2-366-050 - Curt Teich Postcard Archives/Heritage Images

Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York City, New York, USA, 1916. Vintage postcard showing a bird's eye view of the exterior of the cathedral and surrounding grounds. St John the Divine is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Its construction began in 1892 but remains unfinished at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Consequently the cathedral was gained the nicknames 'St John the Unfinished' and 'The White Elephant of the Upper West Side'. It is claimed to be the largest Anglican cathedral in the world, a title challenged by Liverpool Cathedral. The building was originally conceived as Byzantine-Romanesque in style, but was changed to a Gothic design after 1909. The cathedral was badly damaged by a fire in 2001 and did not re-open until 2008.