I went to the Crypt Crawl at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine (my photos of the church here), and had no idea what to expect going into it. There isn’t much information online about the crypt, but it ended up being much more interesting to me than I thought. Even though it’s mainly an unfinished storage basement right now, there is a really interesting history. The chapel that Louis Comfort Tiffany made for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (history of the chapel is in my Morse Museum page on my portfolio) was formerly in the crypt! After it was used for the exposition it was moved to the crypt, the to the Morse Museum in Orlando. I’ve seen and photographed the chapel, as well as both chandeliers featured in the exposition (click here to see). According to our amazing tour guide, the chapel was removed because the second architect, Ralph Adams Cram (one of my favorites!) thought Tiffany’s work wasn’t good enough for the cathedral. Since I’m a fan of both, I was hoping to find a church Cram designed with Tiffany glass, so this is both a funny and disappointing discovery. The crypt also houses lampposts from the old Penn Station, and various old parts from the cathedral, such as statues and stone decorations.
