The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
New York, NY

Building owner
The Episcopal Diocese of New York

In collaboration with
Robert Silman Associates Structural Engineers
Urbitran Engineers OSMOS

Building description
The firm of Heins & Lafarge won the contract for the Cathedral with a Romanesque, Byzantine design. Their plan called for a cathedral 520 feet in length crowned at the crossing by a towering fleche. The choir and the crossing with its four immense arches were completed by 1911. The Guastavino tile dome, 162 feet high at the apex, was built to temporarily cover the crossing. The original plans called for the dome to be replaced by the fleche, but the Guastavino dome is still there today.

The Third phase of work, from 1972 - 1997 saw the advent of the Stoneworks Program at the Cathedral, designed to train stone mason apprentices - an all but forgotten trade in North America. During this time, progress was made on the North and South towers as blocks were cut and laid.

Scope of work

• VA worked with engineers from Urbitran OSMOS and Robert Silman Associates to install and calibrate the OSMOS fiber optic crack gauges across cracks in the buttress arched above the aisles.
• The underside of the slab and concrete beams in the south tower were measured, inspected and photographed.