Cathedral of St. John the Divine

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine (sometimes referred to as St. John's and also nicknamed St. John the Unfinished) is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, between West 110th Street (also known as Cathedral Parkway) and West 113th Street.

The cathedral is an unfinished building, with only two-thirds of the proposed building completed, due to several major stylistic changes, work interruptions, and unstable ground on the site. In 1892 construction began on the original design, a synthesis of the Byzantine Revival and Romanesque Revival styles. After the opening of the crossing in 1909, the overall plan was changed to a Gothic Revival design. The completion of the nave was delayed until 1941 due to various funding shortfalls, and little progress has occurred since then, except for an addition to the tower at the nave's southwest corner. After a large fire damaged part of the cathedral in 2001, it was renovated and rededicated in 2008. The towers above the western elevation of the facade, as well as the southern transept and a proposed steeple above the crossing, have not been completed.

Despite being incomplete, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine is the largest church in North America, and world's largest Protestant cathedral and fourth-largest church by area of any Christian denomination. The floor area of St. John's is , spanning a length of , while the roof height of the nave is . Since the cathedral's interior is so large, it has been used for hundreds of events and art exhibitions. In addition, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine has been involved in various advocacy initiatives throughout its history.

The cathedral close includes numerous buildings: the Leake & Watts Orphan Asylum Building, the cathedral proper, the St. Faith's House, the Choir School, the Deanery, and the Bishop's House. The buildings are designed in several different styles and were built over prolonged periods of construction, with the Leake & Watts Orphan Asylum predating the cathedral itself. The cathedral close was collectively designated an official city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2017.

History

left|thumb|upright|The Leake and Watts Orphanage, which is still located on the cathedral grounds

Context

Site

The neighborhood of Morningside Heights was thinly settled in the 17th century by the Dutch, then by the English. It remained rural through the mid-19th century, with two exceptions. The first was the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum, which opened in 1821 and moved to Westchester in 1889. The other was Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum, bounded by 110th Street to the south and 113th Street to the north, which later became the current cathedral site. The Leake and Watts asylum was incorporated in 1831 under act of the New York State Legislature, and three years later, of land at the corner of Bloomingdale Road (now Broadway) and 110th Street was purchased from the Bloomingdale Asylum. The initial plans for the asylum were drawn up by Ithiel Town, but were revised several times to keep the costs within the asylum's budget.

Need for a cathedral

Meanwhile, the Episcopal Diocese of New York started to grow in the early 19th century: there were 26 Episcopal parishes in the city by 1800, and a decade later, that number had nearly doubled to 50. In 1828, the first proposal for a grand cathedral for the diocese was made by Bishop John Henry Hobart, who proposed a site near Washington Square Park. The church would be called the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, or St. John's Cathedral for short, after the Revelation by John of Patmos (also called "John the Divine"). Yet another plot of land, at Eighth Avenue and 74th Street, was offered to the church in 1882, but rejected due to the high cost of acquisition. By 1890, there were 40,000 Episcopalians in Manhattan, and Episcopalians made up the largest bloc of Protestants in the borough.

Planning

Site selection

When Henry C. Potter, Horatio Potter's nephew, became the Diocese of New York's assistant bishop in 1883, he convened the trustees to look for an alternative site. that would rival the Catholic St. Patrick's Cathedral in Midtown Manhattan. In his announcement, Potter called on New Yorkers to give funds toward the new cathedral, which was expected to cost $10 million. The plans for the cathedral were well received by both Protestants and non-Protestants, as well as the media and other denominational leaders. The donors included the wealthy Astor, Vanderbilt, and Belmont families.

Numerous sites in Manhattan were examined for the new cathedral's location, and by 1889, the Leake and Watts Asylum between 110th and 113th Streets had been chosen as the site for the future site of St. John's. News media such as The New York Times and Uptown Visitor praised the decision, as the site was located on a high point overlooking Central and Morningside parks. The committee had wanted to build slightly further north, on a more elevated plot between 116th Street to the south and 119th Street to the north. However, that plot would be too difficult to acquire, as ownership of that tract was divided among several entities; by contrast, the Leake and Watts Asylum had full control over their entire city block. The asylum site was deeded to the cathedral in October 1891, and the asylum moved to Westchester County, New York. The asylum site was then acquired for $850,000. At the time, Morningside Heights was quickly being developed as a residential neighborhood surrounded by numerous higher-education institutions.

Architecture competition

thumb|Architectural rendering of the cathedral's design for Heins & LaFarge, Architects (1891)|alt=

thumb|Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 1910

There was also debate over the new cathedral's style. Because of the larger plot and more remote location from Midtown Manhattan it was anticipated it could be more elaborate than St. Patrick's. The competition closed in January 1889.

In May 1889 the trustees formed a committee to review the more than 60 designs submitted. The board members then discussed the designs privately; some architects expressed concerns about the secret consultations, since the trustees generally did not have professional knowledge of architecture. "Gerona" used the Gothic style based on Spanish cathedrals; "AMDG" and "Jerusalem the Golden" were in a regular Gothic style, and "Three Arabesque Scrolls" was mainly Byzantine.

Potter and Robertson were the only finalists with significant experience at the time, and the trustees had agreed not to release any designs without the consent of all competitors, although some contestants broke this agreement and revealed their designs to the media. but was later extended to November after a failed proposal to host the World's Columbian Exposition in Morningside Park. This design had been the trustees' second choice but although the trustees liked Potter and Robertson's plan more, W. A. Potter was the bishop's half-brother and the trustees did not want to be accused of nepotism. To Kent's consternation, he was initially not recognized as a co-collaborator, and would not be acknowledged as such until the following year. The design proposed an apse of radiating chapels apses; a square crossing defined by four round-headed arches, supporting a dome over which was rise a massive tower; and transepts with round edges. The interior was based upon Boston's Trinity Church, and the crossing was based upon Istanbul's Hagia Sophia, Venice's St. Mark's Basilica, and the Périgueux Cathedral. The "exotic" design was seen as an example of the unusual architecture that was prevalent at that time.

That October, the trustees directed the firm to revise their design further. The following month, it was announced that work would begin in early 1892, provided that Heins & LaFarge submitted their revised plans that April. The original plans were then substantially revised because the board of trustees wanted a Gothic-style appearance. The western towers were modified to remove the spires and enlarge the windows, and various Gothic details were placed on the facade. The nave was realigned from north–south to east–west so that the apse would face east, in the direction of the sunrise, to represent the resurrection of Jesus as per Episcopal tradition. Heins & LaFarge objected to the realignment because it would result in the cathedral being hidden behind other buildings.

Construction and early years

Construction on the Cathedral of St. John the Divine was begun with the cornerstone-laying ceremony on December 27, 1892, St. John's Day. One thousand tickets for seats at the ceremony were distributed, though the actual attendance was 1,100. The following month, the remaining $175,000 for land acquisition had been secured, and the trustees moved to take title to the land, including the cathedral close around the cathedral's main building, in April. Unlike the main building, the cathedral close was not designed under a single master plan, and during the 1890s and 1900s, several proposals would be made for the site.

Initial construction

thumb|upright|Stonemason finishing an angel, 1909|alt=

Construction work began in early 1893. One of these pockets was located directly below the site for one of the four massive piers that were to support the cathedral's stone tower. The trustees briefly considered moving the entire cathedral slightly southward. They decided against moving the cathedral, believing it to be inauspicious to move the cornerstone. The pits were completed in late 1895 at a significantly higher cost than originally estimated. and as per an 1896 estimate, the cathedral was projected to cost at least $5 million when complete. As a temporary measure, the Tiffany Chapel was purchased in mid-1898 so that services could be held there. The chapel was placed in the crypt, within the basement. The first services were held in January 1899 within the Tiffany Chapel. The crossing arches, located in the cathedral plot's eastern portion, were completed the following year, By then, some $2 million had already been spent, even though little appeared to have been completed. Despite large donations from prominent figures such as financiers John Jacob Astor IV and William Waldorf Astor, governor Levi P. Morton, banker J. P. Morgan, and businessman Cornelius Vanderbilt, the trustees continued to raise funds.

In March 1903, the trustees announced that the next stage of St. John's construction would require $500,000 for building the choir and $200,000 for completing the loft, and that eight massive granite columns would need to be procured to support the roof over the choir. Furthermore, the trustees would build three arches to support the rest of the roof. Quarried in Vinalhaven, Maine, each column was tall with a diameter—at the time, the world's second-largest stone columns. One author wrote that "the view from outside tells much about St. John's inner spirit", saying that the southeastern elevation of the facade gives an impression of incompleteness, while the great western elevation was "vitalized by its incipience".

St. John's is oriented west–east relative to the street grid and was originally supposed to have a cruciform plan, with transepts extending to the north and south of the crossing near the eastern end of the cathedral. The entire structure measures long. , these dimensions make St. John's the fourth-largest Christian cathedral in the world and puts it in competition with Liverpool Cathedral as being the world's largest Anglican cathedral.

The original design for the cathedral was created by Heins & LaFarge. The original plan at St. John's called for tiled-arch domes and barrel vaults. The crossing was to be held up by four round arches under a dome, with a tower on top. Cram, described as a "brilliant perfectionist", frequently revised his proposal and later spoke of Heins & LaFarge's plans as better than his own. , no major construction work was ongoing; according to the cathedral's website, its funds were being used mainly "to prioritize serving the community through our programming and social initiatives, and to maintaining the architectural integrity of the Cathedral".

Narthex and western facade

Narthex

Wide angle view of the cathedral's western elevation|thumb

The narthex, in the westernmost portion of the cathedral facing Amsterdam Avenue, was designed by Cram. Inside the narthex is a large vestibule, which serves as an entrance to the nave on the east. The north tower reaches to the roof of the nave, which is above ground level;

Western facade

The narthex abuts the unfinished western elevation of the facade facing Amsterdam Avenue; this facade is wide and consists of five architectural bays. The bays are separated by large arched buttresses with finials at their tops, and they contain niches for the possible future installation of statues. The western elevation is divided into four vertical tiers. From bottom to top, they are the ground-level portals, on the first tier; the gallery level, on the second tier; the large rose window and several smaller grisaille and lancet windows, on the third tier; and the top of the south tower and the gable above the center bay, on the fourth tier. these were carved in 1988 under Simon Verity's leadership. The center, northernmost, and southernmost portals are set within large, gabled structures with several archivolts, or arched moldings, surrounding each portal under the gables; porches overhang the portals above the gables. The other two portals are located under simple rectangular canopy structures, With a diameter of , Flanking the rose window on either side are two grisaille windows, each with two lancet windows under a smaller rose. The seven archangels are depicted in the north grisaille, while the seven churches of Asia are depicted in the south grisaille. The bronze doors include a sequence of 60 relief panels, which presents scenes from the Old and New Testaments and the Apocalypse. St. John's great west doors were the last of the four commissions, each pair measuring some . but the ridge of the roof is high.

On the northern and southern elevations, there are four vertical "double bays", each with two columns of windows. Large arched buttresses, with two piers each, separate the different double bays; smaller buttresses, containing a single pier, divide each double bay into smaller "sub-bays". This alternation of large and small buttresses gives the appearance of four double bays with two sub-bays each, rather than eight singular rectangular bays. Carved parapets, as well as gables with dormers, run along the copper roof.

Inside, there are six north–south rows of piers, three to either side of the nave. These piers divide the nave into five aisles running west to east, with the center aisle located on the same axis as 112th Street. Each of the sub-bays contain carved parapets atop their mono-pitched roofs. The center of the apse contains the choir, located below the great organ. Two ambulatory passages run adjacent to the choir, one to the north and the other to the south. Seven chapels, a baptistery, and a columbarium are also located in the northwestern part of the apse. The westernmost unit in the southern row of choir stalls is called the "Dean's Stall". The roof above the choir is supported by eight columns, each tall with a diameter and a weight of . The columns' foundations descend as much as into the bedrock below them. For example, the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries are respectively represented by statues of William Shakespeare, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. The niche for the 20th century was left blank through the end of that century. In 2001 the choir parapet was completed with carvings of Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Einstein, Susan B. Anthony, and Mohandas Gandhi by stonecarver Christopher Pellettieri. In addition, the finials on both rows of stalls were carved by Otto Jahnsen and depict church-music composers and performers. It is located above the choir on the north and south sides, and consists of four manual keyboards with several pedals. In 1954, it was enlarged by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, Opus 150-A, under the tonal direction of G. Donald Harrison. though it previously included 8,035. After two years of extensive and detailed refurbishment work, including a reorganization of many pipes and a rebuilding of the console, the organ finally returned to service in 2008 as part of an overall $41-million cleaning and repair to the cathedral.–1909)

Miles Farrow (1910–1931)
Norman Coke-Jephcott (1932–1953)
John Upham (interim) (1953–1954)
Alec Wyton (1954–1974)
David Pizzaro (1974–1977)
Paul Halley (1977–1990)
Dorothy Papadakos (1990–2003)
Timothy Brumfield (2003–2009)
Bruce Neswick (2009–2011)
Kent Tritle (2011–present)

Sanctuary

thumb|Altar|alt=|left

Behind the choir, to its east, is the sanctuary (or chancel), a raised platform.—is located to the right, while the sedilia for the bishop and other clergy is to the left. The bishop's pulpit is made of Tennessee marble, with five niches, each of which contain reliefs that depict scenes from the life of Christ. which was dedicated in 1921.

Ambulatory and chapels

thumb|One of the chapels

An ambulatory, measuring long and wide, surrounds the choir to the north, east, and south, making a rough "U" shape with the two ends of the "U" facing west.

Extending outward from the ambulatory are seven chapels. These chapels are known as the "Chapels of the Tongues", All of the chapels, except for St. Ansgar's, were donated by individuals or families. St. Ansgar Chapel has its own organ.

St. Boniface, apostle of the Germans;
St. Columba, patron of Ireland and Scotland;
St. Savior (Holy Savior), devoted to immigrants from Africa and Asia; St. Savior was the first chapel to be complete, hosting its first services in 1904. It contains a bronze three-paneled altar with gold-leaf decoration, designed by Keith Haring just before his death.
St. Ambrose, patron of Milan;
St. James, patron of Spain; designed by Henry Vaughan, dedicated 1916. The baptistery was donated by three Stuyvesant family siblings in 1924.

Crossing

thumb|The crossing (dark stone ceiling), viewed from the nave. The apse is in the background.

Between the nave to the west and the apse to the east is the crossing, designed by Rafael Guastavino. The interior of the crossing includes four massive granite arches, which in the original Heins & LaFarge design were originally intended to support the massive tower above it. During the time that the nave remained incomplete, temporary walls were placed within the arches so that services could be held in the crossing. The pendentives, or triangular areas between the circular dome and the corners of the arches, are thick; the thickness of the dome itself ranges from on top to at the bottom.

Basements

Directly below the crossing is the basement, which contains the crypt, now used as a storage area. The items stored in the crypt include artifacts such as pieces of the destroyed Pennsylvania Station and World Trade Center, as well as wooden angels, plaster gargoyles, leadlights, antique furniture, and a single-file line of saints. The crypt also includes objects such as a large fossil and a massive crystal of quartz, both of which were relocated to the crypt after the 2001 fire. Along either side the basement are rooms, each named after the chapels that they are located under.

The crypt also formerly contained the Tiffany Chapel, created by jewelry designer Louis Comfort Tiffany. Originally exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, it was then acquired by Celia Whipple Wallace and moved to the cathedral in 1898. The Leake and Watts Asylum had a well on the site of the present-day baptistery, and there was a spring near the intersection of 110th Street and Morningside Drive. As early as 1893, workers discovered that the ground under the cathedral was soft and prone to flooding. including the former Leake & Watts asylum building, which predates the land's acquisition by the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Various paths, gardens, play areas, and furniture are located on the cathedral close, as are numerous artworks and several commemorative or religious objects. but after objections to the 1903 plan from St. Luke's Hospital, a new plan was presented in 1906. Cram presented to the trustees an extensive plan for all the structures on the grounds in October 1911, as well as the never-built diocesan offices and canons' residences. who lived on the cathedral close from the early 2000s to 2023.

Ithiel Town Building

The former Leake and Watts Asylum building, designed by Ithiel Town and completed in 1843, is located south of the crossing, where the south transept would have been located. Afterward, the former asylum's west wing was used by the day school for the cathedral's choirboys between 1901 and 1913. Cathedral leaders had proposed demolishing parts of the asylum building, since it was in the way of the proposed southern transept, though these demolitions did not happen. The building has also housed the Museum of Religious Art, as well as offices, shops, choir rehearsal quarters, sacristies, and the Cathedral Community Cares program. is located on the southern side of the cathedral close, close to Cathedral Parkway (110th Street). It is a -story H-shaped building with a brick facade, a base of Indiana limestone, and gable roofs above the pavilions on the western end. The southern elevation also contains an additional basement story. Its main entrance, on the eastern portion of the northern elevation, is a recessed-arched portal with an oriel window on the third story. The building was originally supposed to be on the northern side of the cathedral close, but was moved due to objections from St. Luke's Hospital. and the school opened by that October. All work was finished in February 1911, and the building was used as a deaconesses' school until May 1948, and it was converted to office use the following year. The main entrance, an arched portal facing Amsterdam Avenue, contains carvings of Christian figures, which flank oak double-doors. The exterior is made of pink Kingwood sandstone. Inside is a hall that can seat over a thousand people, with gallery seating above the main level. There are grisaille windows to the north and south, and wooden trusses on the ceiling, supporting the gable roof. Cram's firm submitted plans for Synod Hall in March 1912, and it opened in October 1913 with the start of the convention. However, the hall was not completed until early 1914.

The choir school was created in 1901 within the Town Building. Blodgett later covered the rest of the choir school building's cost after no one else donated, while former choirboy Frederick G. Bourne provided a $500,000 endowment in 1914. The bishop's house is west of the deanery, on slightly higher ground; the deanery is thus hidden behind the bishop's house. while the bishop's house was funded partly by the sale of a previous bishop's house at Gramercy Park. The two buildings' sites were given preliminary approval in May 1912 and were officially approved that October. and was finished in April 1914. while the deanery was started in February 1913 and completed by that November. The cathedral leased the northeastern edge of its property, formerly a parking lot, in 2012. The lessee was the Brodsky Organization, which built a residential building called the Enclave between 2014 and 2015. The Enclave consists of 428 rental apartments in two 15-story buildings, separated by the passageway leading to the northern transept; an underground gallery connects the two buildings.

Recurring events

The cathedral has an annual New Year's Eve Concert for Peace. The Postlude to Act I of Leonard Bernstein's opera Quiet Place received its New York premiere at the 1985 concert.

Paul Winter has given many concerts at the cathedral, and the Paul Winter Consort are the artists in residence. Among the major musical events that takes place every year is a celebration of the feast day of St. Francis, when the Paul Winter Consort participates in a liturgical performance of Winter's Missa Gaia (Earth Mass). The musical group also performs at the annual Winter Solstice program.

One-time events

thumb|upright|[[New York Philharmonic concert at Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 2026]]

The cathedral has also been used for several individual events:

Duke Ellington's Second Sacred Concert, of his original sacred music compositions, premiered at the cathedral on January 19, 1968. Petit was also the artist-in-residence at St. John's starting in 1982.
In 1990, the avant-garde musician Diamanda Galas performed Plague Mass, a culmination of her work dedicated to the victims of the AIDS epidemic. Galas's performance consisted of covering her body in cattle blood and reinterpreting biblical texts and classic literature. She said it was a protest against what she saw as the ignorance and condemnation toward people with AIDS from religious and political groups.
On December 8, 1994, Mariah Carey hosted a benefit concert for The Fresh Air Fund. The concert helped raise $700,000 to support the Fresh Air Fund and Carey's own Camp Mariah, and an additional $1 million from Carey herself.
The wedding of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman took place at the cathedral on May 1, 1998.
In November 2017, Aretha Franklin held her last large public concert, a 25th-anniversary event for the Elton John AIDS Foundation, at the cathedral.

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine has also hosted events with spiritual leaders. In addition, Bishop Desmond Tutu led a service in the cathedral in 1986.

Temporary art exhibitions

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is also used as an art exhibition space:

In 1977, a sculpture dedicated to the 12 firemen who died in the 23rd Street Fire of 1966 was unveiled at St. John's.
Edwina Sandys's Christa, a sculpture exhibited during Holy Week in 1984, was based upon the feminine divine. Though the sculpture generally received positive acclaim, several pieces of hate mail were addressed to the cathedral, accusing the cathedral of "blasphemy" with its depiction of Christ on the cross. The statue was displayed again at The Christa Project: Manifesting Divine Bodies exhibition in 2016.
The Value of Water, curated by artist activist Fredericka Foster, was exhibited at the cathedral in 2011. Featuring over forty artists, it was the largest-ever art exhibition to appear at the cathedral.
In 2014, the cathedral housed Phoenix, a sculptural group by Chinese artist Xu Bing. The two sculptures that comprised Phoenix was one of the largest pieces of sculpture ever displayed in the United States, weighing with lengths of .

Poets' Corner

The Poets' Corner, inspired by a similar corner at Westminster Abbey, is located in the Arts Bay, on the nave's northern side. It was dedicated in 1985, with Emily Dickinson, Washington Irving, and Walt Whitman being the first poets to be inducted as part of the tradition. The Poets' Corner consists of a poet-in-residence, hired for a five-year term, who in turn appoints electors on staggered terms. The poets-in-residence and electors have included 17 United States Poet Laureates.

Permanent works

thumb|alt=Closeup of the Peace Fountain|Closeup of the [[Peace Fountain]]

The pulpit green contains the Peace Fountain, a large bronze work of public art by the cathedral's sculptor-in-residence, Greg Wyatt. It was commissioned in 1985 and depicts the struggle of good and evil; a battle between the Archangel Michael and Satan; and images of the Sun, the Moon, and several animals.

Advocacy

Throughout the years, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine has been involved in various initiatives and projects. These programs included youth initiatives, a soup kitchen, a homeless shelter, and AIDS outreach. During the Vietnam War, the cathedral was also part of the opposition to United States involvement in the war. The Temple of Understanding, an interfaith organization, was housed at the cathedral for several decades in the late 20th century, moving to Midtown Manhattan in the 1990s.

Several programs have been directed toward helping members of the surrounding community. In 1971, the cathedral founded ACT (Athletics, Creativity, and Trips), a program that provided after-school activities and summer camp to children in the neighborhood. under the name "Advancing the Community of Tomorrow". In 1974, in response to a need for housing in New York City, St. John's created a program that became the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB); by 1987, the program had helped residential tenants in over 500 buildings to renovate and take ownership of their houses. Additionally, a homeless shelter, crisis center, clothes closet, and kitchen are run by in-house volunteers.

1917–1929: Howard Chandler Robbins
1930–1939: Milo Hudson Gates
1966–1972: Vacant
1997–2001: Harry Houghton Pritchett Jr.
2018–2022: Clifton Daniel III
2022–2025: Patrick Malloy
2025–present: Winnie Varghese

Notable funerals and memorials

The following people are listed with the year of their funeral or memorial service in parentheses:

Alvin Ailey (memorial, 1989), choreographer
Arthur Ashe (memorial, 1993), tennis player
George Balanchine (funeral, 1983), choreographer
James Baldwin (funeral, 1987), writer, activist
Joseph Brodsky (funeral, 1996), poet
Joan Didion (memorial, 2022), writer and journalist
John Gregory Dunne (funeral, 2004), writer, journalist and husband of Joan Didion
Duke Ellington (funeral, 1974), composer
James Gandolfini (funeral, 2013), actor
Dizzy Gillespie (funeral, 1993), musician
Allen Ginsberg (funeral, 1998), poet
Jim Henson (memorial, 1990), Muppets creator
Trevor Huddleston (memorial, 1997), anti-apartheid activist
Audre Lorde (funeral, 1993), poet, activist
Toni Morrison (funeral, 2019), author
Paul Moore Jr. (funeral, 2003), bishop
Eleanor Roosevelt (memorial, 1962), activist, diplomat, U.S. First Lady
Nikola Tesla (funeral, 1943), inventor
Terence Tolbert (funeral, 2008), political operative

Visitor access

In addition to worship services, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine offers both self-guided and guided tours of the interior exhibits, the cathedral close, and the gardens. These tours require paid tickets; there are discounts for seniors and students, as well as for those in tour groups. Admission is also included within several New York City tourist passes.

Landmark status

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine complex had been considered for designation as an official landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1966. At the time, St. John's trustees had opposed the move because the structure was incomplete, and a landmark designation would have required the commission to review every proposed major expansion thereafter. The church's trustees were able to prevent designation by claiming the church was not completed, using a stipulation in the landmark's law that stated that potential landmarks had to have been completed for at least 30 years. A subsequent landmark designation was precluded in 1979 for a similar reason. However, shortly after the commission conferred landmark status on the structure, the designation was unanimously overturned by the New York City Council, some of whose members favored landmark status for the entire cathedral close instead of just the main building. Councilman Bill Perkins proposed that the protective status should also be extended to the cathedral's grounds in order to control development there. The lack of an official city landmark designation meant that the cathedral site could potentially be redeveloped, and as such, two residential buildings were built on the same block as the cathedral.

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

External links

Official website (Congregation of Saint Saviour at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine)