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New Castle cathedral nationally recognized
The carefully preserved Scottish Rite Cathedral is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — It is believed to be the only one of its kind left in the world.
The Moeller organ, installed in the cavernous 2,800-seat auditorium at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in 1926, has four keyboards and 3,762 pipes. Attached to it is a player organ, which is similar to a player piano. An elevator lets it descend into the basement or rise up to the level of the stage.
Rob Cummings, a member of the foundation that owns the cathedral, described being in the audience when the organist’s hands came down on the keyboards.
“You feel it in your chest when you’re sitting out there,” he said.
The cathedral still uses the organ for productions, said stage manager Bob McKibben — just as it still uses the old light board — large panels with vintage levers and knobs that stand in defiance of more modern lighting systems in the corner behind the immense stage. It survived most of a century there as a part of every cultural event staged in the auditorium.
The 2,900,000-square-foot cathedral is full of surprises like that on every floor and subfloor.
Everything in the building is vintage, from the grand staircase in the foyer to an old bowling alley, now in disrepair, on a floor below the main basement.
It’s unique to New Castle, said Cummings — buildings of the cathedral’s size and opulence aren’t a common feature of small towns in western Pennsylvania, and the cathedral has been carefully tended and preserved since the Masons began building it in 1926.
It is, said U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, who was in town last week to help celebrate its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the place where the community enjoyed cultural events, where children discovered the performing arts and where thousands of students had their commencements.
It is the place, he said, where the collective memories of the community reside.
Altmire arrived in style at the cathedral to present the plaque denoting the inclusion on the list.
He drove up in a 1936 Packard convertible, accompanied by an entourage in period costumes.
Notables gathered at a reception in the East Lodge Room, which was used by the Masons for meetings.
The Masons built the cathedral so that they would have space for meetings for their men’s, women’s and youth groups, but the building was open to the public back then as well, said Michael Eversmeyer, the Pittsburgh architect who did the research and the paperwork for the cathedral’s nomination for the list.
The U.S. Department of the Interior requires that places on the register be associated with a historically significant person or event, be a significant fixture for the community or be architecturally relevant, Eversmeyer said.
He said it’s the last two criteria that the cathedral meets.
Architecturally, the cathedral is stunning, with meeting rooms that would dwarf ones being built today.
The East Lodge meeting room, he said, accommodated thousands of Masons back when New Castle was a boom town, with the West Lodge room housing their auxiliary groups such as the Eastern Star.
The style is classical revival, or Greek and Roman architecture reborn, he said.
A balcony overlooks the grand foyer, where, Cummings said, a wedding actually took place, with an altar and seating for guests.
Since the Cathedral Foundation took over ownership of the building in 1940 after the Masons could no longer pay the taxes or debt owed on it, the building has continued to be a cultural and community center.
It is the second home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
Entertainers who have appeared there include Johnny Cash, Charlie Pride, Tom Jones, Anne Murray, The Coasters, George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld and the Temptations.
The cathedral is getting ready now to welcome the Glenn Miller Orchestra in May.
Many rooms, such as the grand foyer and balcony, the ballroom, the main dining room, and the smaller east and west dining rooms can be rented for weddings, reunions and other parties, Cummings said. Space is available for intimate parties of 10 people all the way up to groups of more than 2,000 people.
Someone even rented the stage once for a catered event, he said.
Medure Catering contracts with the foundation to handle all events there.
The cathedral also has been there for the community in bad times — as an emergency shelter during crises.
“It’s very hard to find a building like this so well-cared for after so many years,” said William Callahan of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. “Multiple generations of folks have pitched in to keep it in condition and in service to the community.”
starmack@vindy.com