Stories from the First Cathedral 46

"The Original Guild House comprised the front two thirds of the present building - two reception rooms, the great hall, and a kitchen and dining room in the basement. A stairway in the great hall connected the basement to the main floor. Where the main doors are now, there was an open porch, entered through an arch, with steps leading up to the first floor." (The First Cathedral by Venerable Ben Scott and Mr Robert Neslund 1987) 

The Original Guild House has been through many changes over the past 70 years. In 1954 the parish did remodeling in the basement to provide space for Sunday School rooms, Scouting activities and the Horstman Memorial Nursery School. The main level of the Original Guild House held two reception rooms, the great hall space and stage area. There is a second floor where steep stairs take one to storage closets and two additional rooms. These two rooms today serve as the archive rooms. The archives is an ongoing project of historical records, Whipple treasures and many books. Below the archive rooms, which were originally the two reception rooms, you will find the offices of the Cathedral secretary and the Dean's office.

The stage area of the great hall houses two treasures of the Cathedral; the original altar from the Cathedral apse and the Resurrection stained glass window. The Resurrection window is in the Tiffany style and is a memorial to the Rev Clark Bill. The altar was moved from the Cathedral in 1934 and the cross and candlesticks came from the Seabury chapel. The Resurrection window was once on an outside wall, but now is lit by artificial lighting. In order to change the bulbs when they burn out, a brave soul must go through the attic of the kitchen, crawl along the attic and hoist a set of bulbs in a wooden rack to replace the bulbs. Bucky Roosemalen was the master changer. The task is difficult, but illuminating the Resurrection window  is worth the painstaking effort!