Dome

Frontal view of right side portal with bronze doors; The original free and simplified Byzantine design by Bertram Goodhue (1914) was somewhat compromised by the requirement that the French Romanesque portal be preserved from the previous church (destroyed, it stood at the southwest corner of 44th and Madison) and re-erected on the new site. It had been paid for by the family of Cornelius Vanderbilt II as a memorial, was designed by McKim, Mead, and White (1902-1903) and was beloved by the parishioners. The magnificent bronze doors, with bas-reliefs in panels depicting episodes from the Old and New Testaments, had been carried out by some of New York's established sculptors: Andrew O'Connor, working freely under the general direction of Daniel Chester French, executed the main door; the south door was executed by Herbert Adams, the north door by Philip Martiny. Stanford White put 12 delicately veined blue-gray-green Cippolino marble columns across the front. Source: nyc-architecture [website]; http://nyc-architecture.com/ (accessed 7/9/2010)