assimilate with the dominant central spire; which, as will appear’ is in and of itself the embodiment of the central idea of the edifice.
The apparent contrarieties involved in this style-problem, readily and almost insensibly gave way before the plastic Gothic as it grew into relation, form and outline. New wants and contingencies, unknown to the Gothic, were recognized and provided for. The possibilities of iron in architectural development solved many difficulties hitherto inexplicable, especially in the modelling of the central dome-spire.
The ensemble, therefore, is not a plagiarism nor a transplanted exotic, nor is it the echo or reflection of any foreign creation; neither is it a concession to any aggressive radicalism in architectural art. It is nothing more or less than a spontaneous and general outgrowth of the writer’s structural conceptions as nurtured at the altar within recognized lines of artistic and æsthetic propriety.
5. What does this ensemble mean? How did it come to possess and dominate the thought and purpose of your architect V
The corporate name of the Cathedral, “ St. John the Divine, ” explains the meaning and accounts for the inspiring motive of the design. Nowhere, save in the Book of the Revelations, could he look for the animating spirit of symbolism that should convert the mass of quarried stone into a living teacher. And so every foot and inch of the structure rests upon and is interpenetrated with this Apocalyptic symbolism. If literal orientation seemed impracticable — “on the north side lieth the city of the Great King” came into his thought as he swept the circle of the apse. The symbolism of “ tens ” gave a decimal analysis to every inch of lateral and upright space; making the succession of the different stages of construction, the interrelation of columns, windows, aisles and exits. The symbolism of “ sevens ” is repeated and multiplied indefinitely, as, for example, in the seven chapels or Churchly structures that encircle the head of the sanctuary, and by seven openings have access to the
central altar from which they radiate. The symbolism of “ twos ” also is frequently exemplified. As every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Light, so the great interior is illuminated by upraised windows, especially the four in the lantern, which is the lowest stage of the central dome-spire. Again “Jerusalem is built as a city at unity with itself, ” and so the shallow, wide transepts and nave of the same proportions gather up all the faithful into one great mass of worshippers, almost under the dome, where every eye shall see and every ear catch the sanctuary with its Eucharist and its hymn, and the pulpit with its living word.
The modern church is both a worshipping and a preaching church. It was therefore but a prime necessity to sacrifice perspectives to the larger and dominant interests of the great congregation, who with us have outgrown merely spectacular worship.
The Ten Tribes, the Twelve Apostles, the Seven Churches, the Sevenfold Gift of the Holy Ghost, the Four Evangelists, the Twofold Natures of our Blessed Lord, Lawgiving and the Beatitudes, these are among the tremendous analogies that enter into and shape the architect’s purposes.
“ Jerusalem, the golden!
With milk and honey blest; Beneath thy contemplation
Sink heart and voice opprest. I know not, O! I know not
What joys await us there; What radiancy of glory,
What bliss beyond compare. O none can tell thy bulwarks,
How gloriously they rise; O none can tell thy capitals Of beautiful device:
“ Thy loveliness oppresses
All human thought and heart:
And none, O peace, O Syon, Can sing thee as thou art.
New mansion of new people,
Whom God’s own love and light Promote, increase, make holy,
Identify, unite.
Thou City of the Angels! Thou City of the Lord! Whose everlasting music
Is the glorious decachorde! ”
In the further elucidation of the ground-plan as figured, the ancient temple with its outlying courts, each helping in some divinely appointed way the great central service of sacrifice and worship, supplies an analogue for the symmetrical clustering of the “courts, ” which the development of cathedral life and work has made inseparable from the sacred edifice, and also that
immediateness of approach which such a relation requires. “ The Courts of the House of our God ” symbolizes this unification of sacred uses and offices. Again “ The hills stand about Jerusalem, even so standeth the Lord round about His people, from this time forth forevermore. ” — Ps. CXXV: 2.
The human body furnishes a modulus of proportion and relation, not alone in the Christian evolutions of architecture, but in the Greek if not other ethnic types. The interior, then, may exemplify this mystery of proportion, after this wise: the entire interior length from the sanctuary wall to the opposite end being 400 feet, the sanctuary, representing the head, will after the proportion of an eighth of the body, be 50 feet, as laid down in the plan. Similar homologies will be apparent in the details of the plan. In the sanctuary the symbolism of “ sevens ” prevails. The transepts and foot of the nave, below transept intersection, are of equal dimensions. The ambulatory which surrounds the choir and sanctuary separates them from the outlying line of seven chantries, chapter-house, etc., is raised a few steps above the main floor-level, and on each side, descending, meet the north and south aisles of the nave, which are
Comparison of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine with St. Paul s and Ely Cathedrals.
The apparent contrarieties involved in this style-problem, readily and almost insensibly gave way before the plastic Gothic as it grew into relation, form and outline. New wants and contingencies, unknown to the Gothic, were recognized and provided for. The possibilities of iron in architectural development solved many difficulties hitherto inexplicable, especially in the modelling of the central dome-spire.
The ensemble, therefore, is not a plagiarism nor a transplanted exotic, nor is it the echo or reflection of any foreign creation; neither is it a concession to any aggressive radicalism in architectural art. It is nothing more or less than a spontaneous and general outgrowth of the writer’s structural conceptions as nurtured at the altar within recognized lines of artistic and æsthetic propriety.
5. What does this ensemble mean? How did it come to possess and dominate the thought and purpose of your architect V
The corporate name of the Cathedral, “ St. John the Divine, ” explains the meaning and accounts for the inspiring motive of the design. Nowhere, save in the Book of the Revelations, could he look for the animating spirit of symbolism that should convert the mass of quarried stone into a living teacher. And so every foot and inch of the structure rests upon and is interpenetrated with this Apocalyptic symbolism. If literal orientation seemed impracticable — “on the north side lieth the city of the Great King” came into his thought as he swept the circle of the apse. The symbolism of “ tens ” gave a decimal analysis to every inch of lateral and upright space; making the succession of the different stages of construction, the interrelation of columns, windows, aisles and exits. The symbolism of “ sevens ” is repeated and multiplied indefinitely, as, for example, in the seven chapels or Churchly structures that encircle the head of the sanctuary, and by seven openings have access to the
central altar from which they radiate. The symbolism of “ twos ” also is frequently exemplified. As every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Light, so the great interior is illuminated by upraised windows, especially the four in the lantern, which is the lowest stage of the central dome-spire. Again “Jerusalem is built as a city at unity with itself, ” and so the shallow, wide transepts and nave of the same proportions gather up all the faithful into one great mass of worshippers, almost under the dome, where every eye shall see and every ear catch the sanctuary with its Eucharist and its hymn, and the pulpit with its living word.
The modern church is both a worshipping and a preaching church. It was therefore but a prime necessity to sacrifice perspectives to the larger and dominant interests of the great congregation, who with us have outgrown merely spectacular worship.
The Ten Tribes, the Twelve Apostles, the Seven Churches, the Sevenfold Gift of the Holy Ghost, the Four Evangelists, the Twofold Natures of our Blessed Lord, Lawgiving and the Beatitudes, these are among the tremendous analogies that enter into and shape the architect’s purposes.
“ Jerusalem, the golden!
With milk and honey blest; Beneath thy contemplation
Sink heart and voice opprest. I know not, O! I know not
What joys await us there; What radiancy of glory,
What bliss beyond compare. O none can tell thy bulwarks,
How gloriously they rise; O none can tell thy capitals Of beautiful device:
“ Thy loveliness oppresses
All human thought and heart:
And none, O peace, O Syon, Can sing thee as thou art.
New mansion of new people,
Whom God’s own love and light Promote, increase, make holy,
Identify, unite.
Thou City of the Angels! Thou City of the Lord! Whose everlasting music
Is the glorious decachorde! ”
In the further elucidation of the ground-plan as figured, the ancient temple with its outlying courts, each helping in some divinely appointed way the great central service of sacrifice and worship, supplies an analogue for the symmetrical clustering of the “courts, ” which the development of cathedral life and work has made inseparable from the sacred edifice, and also that
immediateness of approach which such a relation requires. “ The Courts of the House of our God ” symbolizes this unification of sacred uses and offices. Again “ The hills stand about Jerusalem, even so standeth the Lord round about His people, from this time forth forevermore. ” — Ps. CXXV: 2.
The human body furnishes a modulus of proportion and relation, not alone in the Christian evolutions of architecture, but in the Greek if not other ethnic types. The interior, then, may exemplify this mystery of proportion, after this wise: the entire interior length from the sanctuary wall to the opposite end being 400 feet, the sanctuary, representing the head, will after the proportion of an eighth of the body, be 50 feet, as laid down in the plan. Similar homologies will be apparent in the details of the plan. In the sanctuary the symbolism of “ sevens ” prevails. The transepts and foot of the nave, below transept intersection, are of equal dimensions. The ambulatory which surrounds the choir and sanctuary separates them from the outlying line of seven chantries, chapter-house, etc., is raised a few steps above the main floor-level, and on each side, descending, meet the north and south aisles of the nave, which are
Comparison of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine with St. Paul s and Ely Cathedrals.