Art: From the Ruins

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It took only five minutes for Scottish Architect Basil Spence, standing in the bombed-out shell of Coventry Cathedral one day in 1950, to conceive a design for the new cathedral. "I knew my task was to design a new building linked to the old which would stand for the triumph of the Resurrection," Sir Basil wrote later. "The ruins were the Old Testament, the new cathedral would be the New. The idea of the design was planted in my mind and never changed." Last week Architect Spence stood again at Coventry, this time to watch the ceremonial consecration of the second great St. Michael's Cathedral of Coventry, which he had created out of the ruins.

A public-spirited Lady named Godiva and her husband, Earl Leofric, built Coventry's first great church in 1043; it stood until Henry VIII had it pulled down around 1540. A second—the magnificent Gothic St. Michael's Cathedral—was completed in 1433, and lasted until the night of Nov. 14, 1940, when 500 German planes bombed it in a raid that forever linked the city's name to the destructiveness of modern war. Only the outer walls, tower and spire of St. Michael's were left standing.

The Architect Faints. The new cathedral has been raised to forgiveness and the unity of man—amidst continuous discord.

The first postwar architect, Sir Giles Scott, resigned after three years of architectural and clerical bickering. The Coventry city council refused a building permit, arguing that the city had first to catch up in schools, homes and clinics. Minister of Works Sir David Eccles wrote the Lord Mayor: "Can we be sure that a cathedral would be so useless? We have never had a greater need for an act of faith." He overruled the council. A competition for design drew more than 600 requests for specifications and 219 final plans. The winner was bearded, eloquent Basil Spence, who fainted at the new?s of his victory.

His reaction was mild compared with that of the public. The proposed cathedral was said to look like a factory, an apartment building, an auditorium, a "cross between a supercinema and a slaughterhouse"—almost everything except a cathedral. Spence immediately received 700 letters, mostly abusive. While construction was held up for 2∧ years of arguing, he received no other commissions, recalls now, "I went almost bankrupt." Finally, in July 1954, the building was started.

Of the $4,200,000 construction cost, $2,800,000 was provided by the War Damage Commission; all but the $238,000 that is still owed was made up by private donations.