(BILL ELLIS) I JUST DO NOT KNOW PEOPLE WHO WALK INTO THIS BUILDING WITHOUT BEING TRULY AMAZED AND AWED AND QUIETED, FRANKLY, BY THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THIS PLACE.

>>RISING HIGH ATOP THE SOUTH HILL IN SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, THE CATHEDRAL OF ST.

JOHN THE EVANGELIST IS ONE OF THE CITIES MOST BEAUTIFUL AND BELOVED BUILDINGS.

GOTHICALLY GORGEOUS, INSPIRING AND ICONIC, IT IS THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF SPOKANE.

IT'S SIMPLY DIVINE.

(ELLIS) IT IS THE HEIGHT OF THE CEILINGS, THE BEAUTY OF THE INTERIOR.

IT REALLY DOES EVOKE A SENSE OF THE HOLY.

>>DISCOVER WHAT MAKES THIS SACRED SPACE SO VERY SPECIAL AS WE WALK WITH THE DEAN OF THE CATHEDRAL, THE VERY REVEREND BILL ELLIS.

(ELLIS) EVERY CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN TOWN FROM THE SMALLEST TO THE BIGGEST, WE'RE TRYING TO BUILD THE KINGDOM.

WE'RE TRYING TO HELP GOD BUILD THE KINGDOM I THINK IS A BETTER WAY OF SAYING IT.

BUT THIS BUILDING HAS A AURA TO IT THAT IS UNLIKE THE AURA OF OTHER SPIRITUAL CENTERS IN SPOKANE.

>>CATHEDRALS IN THE CLASSIC GOTHIC DESIGN ARE COMMONPLACE IN EUROPE.

YET HERE IN AMERICA, THEY'RE RARE.

IN FACT, ST.

JOHN'S IS ONE OF ONLY A HANDFUL OF GOTHIC STYLE CATHEDRALS ON THE WEST COAST.

(ELLIS) IN THE MEDIEVAL ERA, GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE REPRESENTED A TREMENDOUS TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCE ARCHITECTURALLY AND FRANKLY SPIRITUALLY MADE IT POSSIBLE TO BUILD BUILDINGS THAT JUST ABSOLUTELY INSPIRED PEOPLE WITH AWE.

THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS WAS REALLY WHAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT.

ST.

JOHN'S CATHEDRAL IS CALLED A NEO-GOTHIC REVIVAL CATHEDRAL.

THERE ARE THREE FEATURES OF GOTHIC CATHEDRALS: FLYING BUTTRESSES, VAULTED CEILINGS AND CURVED INSTEAD OF ROUND OR SQUARE ARCHES.

WE DON'T HAVE FLYING BUTTRESSES, SO THIS IS ACTUALLY A NEO-GOTHIC REVIVAL.

>> IN 1924, BISHOP EDWARD M. CROSS HAD A DREAM OF A GRAND GOTHIC CATHEDRAL IN SPOKANE.

AND TOGETHER WITH A BRILLIANT YOUNG ARCHITECT NAMED HAROLD C. WHITEHOUSE, THAT DREAM WOULD BECOME A REALITY.

(ELLIS) WE ACTUALLY HAD A CATHEDRAL DOWN ON FIRST AND JEFFERSON.

IT WAS A SMALL CATHEDRAL.

AND BISHOP CROSS WHEN HE GOT HERE SAID, "I DON'T LIKE THIS LOCATION.

IT DOES NOT BEFIT WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO WITH THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

BISHOP CROSS SAID, "I WANT A PLACE THAT BOTH GOD AND PEOPLE CAN BE PROUD OF.

>> CONSTRUCTION OF THE CATHEDRAL BEGAN IN 1925, BUT HOW DID THEY BUILD THIS GLORIOUS HOUSE OF GOD?

(ELLIS) GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE WAS SO WELL UNDERSTOOD.

IN FACT, HAROLD WHITEHOUSE WENT TO EUROPE, AS A MATTER OF FACT, AND STUDIED THE CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO DESIGN THIS THING.

SO, ONCE HE GOT IT DESIGNED THERE WERE IN THOSE DAYS PEOPLE WHO COULD BUILD IT.

>> THE FIRST SECTION OF ST.

JOHN'S WAS DEDICATED IN 1929, BUT CONSTRUCTION STALLED DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THEN WORLD WAR II.

WORK WOULD RESUME SOME TWENTY YEARS LATER, AND BY 1961, THE CATHEDRAL WAS MOSTLY COMPLETE.

TODAY FROM CALIFORNIA TO MASSACHUSETTS, FROM INDIANA TO ITALY, THE ELEGANT ELEMENTS USED TO BUILD ST.

JOHN'S ARE AS IMPRESSIVE AS THEY ARE INSPIRING.

(ELLIS) THIS IS A BRICK MASONRY BUILDING FACED ON THE OUTSIDE BY LIMESTONE AND ON THE INSIDE BY SANDSTONE.

THE ONLY PART THAT'S SOLID STONE IS THE VERY FOUNDATION OF IT.

THAT'S SOLID LIMESTONE.

WE HAVE A REMARKABLE SET OF STAINED GLASS WINDOWS.

THE ONES THAT DEPICT MOSTLY BIBLICAL SCENES WERE DESIGNED AND BUILT BY THE CHARLES CONNICK STUDIOS.

AND THE ONES THAT DEPICT BIBLICAL FIGURES WERE DESIGNED AND BUILT BY THE MOST PART BY CROSBY WILLET.

YOU COULD LOOK AT THEM FOR HOURS BECAUSE THEY'RE FULL OF SYMBOLISM AND THEOLOGICAL SYMBOLS AS WELL AS JUST BEAUTIFUL IMAGES IN AND OF THEMSELVES.

THE ONLY PLACE YOU SEE A LOT OF MARBLE IS UP ON THE HIGH ALTER.

AND I AM LED TO UNDERSTAND THAT ALTER THERE WHICH WEIGHS ALL BY ITSELF SEVERAL TONS IS ACTUALLY CARRARA MARBLE.

SO, THAT MARBLE CAME TO US FROM ITALY.

IT'S THE SAME QUARRY THAT MICHAEL ANGELO USED TO DO HIS MOST FAMOUS SCULPTURES.

NOW, IS THAT ACTUALLY THE CASE?

I DON'T KNOW.

BUT I THINK IT IS.

I HEARD THAT IT IS FROM RELIABLE SOURCES.

ONE OF THE MOST WONDERFUL FEATURES OF THIS CATHEDRAL IS OUR CARILLON, WHICH IS LOCATED MORE THAN SEVENTY FEET OVER OUR HEADS RIGHT NOW.

IT'S 42 BELLS AND ONE OF RELATIVELY FEW CARILLONS IN THE COUNTRY.

THE LARGEST BELL IS 4 TONS.

I BELIEVE IT'S ABOUT 8000 POUNDS, AND IT'S NAMED BIG JOHN.

WE HAVE A LOT OF REALLY WONDERFUL WOOD CARVING IN THIS BUILDING.

AS FAR AS I KNOW WE ARE THE ONLY CHURCH AROUND THAT HAS REAL, GENUINE OFFICIAL GARGOYLES PROTECTING OUR BUILDING.

AND, OF COURSE, GARGOYLES ARE MEANT TO BE HIDEOUS CREATURES, BUT THEY ARE NOT DESIGNED TO SCARE AWAY PEOPLE, THEY'RE DESIGNED TO SCARE AWAY EVIL SPIRITS.

>> FOR NEARLY 100 YEARS, THE CATHEDRAL OF ST.

JOHN THE EVANGELIST HAS STOOD AS A SUPREMELY BEAUTIFUL SPOKANE LANDMARK.

ST.

JOHN'S GLORIOUS SPLENDOR AND BEAUTY IS BOTH A TESTAMENT TO GOD AND TO THOSE WHO BUILT IT.

AND IT WELCOMES ALL GOD'S PEOPLE TO COME AND WANDER, WORSHIP AND WONDER.

(ELLIS) I THINK THIS PLACE IS NECESSARY BECAUSE BEAUTY IS NECESSARY.

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT DOING MORE THAN YOU NEED TO DO TO MAKE SOMETHIG TRULY BEAUTIFUL THAT ALL BY IT-SELF ELEVATES THE HUMAN SPIRIT AND REMINDS US THERE'S SOMETHING BIGGER THAN US WORKING IN THIS UNIVERSE.

WHETHER YOU'RE AN EPISCOPALIAN OR NOT, WHETHER YOU COME TO THIS CATHEDRAL OR NOT, WITHOUT THIS PLACE THE CITY OF SPOKANE, THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, THE COUNTRY, THE WORLD IS A LITTLE BIT MORE IMPOVERISHED.

BECAUSE BEAUTY REALLY MATTERS; IT'S A WAY OF REACHING FOR GOD AND A WAY BY INSPIRING BEAUTY GOD REACHES FOR US.

THE NOTION THAT THIS IS GOD'S HOUSE, THIS IS ACTUALLY WHERE GOD LIVES IS PRECISELY THE SENSE THAT THE WHOLE JEWISH NATION WANTED TO CREATE ABOUT THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM SO, WHEN YOU WALK IN HERE, ANY CHURCH, BUT WHEN YOU WALK IN HERE SPECIFICALLY, AND YOU HAVE THE FEELING WOW THIS REALLY IS WHERE GOD DWELLS, YOU HAVE CAPTURED AN ANCIENT AESTHETIC FEELING.

WE NEED THAT.

THAT FEELING.

AND TO HAVE IT HERE TO HAVE THIS PLACE EVOKE THAT FEELING MEANS THAT HAROLD WHITEHOUSE DID A GREAT JOB DESIGNING IT OTHERS DID A WONDERFUL JOB BUILDING IT.

THIS IS GOD'S HOUSE.