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Detail, north spire (300 ft. from street level); A decorated Neo-Gothic style Roman Catholic cathedral which is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, as well as a parish church. Work was begun in 1858 but was halted during the Civil War and resumed in 1865. It can accommodate 2,200 people, and is built of brick clad in marble, quarried in Massachusetts and New York. It takes up a whole city block, between 50th and 51st streets, Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue. At the transepts it is 174 feet wide and 332 feet long. The spires rise 330 feet (100 meters) from street level. The spires were added in 1888. The cathedral was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 8/5/2013)