…talk about landmark status for the perpetually unfinished Episcopal church is starting to percolate again, as developers ready plans for a new apartment building on leased cathedral property along 113th Street in Morningside Heights.
Real-estate firm Equity Residential hopes to start construction on the 15-story apartment building next year. The new structure’s footprint would be some 70 feet north of the cathedral itself, replacing large metal sheds and parking spaces in the area now.
Well, Ralph Cram’s architectural theory was that all churches should never be finished, so that they can be expanded in the future. My church here in South Dakota was designed by Cram as well (believe it or not), and it had the same philosophy. I have architectural students come by the church from time to time to view an original Cram building. It is quite interesting when they do.
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is a not that great of a building IMHO. It’s dark, dirty, incomplete…I’ve never felt awed or inspired by it like other Cathedrals I’ve visited.
Yep, #2. It is dark and quite dirty. I worked at the Men’s shelter attached to the cathedral and so I witnessed the trash inside and outside the buildings day after day. Compare it to the National Cathedral in D.C. that at least is kept clean. Haven’t been to St. John-the-Divine since Bishop Moore and Dean Morton were spewing universalism from it’s pulpit but was not all all impressed by the ugly and quite noisey ‘Fish with Ruby Eye’ hanging from the ceiling -someone really needed to use some ‘3 in 1 oil’ on that thing- or the Shinto side altar or the icon of a crucified woman.