Great interpetation for a tour gone bad with the blarney
The engineering aspects of the Cathedral could be best answered by the former
master builder John Walsh PE who lives in Brooklyn(address on request) the
buttresses were built to suport the massive central tower (see model in gift
shop) With no tower ever built (it would take 50yrs)
John Walsh once described to me the problem of the mass as such..."its like
an egg; with so much mass at its sides the top wants to lift off".
..Sadly John left( resigned) when Cathedral Stoneworks was started by an
inept(kind word) developer and a naiev Dean who saw a not for profit as a
rich plum to massage and masquerade as a for profit that enriched himself
first  at the expense of the taxpayer from state loans inspired by an equally
bogus minority training program...approved applicants just wanted to show up
for a cheque all pre.approved by the democratic politicians of Harlem ....
the Cathedral and its erswhile staff suffered under this flim flam which was
theatrics in the extreme managed by Stoneworks...and disbanded in
disapointment at being used .  .It was all over by 94 or 95( I left with John
in 91)
out of millions of dollars the celebrated Cathedral and its renaisance
training program can count on two hands the number of people actively working
in the field of stone or restoration..( that includes two or three
minoitys).. out of the 30 ft of tower built  Cathedral stoneworks never put
one stone on top ( all previous inventory).set by the orginal crews .....this
story will never be told..as it will only hurt the church.....In its heyday
however we had an amazing number of British and later french stone masons
come through to participate...we restored a good number of churches and
monuments to bring funds into the church...it was fun ..it was family..we
thought we would be there for ever . sign me Quazi Moto