A Landmark Expansion

IT WAS BARELY A HALF-DECADE AGO that plans began to form for the Expansion Project, The Cathedral School’s first alteration to the original school building since it was constructed in 1913. Today, it is a thriving center of learning, experimentation, and innovation for all Cathedral students. Reflecting on the arc of this transformative project, Head of School Marsha K. Nelson said, “The Expansion Project represents the balance of tradition and innovation at The Cathedral School. You see it visually as you take in the beautiful stone, the neo-gothic archways, and the arched windows. As you stand in the Morningside Room and face back into the original school building, one wall of the new room is the original exterior stone. It speaks to the school’s beautiful blend—look one direction and you see the original dining room through arched entryways; look the other and you see floor-to-ceiling windows through which you view the world beyond. That’s what this school should always be, a school deeply rooted in our values and traditions, as well as one eager to support innovation and creativity and to equip our students to be responsible citizens in an ever-changing and unpredictable world.”

“The Expansion’s balance of old and new, stone and glass, forms a counterpoint to the original building and celebrates the innovative curriculum that the new addition will support.” —Susie Rodriguez, project head architect, ENNEAD Architects

As you walk through the beautiful arched glass door on the Terrace Level, to your right is the 2,700 square foot Library and Media Center, with space for 6,000 books. The large arched windows will look out onto a landscaped terrace with a dogwood tree and four benches, donated by the Class of 2019, where students will be able to gather before school. Inside, the modular tables can be constantly moved and reconfigured to accommodate class groups, STEAM projects, and children enjoying books on the rug or in one of the blue armchairs dotted throughout the room. This room also includes a breakout space that houses state-of-the-art video and photography equipment and a green screen for student video projects. The west-facing wall is made of glass, giving students and faculty working in the Media Center a glimpse of the classes hard at work across the hallway in the Innovation Lab.

A wall of windows allows the Cathedral community to enjoy the creativity of students in the Innovation Lab as they pass by. The Innovation Lab and Annex are filled with high-tech and analog tools to enrich the STEAM curriculum. These include 3D printers, a large-format poster printer, LEGO Robotics, Makey Makey circuits, Dash and Dot robots and accessories, Little Bit circuits, Squishy circuits, sewing machines, iPad Pros, sand, gravel, air-dry clay, and a wide variety of paper, cardboard, glue, scissors, and tape to allow for prototyping and designing. There is also a 72-squarefoot LEGO wall, both playful and educational. Sara Collins, the Director of Innovation and Educational Technology, has developed an Innovation Lab mission statement: “Teachers of all subjects and students of all grades can use the new Innovation Lab as a place to solve all sorts of problems through design, construction, and reflection.”

The dining room expansion, known as the Morningside Room, is a multipurpose space with breathtaking floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides looking out onto expansive views of the 100-year-old plane trees in Morningside Park. The original Dining and Common Room spaces were always cozy. Now, this space can host over a hundred more people, and is the home for Upper School Assembly, any overflow from Lower School Assembly, and other community events. The room includes a giant retractable screen and advanced audio-visual equipment. It is also a welcome addition to the lunch service, allowing faculty and students to eat together (a treasured Cathedral tradition), and features new tables and a salad bar that can be quickly tucked away and stored for flexibility.

OTHER SPACES AND TRANSFORMATIONS The Expansion Project was not just an addition—it was a transformation of the entire school building. The additional 8,000 square feet of space afforded by the Expansion Project allowed spaces inside the original structure to be reimagined as, among other things, three new classrooms, two new learning support spaces, a dedicated high school counseling space, two new conference rooms, a renovated reception area, the Sue Martin Faculty Workroom, and a large, spacious south stairwell. Inside the Expansion, a suite of offices next to the Morningside Room for the Office of Outreach and Enrollment Management welcomes prospective families in a gracious, light-filled setting. There is also an elevator, plus increased storage space for food service, the Parents’ Association, student engineering and innovation projects, and more on the Cellar Level.

After much anticipation, Cathedral students entered the school’s new Expansion spaces for the first time on February 26. That morning, Lower School students paraded into the Annex on the Terrace Level, each placing a LEGO on the LEGO wall before gathering in the new Library and Media Center. After a blessing by Chaplain Patti Welch, Director of Library and New Media Ricca Gaus read BiblioBurro: A True Story from Colombia to the entire Lower School. The book is about a man who creates a traveling library to spread literacy to children. Lower School students also delivered books from their classrooms to the new Library. In the afternoon, the Upper School held a ribbon-cutting before crossing the threshold to hold their first Upper School Assembly in the new expanded dining space on the First Floor. Head of School Marsha Nelson opened remarks by revealing the name she had chosen for the new room: the Morningside Room. After reviewing suggestions from students, faculty, and staff, Ms. Nelson felt her choice reflected the morning light of a new day “filled with hope and possibility” and its view overlooking Morningside Park. “I am deeply thrilled that the Upper School is claiming this for Upper School Assembly,” said Ms. Nelson. Chaplain Welch also blessed this new room and, in particular, CFO/COO Peter Maas for all his work managing the project. The next day, all students were able to claim the Morningside Room as part of the school’s first expanded lunch service.

A multifaceted project like this takes people with diverse talents and skills who join together to make a dream reality. For Cathedral, Kazimierz Harowicz was one such person. Kaz (as he prefers to be known) is a master stonemason for the contractors Nicholson & Galloway and has worked on the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other landmarks in New York City. With good humor and optimism, Kaz worked with CFO/COO Peter Maas to keep the project moving forward and used specialized techniques so that the 2018 stonework seamlessly matched that from 1913. Kaz is originally from Poland and lived in Italy and Greece before arriving in New York in 1994. He now says, “New York is my one city,” but on his first day of work years ago, he found himself patching stonework 34 stories above the ground in a high wind, which made him fear that “it would be my first and last day” as a master stonemason here. The school extends heartfelt thanks to Kaz and all the workers who worked on this project over the past two years.

The idea to clad the Expansion with stone from the school’s original quarry was a romantic one, with a nod to the important history of the Cathedral Close. In practice, however, this romance soon faded—the old quarry was unable to match the color and texture of the original. Peter Maas, Cathedral’s CFO/COO and the intrepid steward of the Expansion Project, went on a quest to find a quarry that would perfectly replicate the existing stone—and cut it into shapes that could mimic the original design when built. With a sample of the original in hand, Mr. Maas traveled around Vermont and upstate New York, staying at “several spooky bed and breakfasts” along the way, and tirelessly tracked down a perfect match. After nine months, he found it at Champlain Stone in Warrensburg, New York. The quarry was able to make 26 different shapes that could effectively replicate the existing stone pattern. The beautiful results are on display along the Terrace Level entrance of the Expansion.

Since its launch, Innovate. Collaborate. Excel: The Cathedral School Campaign has raised more than $5.5 million to fund this transformative Expansion Project.

To celebrate this progress and help our community reach the campaign goal of $6 million, Bill Bermont, Board President, and George Filopoulos, Capital Committee Chair, announced a $250,000 challenge grant at the end of the 2019 Absalom Jones Benefit. Thanks to the generosity of anonymous donors, this challenge grant will match every campaign gift, dollar for dollar, up to $250,000 through June 30, 2019, helping community members double their impact at every level.

Bermont and Filopoulos (below) recently talked with CM about these transformative spaces, the challenge grant, their excitement surrounding this Public Phase, and the generosity of the Cathedral community.

The Expansion is here! How do you feel after watching everything come together? GF: Seeing the development of the current building and construction of the new spaces over the last two years has been a real treat—it has been so exciting to see the progress every day.

BB: The amount of planning that went into this entire project was phenomenal. I credit my immediate predecessors as Board President, Angie Karna and Kristin Kearns-Jordan, because they left such a strong foundation on which to build and proceed. It’s been a campaign of milestones for Cathedral. The school had never had a million dollar gift, and we had never taken on an initiative as extensive as this one. At every step, donors have said not only, “Yes, I want to give,” but also, “Let’s talk about ways in which I can stretch to make this project a reality.”

Why do you think the community has been so ready to stretch for this cause? BB: We are a community of doers and givers—two elements that are deeply embedded in the fabric of who we are. That this entire project has been funded through separate fundraising streams outside of tuition and operating revenue is extraordinary, and an incredible testament to the generosity of our community.

GF: Having our educational team inplace with this student body size is a parent’s dream come true; therefore, we weren’t expanding the school building to expand the student body. Rather, we worked carefully to invest in modern, usable space that complements the history of this building and enhances the school’s program—a powerful case for giving.

How would you describe the goal of the campaign’s public phase as this fundraising opportunity is opened to the broader community? BB: I’m so proud of our Annual Fund participation rates, which are nearly 100% every year, because this speaks so tangibly to our inclusive approach to philanthropy and Cathedral’s deep sense of community. Even the students refer to the Expansion as “our Expansion,” and this shared sense of belonging extends to all constituent groups. As Board President, it’s both humbling and thrilling to share this unique fundraising opportunity with every member of our community.

GF: Building on what Bill has said, I am so often moved by the generosity of our community, at every level. There’s a sense of belonging, that this is our campaign as a community, and I’m confident we can make it a true team effort through this public phase, especially with this $250,000 challenge grant—an incredible opportunity for donors to double their already sizable impact.

We are delighted to invite our Cathedral School community to two special events celebrating the Expansion and Innovate. Collaborate. Excel: The Cathedral School Campaign.

Friday, May 10, 2019 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Join us for a special Evensong—held in conjunction with Grandparents & Special Visitors Day—celebrating Earth Day and The Cathedral School Expansion!

Program will begin at 11 a.m., followed by an alumni reception and tours. Spring Fair ends at 4 p.m. All are invited to celebrate the past, present, and future of The Cathedral School during Spring Fair 2019. Enjoy the food, fun, and festivity of Spring Fair, as well as an alumni reception, tours of the new and renovated spaces of our completed Expansion, and a brief program that will culminate in the burial of a Cathedral School Time Capsule.

Please RSVP by emailing advancement@cathedralnyc.org. To submit items for the time capsule, please email alumni@cathedralnyc.org.