Test your knowledge of historic and iconic buildings in the U.S. (and beyond!) in this series of “guess the building” blog posts.
Series No. 12:
This monumental cathedral – one of the largest churches in the world – has been under construction since 1892. Many delightful details can be found in its stone sculpture, along with a clue to its name. Where is it?
Answer: The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York, NY. The cathedral was originally designed by the firm of Heins & LaFarge in 1888 in a Byzantine-Romanesque style, and later modified by Ralph Adams Cram in the Gothic Revival style. In 1909 a “temporary” Guastavino tile dome was installed over the crossing; over 100 years later, the dome is still in place and is the largest Guastavino dome ever constructed. The cathedral opened from end-to-end for the first time in 1941, nearly 50 years after construction began. World War II halted building activity, which resumed in the 1970s and 80s, however the cathedral still has not been completed.
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Photos by Vertical Access.