonment, the near-bankruptcy of our City, and most important of all, a widespread feeling of gloom -- of defeatism -- a profound pessimism that our cities 'can't make it'. Therefore, my Easter sermon in 1976 encouraged in the strongest terms the great corporations to stay in the cities, and the combined effort of government and business and the private sector to work together for tangible results and a visible new spirit in our cities.

"The decision of the Cathedral Trustees must be appreciated against this historical background as it pledges the Cathedral to build again as a concrete sign of hope for our City and our neighborhood -- a concrete sign that neighborhoods are not to be abandoned but to be rebuilt --- that we are here to stay.

"In a very real sense, I believe that the decision of the Trustees can be seen as a symbolic Alleluia and Amen to what our diocesan program of VIM is ultimately all about, and what the Coalition of Urban Bishops is demanding: we must be a concrete sign of hope in the midst of our inner cities."