For several years as a young man I lived in an attic bedsit which had a view over the city rooftops to the Cathedral. ´Living in attics makes people into dreamers` and I was no exception. It was not so far away and on many occasions I was able to watch the stonemasons toiling away steadily, seemingly exempt from the everyday activity below. In my work for the County Architect I had dealings, from time to time, with stonemasons and found them a breed apart. Unlike other craftsmen who embraced every new technique to make things faster, they were content to work with a toolkit little changed from medieval times.
The magazine article reproduced here was the catalyst for change. To read about an elderly English stonemason being offered work in central New York, his continued enthusiasm and his being able to contribute something positive to the local mixed community was awe-inspiring and dismissed any doubts that I had about the future.
