Rising like a stone dream above Morningside Heights, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine dominates this exquisite hand-colored Albertype view of its monumental West Front — twin Gothic towers framing a great rose window, tiny pedestrians dwarfed below on Amsterdam Avenue, the whole scene washed in warm amber and soft blue sky typical of the Albertype Company's finest coloring work. Construction on this Episcopal cathedral began in 1892 and continued in fits and starts for decades, making it a perennial postcard subject for New Yorkers proud of their "unfinished symphony in stone." The Albertype Company of Brooklyn was among America's most respected photomechanical postcard publishers, producing cards of unusually fine tonal resolution; this example, unused and clean, represents their premium hand-colored line marketed as "The Finest American Made View Post Cards."