"Permanent" doors

Dear Friends:

As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve recently done extensive work on the Cathedral doors—the front
doors facing 8th Avenue as well as the Polk Street doors. Consideration was given to replacing the doors but it seemed a shame to discard these old sturdy “heirlooms” when they were mostly sound and capable of many years of additional use.

We’ve made several alterations to the doors—center mullions, panic bars, new locking systems, weather seals, etc. The most important repair, and the only way to save the doors, however, was to replace the bottom 8-12 inches, which had rotted. We thought the rot was from the inside out, due to rain water wicking up into the doors from the outside walkways. But the cause was not water damage at all, it was fire damage! The bottom of the doors had actually gotten so hot that the inside had charred! In discovering this, we began to do some historical studies concerning the doors, which apparently not only survived the fire but have also survived several attempts to replace them.

Our Cathedral doors are the original doors placed at the time of the original construction (1910-1917). At that time, they were “temporary doors,” meant to be replaced by something nicer as the church could afford it. Through the years, there have been many conversations about replacement and, finally, just a week before the 1975 fire, the vestry voted to replace the temporary doors with nicer, permanent ones. This work was not begun, however, and the fire nearly completely destroyed the Cathedral—the outside stone shell of the building, a couple of narthex windows and the main doors to the Cathedral were all that survived the blaze. To rebuild, money on hand (including dollars earmarked for new doors) as well as additional money raised was allocated to more pressing needs. The “temporary doors” were refinished and reused on the new building. So, these “temporary doors” are now in their 9th decade of use! After surviving one more round of considered replacement, perhaps it’s finally time to give them the official title as the Cathedral’s main and “permanent” doors!

—I’ll see you in church,
Steve+

On another note, we are pleased to announce (hopefully by the time you read this) that the 10-year-old “temporary” metal sign in the Cathedral’s front yard has been replaced with a new and attractive permanent sign. The new sign is framed in limestone and is lighted. It has a changeable marquee to advertise events as well as permanent boards showing the name of the church and the diocese and Sunday worship times. (Sometimes temporary things do need replacing!)