Holy Cross Magazine
November, 1902

With this number of the magazine we are sending our subscribers a perspective of the building now in process of erection at West Park. As the magazine goes to press the walls have reached the eaves.

The side of the building shown in the drawing faces the river and has an eastern exposure; the north is to the right, the south to the left, in- almost direct 1ine. The woods behind are on a bank twenty feet high, and quite hide the highway, which runs north and south along the top of the ridge, about the distance of a long city block beyond the woods. Thus we shall be cut .off from any sounds of passers-by. To the east the ground falls quite rapidly towards the river, about a hundred and fifty feet below. There are woods along the edge of the river which overhang a pebbly beach, with here and there a few rocks jutting out above the water. The building stands on a side hill so that the floor of the basement is on a level with the ground to the east, but the "ceiling of the basement on a level with the ground to the west. The building rests on the solid rock.

To describe the building, let us begin at the northeast corner of the basement. The four square windows give light to four chapels, each ten feet square, and each having its own altar. These will be used almost exclusively for early celebrations of the Holy Eucharist; and they will be prompt to catch the light of the sun as it rises over the hills across the river. South of the chapels is the lower sacristy, which is connected with the upper sacristy by a small iron stairway. Communication from this part of the basement with the remainder is through a single door. All the partitions in the basement are of brick.

South of the sacristy is the main entrance into the basement, the architectural feature being iron gates, opening into a tiled hall, from which the .main stairway ascends. The door next south of the gates opens into a room for a gas machine, and is the only way of entering that room. To the left of this room is an office for the steward, and then comes the kitchen, which reaches back to the chimney and has a larder behind it, with a lift to the pantry above. The rest of the basement is taken up with boiler-room, store-rooms, bins for wood and coal, and a cold-storage room. There is admission to the basement from the west by an area and steps underneath the main entrance of the ground floor.

Coming up one flight we have, first, the cloister, one hundred feet long and ten feet wide, with a tiled floor. From this there are beautiful views up and down the river, a distance of six or seven miles each way. The cloister will be warm with the morning sun on winter days, and cool with shade on summer afternoons. The Chapel occupies the northern part of the ground floor, west of the cloister, being about thirty feet wide and fifty feet long, with the sanctuary at the north end. The floor of the Chapel is dropped about two feet so as to give a height of sixteen feet. There is a side aisle, seven feet wide, on the east side of the Chapel, separated from the choir by two brick arches. There is to be an altar at the north end of this aisle, alongside of the high altar. There are windows high in the east wall of the Chapel and larger windows to the west. There is no window to the north. South of the side aisle of the Chapel is the upper sacristy, seven feet wide and about fifteen feet long, with the small iron stairway, spoken of as leading to the lower sacristy. To the west of the sacristy is the main passage leading to the Chapel, and beyond that to the west is a "gallery" (the height above the floor of the Chapel is only about two feet) for women, separated from the Chapel by two brick arches, in which will be an open-work grille. South of this gallery, and connecting with it by folding-doors that can be thrown open on special occasions, is the reception room. In this room are two windows and an open fire place.

We have now come to the main entrance to the building, which is on the west, and the main entrance hall, from which the reception room opens to the north, while on the south are two other rooms for interviews with persons coming from outside the house. The hall is separated from the interior of the building by doors that serve as a grille, and inside these doors is the main stairway. South of .the sacristy, and .underneath the stairs, is a door into the cloister. South of the stairs is a cloak room and a room for private interviews with guests staying in the house, where they can have a meal in case of late arrival or early departure. The south end of the ground floor is taken up by the refectory,—in which there is an open fireplace,—and the pantry behind it. Just outside the pantry to the north are stairs which run from the basement to the top of the house. Almost all the partitions on the ground floor are of brick, and it is expected that in the Chapel, refectory and passages the brick will be left without paint or plaster.

Going up to the first floor, the common-room for the professed members of the Order, a room of generous size, is in the northeast corner, with the library west of it. The Superior's office is east of the stairway, and is reached by a passage-way, running at right angles to the main hall, and separating the office from the professed common-room. On the west, south of the library, are the lavatories; the rest of the floor is taken up with thirteen rooms for the professed members.
The second floor is in the roof. In this is the guests' common-room in the northeast corner, while the novitiate, with office for the Novice-Master and a common-room for the Novices, occupies the southern portion of the floor, separated by a door across the hall. The rest of this floor, save for the lavatories, is taken up with fifteen rooms.

The top floor is in the attic, in the upper part of the roof. Here, in addition to store-rooms, there will be seven rooms for guests, with dormer windows towards the west, and with sky-lights giving abundance of air. There will be about thirty-five sleeping rooms in the house altogether. Some of the offices could be used as sleeping rooms on occasion. There are three guest-rooms at the gate-house, and several rooms in a farm house down by the river. So we hope to be able to provide rooms for over forty guests.

The material of the building is red brick; the roof is to be of green slate; very little stone is used; the windows will be made with small panes, those in the Chapels being leaded. The trimmings of the interior will be as simple as possible, but it will be made warm and cheerful. The views both near and far are an inspiration and joy.

© 2003 Holy Cross Monastery
Webmaster