Cathedral of St. John the Divine

History and architecture

One of the great religious structures of the world, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, located at Amsterdam Avenue and West 112th Street in Morningside Heights, is the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. The cathedral was chartered in 1873 under the leadership of Bishop Horatio Potter. In 1888, an architectural competition was held and won by the architectural firm of Heins & LaFarge. The winning proposal was an eclectic design incorporating elements of the Romanesque, Byzantine, and Gothic styles.

The first phase of construction began in 1892 with the laying of the cornerstone and continued to 1911 when the crypt, choir, and crossing were completed. Changes in taste and the death of Heins in 1907 brought about a new French Gothic design for the completion of the cathedral by architect Ralph Adams Cram of the firm Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson. A second construction phase began in 1916 and continued until 1941. During this period, the nave was completed and joined to the choir by a rough-finished crossing, the imposing west front was added, and the north transept was begun.

Work resumed in 1979 on the towers of the west front and a proposal for the design of the south transept was adopted. The church's main vault rises to a height of 124 feet; its entire length is 601 feet. Its monumental size was intended to take advantage of its lofty location. Its stained-glass windows feature both biblical and modern characters. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is considered the crowning glory of the Morningside Heights neighborhood, which came to be known as "the Acropolis of the new world" for the many cultural institutions that moved there in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Even in its unfinished state, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine remains the largest church in the United States and the largest cathedral in the world.