Evening Star Newspaper, April 20, 1930, Page 73

Fiction Art PART SEVEN. he Sundwy St Magasine WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY, APRIL 20, 1930. Features Easter at Washington (Cathedral Thousands in Annual Eastertide Pilgrimage to Mount Saint Alban This Year Are Greeted by New Architectural Wonders as Another Milestone Is Reached in the Structural Progress of the Great Gothic Edifice Overlooking the National Capital. URING Easter week thousands will journey to Mount St. Alban, where the majestic Gothic edifice, known as Washington Cathedral, is rising to crown the heights that over= look the National Capital. Constantly the objective of visitors from near and far, this great church structure in the making becomes of in- creasing importance to pilgrims each year as the season of Lent draws to a close. On Easter day its chapels will be thronged with worshipers. Last year 9,300 persons entered the B:thlehem Chapel alone. Countless others will visit the adjacent grounds. Occupying some 6714 acres of wooded highlands on the most commanding ele= vation in the District of Columbia, Washington Cathedral has a peculiar appeal on days of religious importance. Zts beautiful crypt chapels provide appropriate settings for festival services, at which the well trained voices of the members of the cathedral choir of men and boys are raised in hymns and an=- thems in keeping with the season; the grandeur of the architecture and the magnitude of the undertaking inspire beholders with the sublime significance of the Christian faith; and the attrac= tively landscaped grounds afford oppor= tunity for moments of refreshing repose and quiet reflection. I’r is the custom of many residents of Washington to make annual pile grimages to Mount St. Alban at Easter= tide to determine the extent of progress achieved in the endeavor to give endur= ing expression at the hLeart of the Re= public to the national declaration, “In God We Trust.” Many leaders of national affairs view with keen interest and sincere satisfac- tion the ever-mounting accomplishments in the construction of the cathedral and its associated institutions. Only recente ly President Hoover wrote: “In the course of time I hope that Washington may become architecturally an inspiration to the Nation. This hope will be achieved when there is beauti- ful architectural expression of the funda« mental aspects of our democracy. Cer= tainly one of these aspects, hecause it is the deepest spring of our nationai life, is religion. Therefore, as a wonderfully beautiful expression of religion, T watch with sympathetic interest the growth of the great cathedral on the heights overlooking Washington.™ Others’ have expressed themselves in a like tenor. In a letter to the Right Rev. James E. Freeman, Bishop of Washington, the Hon. Andrew W. Mel- lon, Secretary of the Treasury. declared: “Ev:ry year Americans go to Europe in increasing numbers to see the great cathedrals which were built there cen- turies ago. In giving the people of this country an opportunity to help in build- ing such a cathedral here you are not only conferring a privilege on all of us who are allowed to participate in this work, but you are carrying forward an undertaking whose importance cannot be over- estimated. Here in the City of Washington we have need for a great cathedral. It will be, in the eyes of the world, the visible expression of that strong religious belief which was one of the very corner stones on which the Nadon was found-4. That belief is still deeply embedded in che Americang character and by erecting a cathedral such as this we give evidence that America has remained true to her early tradi- tions and that she is using her great wealth, not solely to create further wealth or to pro- mote comfort and security, but as a lever to raise the Nation to a plane of civilization higher than one of merely material achieve- ment.” A vaulted passageway in the crypt of Washington Cathedral. By Alex W. Burger. ISITORS this Easter will discover many ad- vances in the project, which had its actual inception in 1893, when Congress granted a charter to the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation of the District of Columbia, pro- viding authority for the erection of “a cathe- dral and institutions of learning for the pro- motion of religion and education and charity.” The last 12 months have witnessed the struc- tural completion of the choir, the building of the crypt of the nave and the beginning of work on the north transept, while during the same period the handsome structure provided for the College of Preachers by the late Alex- ander Smith Cochran was finished and dedi- cated; a new building was erected for St. Aibans, the National Cathedral School for Boys, and the scope of the landscape program was extended along remarkable lines. The completion of the choir has given new significance to the cathedral outline that looms large against the northwestern horizon of the Capital City. The roofline, which is visble from virtually every section of Washington, nis now 115 feet longer than a year ago. This was ac- complished by raising the five great bays with their finely wrought tracery windows and ex- quisitely carved pinnacles, which comprise the choir, some 134 feet above the gree lawns of Mount St. Alban. With the apse, long a distinguished landmark, the choir now forecasts the beauty of the com- pleted strueture. Although these units repre- sent but a small portion of the enttre . edifice, their magnitude is inspiring. To the traveler entering Washington on ‘Wisconsin avenue they bulk large as a veritable citadel of religion, while the visitor surveying the Capital City sky- line from Hains Point cannot fail to no- tice their massive proportions as his eye reaches the hills that bound the city. As yet unopened to pilgrims and wor- shipers, the nave crypt represents an important construction achievement. It has added 261 feet to the length of the crypt fabric of the cathedral. The total outside width of this portion of the edi- fice, including the massive exterior walls, the crypt directly beneath the nave and the north and south walls, is 138 feet. The aisles are especially distinctive, They extend the entire length of the nave and connect with aisles now ex=- tending along the north and south ex- teriors of the Bethlehem Chapel and the Chapel of the Resurrection. To pilgrims of the future entering the Benedictus doorway, the present entrance to the crypt chapels, and proceeding westward beyond the Bethlehem Chapel and the Chapel of the Resurrection, these aisles will present vistas of unique beauty. Never before, it is said, has the nave crypt of a cathedral been utilized for such passageways. They are vaulted corridors, possessing -elements of both Norman and Gothic architecture and lined with impressive colonnades of pil- lars of varied designs. Like the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea, one of the architectural features of the cathedral, they give an unforgettable impression not only of beauty but of strength that will endure for ages. It is believed that in the future they will become a portion of the edifice that pilgrims will rarely neglect. With the completion of the cathedral they will be used for the formation of processions at great services. Two thousand or more persons will be able to gather in these aisles to march to their places on the main floor, when large groups of clergy or members of patriotic organizatioms assemble for corporate worship. THE north and south transepts are a significant feature of the cathedral architecture. They form the arms of the cross-shaped structure, and have an important part in carrying out the elaborate scheme of Christian sym- bolism which has been worked out for the edifice. With their completion the cathedral will be in a position to pro- vide shelter for congregations of ap- proximately 3,500 persons. Work on these elements was started during the Autumn, when the first stone was placed with appropriate ceremonies attended by men and women of prominence, who are devoting much time and energy to the securing of funds with which to carry forward the cathedral enterprise. It has been estimated that more than 250,000 cubic feet of stone will be re- quired for the building of the two transepts. The cost, with adequate endowment, has been esti- mated at approximately $3,000,000. In a Wash- ington’s birthday address, recorded by the sound motion picture camera, Gen. John J. Pershing, chairman of the national committee for Wash- ington Cathedral, expressed the hope that the transepts will be completed by 1932, “making possible a great religious commemoration at the cathedral two years hence, during the na- tional observance of the 200th anniversary of the birth of George Washington.” From the platform, erected at the west of the foundations for the convenience of pil= grims, it is possible to see the extent of the transept building operations and to visualize their importance in the design of the edifice.