聖約翰大教堂
In 1888，the Board of Trustees initiated a contest for the Cathedral's design. The firm of Heins &
Lafarge won the contract with a Romanesque，Byzantine design. Their plan called for a cathedral 520
feet in length crowned at the crossing by a towering conical spire. It would be built in the customary
cathedral shape -- that of a cross.
The next challenge was finding a site for this extraordinary house of worship. One spring day in
1887，a devoted layman，George Macculoch Miller，glanced west on 111th Street while walking up
Fifth Avenue. Within a few days，Mr. Miller had shown the site to Bishop Henry Codman Potter. Both
of them perceived the heights rising above Morningside Avenue as a potential acropolis. The thirteen
heavily wooded acres were the site of the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum. The property was
purchased for $850,000.
On December 27，1892， St. John's Day， Bishop Potter laid the corner stone of the Cathedral.
Bishop Potter struck the massive stone three times with a large wooden mallet， "Other foundation can
no man lay， than that is laid which is Jesus Christ."
By 1911，the choir and the crossing with its four immense arches were completed . The renowned
mason Rafael Guastavino built a dome of tile，162 feet high at the apex, to cover the crossing. The
original plans called for the dome to be replaced by a spire，but the Guastavino dome is still there
today.
重建中未完成的聖約翰教堂
